I live to xc ski in the winter. Similar to living to bike in the good weather. I'm lucky and I can go right from my house or if not there are about 15,000 available acres within 20 minutes of the house. If we have a good season of snow and the more severe the winter, the healthier I am during that winter. I've been xc skiing for 32 years since I got my first skiis at 15. I've done the backcountry skiing and the ski skating. But now I mostly just do classical. I don't go to paid areas so I can be one with the earth, and also just on principle, unless the season gets bad, so I'll break trail or seek out the snowmobile tracks in remoter areas. Although I will go to a groomed area with a person who is new to it so they have a good experience. I try to do one moonlight ski each year and of course boy those nights are real cold, sometimes 0 degrees because all that radiational cooling. What is fun is that I skate 50% of the time on my classic skis. Up until about 3 years ago I was still using my old wooden Bonnas and was skating on the 3-pin bindings. I now have waxable fiberglass and I can beat em real good and not worry. This season has been pretty pitiful for the snow (up until today). Wahoo.