Cross Country Skiing

[lph]

I've been off both bike and skis for a couple of weeks because of a bout of flu, but am up and running again now. In the meantime the good ski conditions have gone :-( and we're left with.... uh, "enthusiast conditions". Which in practice means wet or icy grainy hard snow, klister (gooey ski wax out of a tube) and lots and lots of poling. We did manage to string together over 30 km on Sunday though, once you find a flat enough trail and get poling you can pick up a fair amount of speed. But I'm limp in lots of strange places today, hardly used my legs but used lots of balancing muscles instead.

[Crankin]

Just came back from a 2 day ski in western MA. We went to Notchview on Saturday. Didn't get there until around 1, and it was already snowing. I am not sure about this place. It was pretty, in the woods, but it was hard to judge, since the grooming was completely obliterated by the snow falling. Also, the trails were kind of easy, even the blue ones. There was a black trail, but it was nearing 4 PM and we decided we needed to head back to the center. This place is run by the Trustees of Reservations, a private, non-profit that manages land/recreation areas and historic houses. We headed east a bit to our B and B in Greenfield, about 5 miles from Northfield Mountain, where we have been quite a few times. The B and B was great, and we had 2 awesome dinners in restaurants in very small rural towns I had barely heard of. Skiing at Northfield was fantastic. It was really cold and windy yesterday, so hardly anyone there. We climbed up to the summit on blue and black trails, and skied down a green trail (not a good choice, it was too exposed and windy). After lunch, we did more climbing and descending on some good hills.
Getting ready to head out to the Methow Valley in WA on Saturday. Just spoke to our tour guide. It is warm there, but the skiing is OK. We are going to take a skate ski lesson the first day, and then see how we do. Otherwise, we'll stick to the classic and do some snow shoeing.

[DebW]

I skied a section of the Catamount Trail in Vermont last weekend. Stayed at the Landgrove Inn and skied Section 7. Untracked backcountry snow. Hard work but beautiful.

[Blueberry]

Wonder how safe it is to drive to NC.

I should check the weather report.

Interstates are clear in Central NC - but the snow is pretty much gone (and it was mostly sleet anyway). Not sure about the Boone area - they might still be good.

[Crankin]

I remember when I lived in Miami, lots of people went to NC to ski. Of course, this was downhill skiing in 1970, but I assume there's touring centers there now. X country skiing has become super popular since I started in 1992.
I skied again at our local touring center in the next town. It's vacation week here in MA... so lots of kids, but really, once I got out just a little ways, it was fine. Not quite as powdery as the past few weeks, as it's above 30 today and there's been a lot of use at this place, I am sure.

[Crankin]

The Methow Valley was awesome, despite the poor snow conditions... We skied every day and snow shoed once. There were only 2 other people on the trip and our guide was perfect. We all got along and there were no weirdo type incidents! I would highly recommend Bicycle Adventures for a supported trip. It was low key and first class at the same time.

[zoom-zoom]

Wow, how did I not know about this 36 page thread before now?!

Anyhow, I'd love to pick all y'all's brains about XC skiing. As a pre-teen I had a nice pair of skis. My entire family was equipped. We had a lot of fun. Nowadays I have a fat bike...but in the Winter it's REALLY cold and can be icy on the beach and after busting my wrist mtn. biking 3 years ago I don't really want to ride trails, even though we're seeing more and more groomed specifically for fat bikes. Trees scare the bejeezus out of me at any speed. Add slippery ice and snow to the mix and...meh.

14 year old DS had a field trip 6 months ago to a nearby Winter sports complex and XC skied for the first time and LOVED it. We have running snowshoes and neither of us enjoyed that (I'm a year 'round runner and found that my strides are too narrow and I couldn't keep even the minimalist running snowshoes from whacking against each other with each step).

Tonight a friend was telling me that she thinks I'd really like skate skiing, since I'm so aerobically active and have strong legs. I'd never given that much thought, before. I had been thinking if we bought new ski packages that we'd just look at classics.

So I guess I'm curious to hear what you ladies might recommend.