Cross Country Skiing

[Skierchickie]

Whoa! That's like skitching! What was pulling you?

My dog! That's what skijoring is - skiing with a dog attached to you. There is bikejoring too, but that looks way too scary to me (for me AND for my dog).

Here's a website with some video from a recent local race. There is other stuff there, too, but you can see which has the dogs in it. I didn't go - thought about it, but decided to do a long ski that day, instead (yes, I chickened out)

http://www.doe.mtu.edu/photos/ski/index.html

What is skitching?

[Crankin]

The snow never arrived.....

[Zen]

Wow, those people are good! I can see me being pulled along on my ask, skis akimbo.

Crankin, you really don't want all this anyway.

[Skierchickie]

I can see me being pulled along on my ask, skis akimbo.

Yeah - yesterday we were flying along, I had just hopped in the tracks on a long, slight downhill grade, and Zoe decided to stop suddenly to check out a scent. I kept going, trying frantically to stop. I fell, and she yelped pretty good when the line went taut again, but she was fine, and picked right up where she left off.

Oh - the other option: our first time out this season, she suddenly headed across in front of me, left to right, into the deep snow. She stopped, but crossed back behind me, then in front of me,.... By the time I reeled her in, my arms and poles were pinned to my sides, and I could just wiggle my hands.

Oh - and there was the time I foolishly made her wait so some friends could ski on ahead. When I finally told her to go, she yanked me right off my feet. I mean, from standing to faceplant in 0.01 seconds.

Poor Crankin.... Clearly, you DO want all that!

[Crankin]

Yes, and I will drive to find some. I bought new skis tonight! Fischer S Bound Silent Spiders. I decided to keep the same boots, since they are in good shape and my feet are so sensitive, I don't want to mess with what works. The skis are shorter, which is my main concern.
Hopefully, I will find snow somewhere.

[Crankin]

I guess everyone else is riding???

We went to Windblown, in NH today. The place is amazing. There is absolutely no snow on the ground here and not much up by them, either, but almost all of there trails are open. We got there at 10:30 and the parking lot was already filling up. My new skis are awesome! So light. I can climb in the tracks much easier and also climb without having to herringbone as much. They feel different on the downhill and for a bit I had to get used to the shorter skis=less edges, but by the afternoon, I was set.
The temperature got up to about 35 degrees. That's just about at the edge of being too warm. We skied about 11k. DH is very happy with his new stuff, too, and he definitely could go faster. It's supposed to snow a little on Tuesday, so I am hoping to go to the local touring center Wednesday. We'll see...

[DebW]

Glad to hear you had good skiing, Crankin. I'll be skiing at Notchview in the Berkshires tomorrow.