Eet’s not a TV set, eet’s a boat anchor!
I didn’t much like the snow today but I tried to be a sport about it. It was icy and fast and I like the fast part of it but I don’t like icy snow. Part of this is sour grapes about not really being able to get myself skate skiing when it seems like everybody in the world except for baggy old overdressed mooms can do it. Oh wait. Maybe that’s me. Except not exactly. Because I am not really slow. And I don’t overdress. And I can do the uphill stuff just fine, thank you very much. But still. All the ski geeks were bantering with the beautiful young skinny little mooms in the ski ranch today about whether they were traditional skiing or skate skiing. I had a moment of panic. My whole ski life flashed by, including the days when I was a skinny little moom teaching my beach urchins how to ski. I was freaking out more than I usually do in that kind of situation for who knows what reason and I just wanted to get outta there.
Sigh. I am remembering the old days when I skied up there in the UP and Duke and Grandroobly carved out a ski trail out back behind Fin Family Moominbeach. Lewie even helped them with that, even though I’m not sure Lewie was ever on XC skis in his life (but I may well be wrong about that). We’d take off somewhere past Radical Betty’s place and cross the light line and it wasn’t a long loop but it was a beautiful loop. Our loop. When the moon was full and the skies were clear, we even skied it at night. I loved to break trail then and I miss having to do that now. It is hard work and slow going to beat through a foot of new snow on a bush trail but I enjoy that and I was missing it today on a regularly groomed trail with a track over on the right and a big area for skate skiers. I love the ski ranch though. It’s where I taught my beach urchins to ski and it is the best.
March 1st, 2009 at 12:37 am
Ok–what is skate skiing? We have downhill and cross country here–plus the snowboarding that is so popular now with the young ‘uns.
March 1st, 2009 at 1:13 pm
I remember in college visiting the UP and trying desperately to keep up with Betty in the woods behind the cabins, and she was breaking trail. Beautiful and gave me the mind picture that I did not have to slow down at all when I got “old”. [Note I am probably about the same age now that Betty was then, give or take a few.]
March 1st, 2009 at 1:32 pm
LOL! A few years back, Nook & I attempted skate-skiing at the Ski Ranch… and after several spread-eagle face-plants (on my part; I think Nook fell more gracefully), we were laughing so hard when we decided to head back to the lodge, turn the rented skate-ski gear in and put on our NORMAL trail skiis and go around the Loop in NORMAL XC fashion.
You have any idea how HARD it is to get up from a spread-eagle face-plant … while wearing those looooooong skiis?!?!?!?!
Margaret: “skate skiing” is basically using ice-skating style while wearing specially-designed cross-country skiis. It’s VERY fast and aerobic, and LOOKS like fun…. if you can manage to stay vertical!!! But it’s also sort of a pain to be a Traditional XC skier on the parts of the trail shared with the skaters, because they come up so fast and – because of the “stride” take up so much more trail-width – that the Traditionalists inevitably have to step off the trail (if the skaters are courteous enough to give warning of their approach, that is).
March 3rd, 2009 at 11:20 am
KW,
I don’t remember if Lewie skiied or not, either, but I know he was in the car with us and Betty one spring break from MSU. You were telling Betty about our vegetarian roommate and her vegetarian boyfriend. You told her about how concerned the boyfriend was that the “carniverous utensils” being used to serve the vegie pizza. “Carniverous Testicles?!?” was Lewie’s response. Where the heck were we?