Easter Ski
Today I went for an Easter ski. Its really rare to get an Easter long weekend this early in the year. Usually we are lucky to have any snow at all when Easter finally rolls around. In fact (
shuffle, shuffle, digging through facts books), Easter hasn't been this early in the year in over 80 years.... and is not scheduled to be this early again this century. Since I don't anticipate being around for the next coming of such an early Easter weekend I was determined to take advantage of the long weekend to get some skiing in. Conditions have been much the same the whole weekend - a cloudless sky, warm spring sun, cool temperatures with a bit of a breeze and hard, fast tracks. Waxing for glide has not been a problem. I could have probably chosen peanut butter or wallpaper paste for my glide wax and still gotten good glide. These spring skiing conditions are likely here for the remainder of the season with warm temperatures (and sun) in the day thawing the tracks and then cold nights refreezing them. Makes for some fast skiing which is nice.
I took a relaxed ski out to McKinstry cabin today. The trails were great but the crust skiing was even better. I can't remember conditions for crust skiing like this in many years.... just point and go! Through the trees can be a bit of a problem dodging the brushy stuff but when you find an opening its easy skiing. I imagine there are probably spruce traps to catch the unwary but I never got near any spruce trees so no worries on that regard. I jumped off into almost every bog, marsh, pond or lake I could find and, based on the tracks I saw, I was not alone (although I only saw one actual person off trail). Makes for some nice new vantage points of the park and new areas to explore. I even spotted some beaver activity... not the actual beavers mind you but there were lots of signs they are up and about and working hard already. I expect they have probably been surprised more than once by the odd skier cruising past their hole... something they would not likely have seen before (unless they are Frank and Gordon I suppose).
Today I went for an Easter ski. Its really rare to get an Easter long weekend this early in the year. Usually we are lucky to have any snow at all when Easter finally rolls around. In fact (shuffle, shuffle, digging through facts books), Easter hasn't been this early in the year in over 80 years.... and is not scheduled to be this early again this century. Since I don't anticipate being around for the next coming of such an early Easter weekend I was determined to take advantage of the long weekend to get some skiing in. Conditions have been much the same the whole weekend - a cloudless sky, warm spring sun, cool temperatures with a bit of a breeze and hard, fast tracks. Waxing for glide has not been a problem. I could have probably chosen peanut butter or wallpaper paste for my glide wax and still gotten good glide. These spring skiing conditions are likely here for the remainder of the season with warm temperatures (and sun) in the day thawing the tracks and then cold nights refreezing them. Makes for some fast skiing which is nice. 
I took a relaxed ski out to McKinstry cabin today. The trails were great but the crust skiing was even better. I can't remember conditions for crust skiing like this in many years.... just point and go! Through the trees can be a bit of a problem dodging the brushy stuff but when you find an opening its easy skiing. I imagine there are probably spruce traps to catch the unwary but I never got near any spruce trees so no worries on that regard. I jumped off into almost every bog, marsh, pond or lake I could find and, based on the tracks I saw, I was not alone (although I only saw one actual person off trail). Makes for some nice new vantage points of the park and new areas to explore. I even spotted some beaver activity... not the actual beavers mind you but there were lots of signs they are up and about and working hard already. I expect they have probably been surprised more than once by the odd skier cruising past their hole... something they would not likely have seen before (unless they are Frank and Gordon I suppose).
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