Thursday, December 05, 2013

Boom! Winter...

Pleasant bench
So winter has arrived... and it came in a hurry! A good storm last week left us with almost a foot of base and very good skiing conditions for the end of November. Usually we get to slowly do a lap or two of the parkways on the rock skis as our poles poke through the thin base to the asphalt below. With each click of pole hitting asphalt we dream of the side trails to come. Of course they are usually a ways off as the rocks and roots are barely covered with the thin early snow... but not this year. A lot of the major side trails were pretty decent from the get go and I rarely feel the ground surface as I plant my poles. With some problematic fall training I opted to push pretty hard onto the skis and have managed 7 days of the last 8 on the boards. Bit of a mix of skate and classic but for the most part slow easy distance skiing working on remembering how to slide with sticks tied to my feet. It's coming back to me. I even did an early morning ski this week to enjoy the sunrise and share the trails with some non-skiers.
Deciding which is worse...Some trail users aren't as keen on winter
Sun upRed in the morning?...
Today it's rainy and warm... but not as bad as was originally predicted. I feared the base of snow would disappear if it got too warm but I think we'll be okay. The main tracks should be fast and frozen solid once we go back to sub zero temperatures tomorrow so back at it then. Overall a good start to the ski season and we'll see what's to come.
MacKing waterfall