x-c skiing

[divingbiker]

Of course you can still get 3 pin bindings and boots. Chances are your skis have a 3 pin binding, which means you could just get new boots.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I found Alpina boots compatible with 3 pin bindings for $53 http://www.backcountry.com/store/ALP...ml?id=S4gZi5QZ which is about as much as I'm willing to commit to skiing at this point, so I bought them! Thanks again.

[yellow]

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. I found Alpina boots compatible with 3 pin bindings for $53 http://www.backcountry.com/store/ALP...ml?id=S4gZi5QZ which is about as much as I'm willing to commit to skiing at this point, so I bought them! Thanks again.

Here's a picture of me with my "old school" touring setup, which is probably like yours (though you can't see much because there was fluff on the groomed trail...and really, it's all about the scenery ). It's the perfect combination for goofing off and enjoying a winter day. I feel so lucky to have such great XC skiing close to home.

[telegirl]

WHY does it have to keep raining??? Why can't it snow???? And now a beautiful picture of snow and mountains.....*sob*

I LOVE talking ski gear - I am a newbie cx skier and really, really want to try skate skiing. I made a switch from alpine to telemark skiing and will never lock a heel again.....LOVE backcountry.

Now if it would just SNOW!!!

[pyxichick]

Yellow,

That's a great picture. It really captures that blue blue sky of winter and the crisp white snow.

Ahh, not long now...

[Quillfred]

That is a beautiful shot Yellow. I can almost hear/feel the crunch of snow under the skiis.

I have always been curious about XC skating. Does it take many lessons or time to get the hang of it? It seems like a nice way to get up hills.

Quill

[RedCanny]

Okay, I know it may be a little early to bring it up, but are there any other cross country skiers here?

Yup! Here's one. I hope we have a good snow year. I'd like to get up to Hayward area at some point this winter... maybe even over the Birkie weekend.

[pyxichick]

RedCanny,

You should definitely ski on the Birkie trail. It is a beautiful thing. The hills will kill you, but it's totally worth it. They even have a part of it lit at night now. I try to get there at least a few times before the race each year, so I can mentally prepare.

Quillfred,

XC Skating is not too difficult to learn. Do you know how to rollerblade or ice skate? If you can do either of those things, and you can ski, then you should be able to skate ski. See if any of your local xc ski areas rent skate skis, so you can try it out.

I remember seeing a t-shirt on a girl skiing at ABR in Michigan one Thanksgiving weekend, it said "real skiers ski uphill."

[yellow]

XC Skating is not too difficult to learn.

I agree. In fact, I gave up on classic track skiing because I just feel more coordinated skating; feels more like a natural motion. Once I get in shape, that is. It's a lung buster. There's a reason all those pro XC racers are rail thin. And it will give you glutes of steel!

More eye candy: I LOVE the Vs on the freshly groomed track (this is in Park City, different spot than the other photo). I try to get out first thing in the AM and follow the groomer so I get first run. It's squeaky!

[pyxichick]

Thanks for the pictures, Yellow. That trail looks so fast and inviting... Just the perfect amount of snow and grooming.

[Bron]

Okay, I know it may be a little early to bring it up, but are there any other cross country skiers here?

Kate

It's never too early to think about skiing, I think I have been planning for this season since about March.

You're in training for the Birkie aren't you? That's a race that I would like to do one day, the website makes it sound like a great event.

My challenge is going to be learning good classic technique for the Vasaloppet. For some reason I found skating much easier when I started.

Now all we need is snow....

Bron

[Bron]

So, have any of you girls been out skiing yet? We are having the worst snow winter ever on the side of the pond. No after-work skiing , so we are trying to get fit by gym work and running.
On the plus side, when we did get to some snow last weekend, I managed to have a classic lesson which helped a lot. Still not sure how much fun 90km in one go will be

How is the Birkie training going?

Bron

[yellow]

Bron, we have snow here though not as much as last year. I didn't get my first day until early December. I have 9 days of skating and 2 days of classic so far; feels like more, though. I'm going skating this morning as we got a dump of snow yesterday (I had today off of work already...I did not call in "sick"). I'll be going down to Bryce Canyon for a long weekend this weekend and will thus ski there for 3 days (probably mostly classic-touring with hubby and friends); I've never done this before and have always wanted to. The after work skiing should start in another couple of weeks as the days get longer. I'm really looking forward to that, too!

Funny, with the new snow I told myself I'd go telemark skiing today since I really shouldn't pass up the Utah pow...but I realized I'd rather skate. This is a defining decision for me. I never thought I'd pass up a powder day to go skate.

[Bron]

All spare snow this way please!
I can't belive what a bad season it has been so far - you know the snow is thin when you trip up over mole-hills which are sticking up into the track. I hope all of you ladies in the US are having a better time of it.

How is the training going? We head off to Finnland next week, followed by Sweden for the Vasaloppet. This is going to be interesting, I've only raced once so far this year which was not part of the original plan.

Bron

[mudmucker]

I live to xc ski in the winter. Similar to living to bike in the good weather. I'm lucky and I can go right from my house or if not there are about 15,000 available acres within 20 minutes of the house. If we have a good season of snow and the more severe the winter, the healthier I am during that winter. I've been xc skiing for 32 years since I got my first skiis at 15. I've done the backcountry skiing and the ski skating. But now I mostly just do classical. I don't go to paid areas so I can be one with the earth, and also just on principle, unless the season gets bad, so I'll break trail or seek out the snowmobile tracks in remoter areas. Although I will go to a groomed area with a person who is new to it so they have a good experience. I try to do one moonlight ski each year and of course boy those nights are real cold, sometimes 0 degrees because all that radiational cooling. What is fun is that I skate 50% of the time on my classic skis. Up until about 3 years ago I was still using my old wooden Bonnas and was skating on the 3-pin bindings. I now have waxable fiberglass and I can beat em real good and not worry. This season has been pretty pitiful for the snow (up until today). Wahoo.

[mudmucker]

Ya know, I said I don't really like to go to paid areas to ski anymore. Mostly because it's just too good around where I live so I don't want or need to pay. But I keep looking at that second picture of Yellow's - nothing like fresh courduroy in the morning stretching across an open meadow - what a beautiful thing. Woohoo, now that looks fun. Ski skating heaven.