Cross Country Skiing

[Crankin]

OK, here's my report. As I drove to the nordic center, I realized I maybe should have applied Glide on my skis, as it was 32 out already. But, I didn't go back and hoped for the best. Got there about 40 minutes after opening and they were still plowing the large lot. Got my pass and off I went. I do the same 10k loop every time I go to this place.
Scenery was outstanding, but the conditions were weird. There didn't seem to be as much snow on the trails/woods as I thought, maybe because the storm started out as wet snow, then turned to powder. Gliding in the tracks was fine, so it wasn't sticky like do an endo sticky, but when I went to ski downhill (hills are smaller here), it was like I couldn't turn my skis, they were sticking, which made for some awkward descents. Skiing on the corduroy on flats was OK, too, but there were a lot of dumps of blown snow in the middle of the trails, as the wind was gusting about every 5-10 minutes. So, that was interfering with descending, too. The downhills at this place often have moguls from the rocks or just natural variations in the land, but when there is a lot of snow, it doesn't make a difference. For all of the powder we had, these bumps were quite noticeable. Anyway, the hardest trail was open, so I climbed up it with no issue, hardly had to herringbone. Right before the final short, curvy, and steep descent, there's another very short curvy descent and I kind of fell there, as my ski got caught in a snow pile and I just couldn't turn. I wasn't splayed out on the trail, though, kind of on my bum, so I got up quickly, there was a couple behind me, but they had slowed, so they didn't see it! I skied a little bit extra on a loop right near the end, so I did about 10.5K
When I got back, it was *mobbed.* Lots of fit moms with very young kids and lots of teens, as a lot of districts are closed today. I saw a friend who was just starting out when I left, but I declined to go out with her and her group again, as the conditions were deteriorating.
The parking lot was a pile of slushy mud. Ugh. I leaned my skis against the car and they fell in it. Oh well, they dried by the time I got home.

[north woods gal]

Sounds like you were hitting snows that differed in temperature and consistency. I notice that variation in consistency of snow when we get snow that falls a few degrees, one side or the other, around the freezing point. Even the small difference between snow falling out in the open versus snow falling backing the woods gets you different snow. Nomud for us, yet, because we still have a lot of packed snow, but it's coming.