March comes in like a lamb… albeit a cold lamb. The big storm on Friday(still February) was really quite impressive. It was raining and +10C at lunch time and by midnight it was -20C - Boom! We certainly never get those huge temperature swings in the summer time so it’s impressive to see. With that sudden drop in temperature I figured there was no chance the ski trails would be in good shape on Saturday so I opted to do errands. Turns out not so. Things were groomed up tout suite so I guess I missed out on a good ski day – drat! No worries, Sunday was a repeat weatherwise so I headed out to check out the tracks. I still had green klister on a pair of my classic skis from Loppet weekend so I just coated them in hard wax (after freezing the gooey klister) and once again they were bomb proof grip and excellent glide. I skied around the lower part of the park today sking up 29, 15 and along the Parkways. Everything was in excellent shape trails wise. Today was also "Norway Day" so I made a pit stop to check out this year’s edition and partake in some vaffles with Ski Queen cheese and solderberry toddy courtesy of the Norwegian Embassy. This year they had set up the picnic at Le Relais. I much prefer the previous versions where they brought the picnic to one of the interior shelters forcing us to “earn” our vaffles with a little skiing first.
I suppose it was easier logistically to set up right at the parking lot at Le Relais but it didn’t have quite the same feel to me. That said I did “earn” my snack with some skiing before and after my visit and mostly others did as well although there were a few “walk ups”. I would have thought there would be more people but the crowds never seemed outrageous while I was there. Perhaps it was that there was more open space so the crowds didn’t seem huge… or perhaps lots of others expected it to be a massive crowd scene and stayed away. Either way it was a nice pit stop/snack and I appreciate the embassy setting it up each year. It certainly has become a fixture of the ski season in the park.
March comes in like a lamb… albeit a cold lamb. The big storm on Friday(still February) was really quite impressive. It was raining and +10C at lunch time and by midnight it was -20C - Boom! We certainly never get those huge temperature swings in the summer time so it’s impressive to see. With that sudden drop in temperature I figured there was no chance the ski trails would be in good shape on Saturday so I opted to do errands. Turns out not so. Things were groomed up tout suite so I guess I missed out on a good ski day – drat! No worries, Sunday was a repeat weatherwise so I headed out to check out the tracks. I still had green klister on a pair of my classic skis from Loppet weekend so I just coated them in hard wax (after freezing the gooey klister) and once again they were bomb proof grip and excellent glide. I skied around the lower part of the park today sking up 29, 15 and along the Parkways. Everything was in excellent shape trails wise. Today was also "Norway Day" so I made a pit stop to check out this year’s edition and partake in some vaffles with Ski Queen cheese and solderberry toddy courtesy of the Norwegian Embassy. This year they had set up the picnic at Le Relais. I much prefer the previous versions where they brought the picnic to one of the interior shelters forcing us to “earn” our vaffles with a little skiing first. 
I suppose it was easier logistically to set up right at the parking lot at Le Relais but it didn’t have quite the same feel to me. That said I did “earn” my snack with some skiing before and after my visit and mostly others did as well although there were a few “walk ups”. I would have thought there would be more people but the crowds never seemed outrageous while I was there. Perhaps it was that there was more open space so the crowds didn’t seem huge… or perhaps lots of others expected it to be a massive crowd scene and stayed away. Either way it was a nice pit stop/snack and I appreciate the embassy setting it up each year. It certainly has become a fixture of the ski season in the park.
3 comments:
So that rain didn't wash away all the snow?
Still lots of snow...
I opted for the hike through the Marlborough Forest with weiners and chips (I definitely prefer the vaffles). Down there everything was ice, grass, or mud. I'm praying for more snow and a few more GAT ski trips before this season comes to a close. [insert prayer to the snow gods here]
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