Cross Country Skiing

[Aggie_Ama]

Skierchic- I am so sorry! My dad got laid off at the beginning of December when I was in 4th or 5th grade, it was very traumatic for us as kiddos. ((HUGS))

[jobob]

Ama - give it a try! It'll be fun! You can get the gist of it pretty quickly, enough to have fun schlepping around.

While I was in Bend this weekend following SK around in various bike shops (many of which were also selling XC gear) I was getting a bit wistful about all the fun XC skiing experiences I had many moons ago back when I was in school in eastern MA.

I never got particularly good at it, but it sure was fun, and really great exercise. (But be warned - after the first day or 2 you're gonna be achey! Lots of muscle groups being employed )

Hey skierchickie - very sorry about your DHs job loss. My best wishes to you both.

[SadieKate]

skierchickie -- I'm so sorry. That just plain sucks.

[Aggie_Ama]

Ama - give it a try! It'll be fun! You can get the gist of it pretty quickly, enough to have fun schlepping around.

Can you normally rent XC in a ski town? We really wanted to go to California again for my birthday but New Mexico would probably be cheaper. Food is better in California which is another reason not to go.

Not worried about being sore, they also have snowmobile tours for the days we are too tired to go skiing.

[Aint Doody]

I would say if there's a Nordic area, there would be rentals available. And the rental is way less than for downhill equipment. Be sure to dress in layers that you can easily remvoe. You will warm up for sure.

[Crankin]

You can rent x country skis at most ski touring places. Sometimes, it's cheaper to rent from a store near home.
If I can nordic ski, you can. Just realize that there are hills when you x country ski! This freaked me out when I started, but it was before I started cycling. Now, I love the climbing aspect, but I am still cautious on the downhills. I don't like descending in any sport. My biggest accomplishment is skiing down a black diamond run in Vermont last winter. In the west, you don't have to deal with ice, so I imagine it's a lot easier.
Beginner trails are usually entirely flat, though.

[Aggie_Ama]

Crankin- I think REI or Sun and Ski *might* rent skis but otherwise you are kind of hard pressed in Tejas! We are still muling it over for my birthday, skiing sounds interesting to me. Too bad my birthday is President's Day weekend it is probably crowded. We started to travel for my birthday present a couple years ago but never decide until after Christmas.

[Crankin]

Yes, it might be crowded, but that's prime x country ski season! Once March comes, even if there's snow, around here, it becomes like mashed potatoes once the sun comes out, because the temperature tends to be higher.

[ridebikeme]

Well, this is a late post, but thought that I would pass it for future references. There's ski shop here that it probably one of the biggest(if not the biggest) in the US. They carry alot of current models, but also lots of closeouts as well. They have been in business over 50 years, and are very family oriented and a shop that will sell what you want and need rather than what they have. I think their website is AkersSki.com... listed in Andover, Maine.

Have a great season!

[teawoman]

Went skiing for the first time yesterday...we got a dump of snow this week.
No classic trails yet, but was still fun...and above 0 degrees (celsius) too.

[Skierchickie]

Wow - I'm embarrassed to say that went COMPLETELY over my head. Ski wax?

[Aint Doody]

We're having an unbeleivable snow fall here in Eastern ORegon. Several of us went to the golf course today and skied all 18 holes. It was really fun. Even though the snow wasn't very deep at first, if we went through to the fairway, it was still smooth and good gliding. Going back on Saturday and then having hot chocolate & peppermint schnapps in the bar. Wheeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

[SadieKate]

We are sooooooo close to being able to ski from the driveway again. Of course, this is just in time for us to be leaving for SLC.

[mudmucker]

Aaahhh. (Comfortable sigh). First xc ski of the season. Feels darn good again. It has been snowing non-stop since Friday noon. By Saturday morning I had a foot, then slow flurries all day Saturday for about another 4 inches, then picked up again like gangbusters today Sunday and still going. Today I decided to have fun first, and then spend the time to snowblow myself out. The conditions were perfect! Perfect snow, 20 d perfect temps to keep snow dry, and perfect wax = nice effortless FUN glide. I don't have to drive - I just go up the road 800 feet to where there is 2000 acres of 'never to be developed' watershed area and use wood roads. Today I skied right from the cellar door. I didn't go far into the woods. I just didn't feel like breaking trail as I didn't have my floaters but my narrower skiis. I actually skied the roads - which are not heavily traveled in the vicinity of my house - it was great - just a thin veneer of about 2-3" over packed plowed road. My own personal groomed trail and I was able to get some skating in. I only had to move over for 4 cars in an hour and a half. Kind of stormy - people weren't out.

[Eden]

We went "cross city" skiing today... it so rarely really snows around here that there are no real snow clearing provisions. The side streets are like beautiful groomed ski tracks. We probably put in 10-12 miles down to Lake Washington and back.