Skiing

This fall, all I could think of was cross-country skiing. I don't know why, because it has always seemed to be altogether too much work. Downhill, with the benefit of the chair lift and the ability, usually, to simply glide back to the chalet seemed so much more desirable.

I think, because of the beauty of the terrain up here, the endless trails, a sense of "everyone else skis" and the need to get out in winter made me change my mind. Even Mike was onboard, which was very surprising. He has long banned ccs, some childhood nightmare (although I suspect he still secretly harbers those memories given his moderate to less than enthusiastic willingness to actually go out)

Anyway, I bought us skis during some package sale just before the holidays and gave them to Mike for Christmas and a thank you for all the work he does for me at the preserve. It took us nearly a month to finally get them on (lots of reasons) and now the season if more or less over (unless we get more snow!)

Getting a bit of a groove on pretty flat ground turned out to be pretty ok, it felt pretty good and Mike said it looked good - even in areas without tracks set. Naturally, because I'm me, I don't bend or stretch nearly as much as I should. But rather quickly, my brilliant husband got the brilliant idea to head into the hills behind our house. Having only ever seen them through eyes of a walker, I agreed.

Grrr...

The terrain was just fine for him (those childhood skills coming back from the depths). For me, not so much. Again, flat is fine, VERY minor downhill is fine, uphill is relativ

ely ok (save the BIG hill), but downhill was terrible! I keep expecting to be able to treat them like my downhill skis and, at the very least, have the opportunity to snowplow. I used my backend far too often as a brake, and my head once too. A moderately less exciting adventure, I have since kept to relatively flat ground.

While it seems positively mind-boggling, I am sure, to our friends in the East, I would love another dump of snow, something to last us until April. That will give me time to keep working on my form, and perhaps tackle those hills with somewhat less pizzaz!

Here is a photo from a shoot we did at the preserve. Not right for using, but fun!