The season begins

Local park residents
Originally uploaded by kenmore photos

To be honest I kinda expected to have bragging rights over having "already skied" after last weekends ski trip to Placid for a little while longer. It was not to be (and I'm not too disappointed about it). Wednesday a good old-fashioned snowstorm dropped 8 to 10 inches of snow over the park. We haven't had too many of these kind of storms over the last few years. It was nice to see. Add to that the new grooming contractor was right on the ball and had the parkways in good shape by Friday (probably would have been sooner but it kept snowing on them).

The Parkways are now in pretty good shape for both classic and skating. Good coverage with only a few thin spots in the classic tracks. I'm cautiously optimistic that the snow will last, but there are a few warm, rainy days in the short term forecast. It wouldn't take much to wash things back to an unskiable surface but with luck things will hang on.... more snow coming the following week to help build the base.

I've been out skiing every day with nice easy outings. Trying to get the form back and gently work some of the muscle groups that haven't seen any serious action since last April. There's usually only a couple of small control group muscles that go into conniptions after the first few skis.... they should be fine in a few days. The endurance feels good after a summer of climbing peaks. Certainly after last weeks climb of the Whitface toll road I will never complain about the length of Black Lake hill again. Unfortunately my left ankle is feeling a little stiff and sore when I classic ski. I think this is a remnant of this summers sprain. With luck I'll work it back soon enough.

The two girls pictured were out on the trails to greet me today. They seemed to like the compacted snow of the parkways and were a little unwilling to bolt into the deeper snow of the woods. They sized me up carefully to assess the threat. Apparently I passed muster as a non-threat and they went back to snacking on the nearby bushes.