Cross Country Skiing

[Jolt]

How hard is it to learn to XC ski? I will be interviewing for jobs shortly in Duluth, MN where it snows a ton, so if I end up moving there I would like to learn.

[Crankin]

It's not that hard. Believe me, I am not that coordinated and I taught myself the basics and then took 3 lessons to learn how to climb/descend. I skied on beginner trails for years, until friends got me out on the big hills. If you have consistent snow, your skills can ramp up fast. I am the same kind of skier as I am rider; I can climb and descend almost anything, but I am not super fast. Not slow, slow or a beginner, but steady. I actually think I have better skiing skills than riding. Not sure why, except that it's closer to the ground to fall!

[DebW]

I actually think I have better skiing skills than riding. Not sure why, except that it's closer to the ground to fall!

Not to mention that the ground is usually softer under your skis!

[solobiker]

Not to mention that the ground is usually softer under your skis!

Unless when you fall going at a fairly fast speed and your knee hits your ski...happened to me last spring and I ended up with a cracked knee cap Boy did that hurt. Still hurts at times. I went to my nemesis hill last weekend and was able to do it without incident..although I was going quite a bit slower this time

[roadie gal]

We've had about a week of snow/rain/snow/rain, etc. There wasn't a huge accumulation at my house (6700 ft elevation) but the higher elevations got about 10-12 feet. Today was marginally nicer, although still snowing a little, so we decided to go to the XC center with our touring skis. We took those skis because we had no idea what the conditions would be like and we knew we could handle anything with those skis, even if it was slower going than the skaters or track skis.

I'm glad we did because we hit everything from ice to hard pack to powder to mush as we changed elevation. But it was 2 good hours of exercise and still a lot of fun.

[roadie gal]

I took a downhill skate ski clinic yesterday. I'm pretty weenie about going downhill on those skinny sticks.

We went over to the local "beginner" ski hill and practiced there. Basically it was a beginner alpine ski lesson on the skating skis. We started with snowplow and progressed over a few hours to parallel turns.

I don't know if I'll be able to parallel in the groomed trails, but I think this did help a lot with my fear of going downhill.

I'm hoping to go skate skiing today after I do all of my "honey do's". So we'll see what happens.

[mudmucker]

Got 18" from the last storm. Great conditions everywhere!

Went to Wendell yesterday, Friday. I saw some guys over near the maintenance barn and started talking with them since I noticed Wendell hadn't been groomed yet and it was 2 days after the storm. Got the full low-down. About 52 DCR employees got laid off recently. That leaves 2 people to maintain 4 state parks that are near me.

However they will groom next week they said - they were waiting for some "traffic" and compression since the snow was so fine and dry. They did go out on snowmobiles to compress a little bit so right now the paths are 2 snowmobile widths. The conditions were excellent when I went out. They'll be grooming twice a week with a machine thereafter.

It was quite busy when I was there, for a weekday. There were 3 cars at one access and 6 at the main access. I passed 4 people while I was out. The guys said that because of the economy people are looking for cheaper alternatives for fun, and that forest usage during the winter has increased in the last 2 years.

Today I went to Dennision. This is always well maintained. I learned that DCR owns the groomers but Coldbrook does the maintenance which is why conditions are so good all the time. It was fairly busy with snowmobilers though being a weekend after some very good snow. I went to a part that was less busy and had an excellent ski but I might avoid Dennison on the weekends unless I go late in the afternoon or on a weekday.

However today I came across the dogmusher that goes out there. How fun.