Sunday and Monday brought a lot of snow to our area; so much so that I wasn't even interested in going skiing on Monday... too much loose powder, and no chance of a set-in track yet; it was coming down too heavily. Tuesday, however, was a different story. I let all the die-hard skiiers go out in the drifts and heavy snowfall (which, for the record, Kate thought were PERFECT skiing conditions... proving that contrary to our normal contention, we are not always on the same page...) Monday night and set in a trail. I headed out to Vadnais Lake on Tuesday, and got in a great ski. I had to go it alone, since Kate was near death with a sinus infection, but I kept her in my thoughts ;-)
The weather was great - light snowfall, overcast skies, temps in the high teens. The trail was 4.7K, with one steep hill at the beginning that was easily conquered with the "running" technique Kate taught me our last time out. The rest of the trail was easy, gradual slopes, with some fantastic scenery. I especially liked the section with the Nordic pines - so beautiful, reminiscent of northern California. I skiied part of the trail with a local retiree who could quote the last 30 years of park history and learned a lot! We saw 3+ deer on 3 separate occasions. My self-appointed guide claimed that there was an eagle in residence, although I wouldn't know... when I'm skiing, looking anywhere but straight in front of me is a guaranteed faceplant. Watching the skies is completely out of the question... I even have trouble looking around when I'm standing still, but that's another story. Here are some pics from this adventure.
I have to note that I emailed one of these to my husband (who was travelling and stuck in an airport) with the subject "This is where I am right now"... followed by the words "Nyah nyah". I convinced him to buy me an iPhone, and now I use it to taunt him. Yeah, I'm that mean.
2 comments:
Awesome pictures! Is that the bridge that runs parallel to the road? I wasn't a huge fan of the hill going back to it on the way back to the parking lot!
I'm so glad (but totally jealous) that you went and had fun. How awesome to have gotten your own personal guide. Did he ask you if you wanted to see his puppy? ~~Kate
Yup, that's the bridge. The hill you mention is the only real challenge of the trail. Funny that you didn't like it on the way back to the lot (downhill) and I didn't like it on the way out (uphill)...
No dog, but I stayed behind him and was calculating escape routes... even with his Parkinson's, he could outski me. The back of my mind was conjuring ninja moves involving my ski pole if the need arose.
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