Cross Country Skiing

[Crankin]

I meant x country down hills! I don't downhill ski. Well, I tried it once, because the rest of my family did, but it didn't thrill me. Then my DH stopped downhill because he had started riding and didn't want to get hurt. My kids never really continued it after middle school, but at least they know how. Around here, it's a social thing. It's funny, I am such a downhill weenie on the bike, but I have much less fear on x country skis. I think it's because I am closer to the ground.

[Wahine]

Part of the reason I haven't been on the forum much is that I've been skate skiing my buns off. I'm loving it. The last 3 times I've gone out I've done more than 16 km each day and on uneven terrain. I love the butt burn... ahhhhh

[Crankin]

I just got back from Craftsbury, VT, where there is always snow! We thought, since it hasn't been snowing even up there, conditions would not be great, but they were great, considering. We stay at the Craftsbury Inn, which is right on the trail. It's a hoot of a place. Slightly odd owner and gourmet chef. It's not always the most spotless place, but you get treated like royalty. Breakfast is included, he packs us lunches for a small fee, and we eat dinner there, too. He can cook any cuisine around.
Anyway, Thursday we skied a bit of the trail, all up and rolling, about 4 miles. Friday we went to the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, where the trails are wide and groomed probably the best of anywhere I have been. I've skied there twice before. Because of the grooming, I can ski the black trails there. Lots of climbing and downhills. It was awesome. My poor DH just can't get the climbing part and is also very slow on the flats. Not sure why, as he is an awesome cyclist and very strong overall. I think it's his feet, which are very sensitive and he always has issues, even though he had surgery for Morton's neuroma bout 8 years ago. It's better, but drives him nuts. But, he did it and our friends were quite proud of us. We skied almost 9 miles, with a break for lunch. Yesterday we went to the Highland Lodge, up the road. I have been there once, when there were super powder conditions and I skied down the scariest huge mountain ever. The conditions were not as good, but there was plenty of snow. The trails here are bumpier, and kind of slanted, so it was hard to get a grip at times. But, we did about 5 miles. It was only a high of 15 degrees yesterday, so starting out, it was really frigid, about 8 F. In the afternoon, we snow shoed, up this huge climb we had skied down 2 years ago (we think, the downside of this place is that the trails are not well marked). The snow shoe trail went up in the thick forest; just gorgeous. After about 3.5 miles of that we were dead and bought some cheese and crackers, where I pigged out about 3 hours before dinner. After the cheese crepes I had, it's back to reality today. We got home a couple of hours ago; no snow around here. I am hoping to get a little more x country in before the cycling season starts!

[Becky]

Delaware just got another 2 feet of snow, so DH and I dug out our XC skis. We don't have many opportunities to ski here, but we enjoy it when we can! We skied yesterday on the unpaved streets, which was nice and smooth, and again today at a county park. That snow was deep and lots of work!

Can anyone give me some advice on new equipment?

Our equipment is probably ~20 years old, bought a few years ago off of Craig's List just to see if we liked it. Well, we do, and our equipment is literally starting to fall apart. So it's time to think about new stuff. But I'm overwhelmed by the choices out there, particularly with bindings and the accompanying compatibility considerations.

We ski just a few times a year. It's mostly unplowed streets or local parks- nothing groomed, but some of it's packed and some is deeper and more powdery. Nothing around here is groomed, so we end up breaking our own trails in anything deeper than a few inches.

The local ski shops carry lots of downhill stuff, but very little XC stuff, so not a great source of advice there. I'm not even sure that I'll be able to buy locally, but may have to resort to internet/mail order.

Any thoughts? What do I need to look for in skis? Bindings? Any suggestions for reputable internet retailres if I'm forced to go that direction?

Many thanks in advance!