First Ski of the Season

I finally got out for my first ski of the season after the little dump of powder that we got over Monday night/Tuesday morning. It was 'possible' to ski up in the park prior to this decent snow fall, but you probably would have needed rock skis - something I don't have.

I started my ski from P10. First ski of the year and right out of the gate I'm climbing. By the top my hip flexors were a little angry with me for not giving them a proper warm up.

The parkway had not been groomed, but there were still tracks set from previous grooming a day or two before. It wasn't bad skiing at all - actually quite nice. I met a groomer just a little past Lac Fortune making it's first pass on the Fortune Parkway.

Despite getting compacted and groomed, it was still pretty soft skiing. I figured it would have been a bit slow for skating, so I opted to classic. After seeing some skate skiers slogging their way through the ungroomed/groomed sections I knew I made the right choice.

I made a left at the top of Fortune Parkway and skied a little way in the newly groomed tracks towards Blacks (where I stopped to take the above photo). I actually found the skiing better before the groomer went by - after the grooming you'd occasionally ski on icy sections.

Groomers hadn't even made it up near Champlain by 3 PM. WTF?

Coming down from Champlain - no grooming (in either lanes) and no one had been skiing in the track set - must have been coming back down on the skied left hand side or coming back on Ridge Rd which looked to be in good shape.

Heading back out today for a skate ski on my new Salomon Equipe 8's. Will stick to the North Loop in the park focusing on my technique (or lack thereof) and getting a feel for my new planks before I tackle my first good skate, which I hope to get out for on the weekend. One thing I am gradually learning is to take things 'easy' at the beginning of season. Yesterday for example, I only went out for about 1.5 hrs - if I had gone longer I probably would have had to been pushed out of bed this morning and crawled downstairs on my hands and knees backwards. A big ski yesterday, the first of the year, would have screwed today's ski. I little stretching and I feel fine today.

FYI: Stumbled across a new Cross Country Ski Trail Conditions web page. I also visit Joanne's daily photo blog (which, by the way, has a new look), Charles web page, and of course the NCC Ski Conditions page.