Sunday, February 07, 2010
Skiing ... cross-country style
Mark Taylor is outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times.
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Mark Taylor
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You know it's an unusual winter when you walk into Back Country Ski and Sports and ask, "Do you have any cross country skis left?"
And the answer is, "Just a few. We're really running low on boots."
Granted, it's not like Back Country keeps a huge stockpile of cross country rental gear in stock. Why would they?
The last few years the demand for that kind of gear has been, shall we say, tepid. You don't need much snow for cross country skiing, but you need more than we've been getting.
And now, this.
No need to head to West Virginia for skiable snow this year. We've had it for a good three weeks in Roanoke already.
Amazingly, my embarrassingly massive pile of outdoor gear is devoid of cross country skis.
After my first experience at cross country skiing a few years ago at White Grass in West Virginia, I wanted to buy a pair. But the urgency faded as the virtually snowless winters added up.
After watching with envy a few times this winter as my friends Heather and Mark Quintana skied off down the street on fresh snow I decided to get while the getting was good.
Despite the shortage of boots at Back Country on Friday they had my size.
Forty-two bucks later I was set for the weekend.
Saturday afternoon we cajoled my wife into watching all the kids for an hour and we took off.
Or, more appropriately, Heather and Mark took off.
They skied quite a bit when they lived in Maine and they still have the technique.
As I staggered along behind them I looked like I'd already been hard into the adult beverages. Actually, that may have helped.
We made our way to Patrick Henry High School, stopping to take off skis to cross roads that were impressively devoid of snow. (That observation is not an attempt to sway Roanoke City school officials to not cancel classes Monday. Really.)
The trails behind Patrick Henry, including the Murray Run Greenway, are a great urban escape.
I love running the trails, and I was eager to check them out with the woods blanketed by snow.
We weren't the first to have explored the greenway Saturday. Several sets of footprints marked the path.
Skiing over untouched surfaces would have been better, but I didn't mind the prints. They were a sign that others were out there enjoying the path, too, and that's good.
There's a bench at the greenway's highest point, which isn't really that high.
Heather and Mark were sitting there waiting for me when I reached the spot.
Cross country skiing can be a great workout, but at our easy pace they weren't tired. They were just enjoying the scene.
"I just really love the shadows," Heather said.
The sun was dropping, the gnarled shadows of the big oaks and small saplings etching across the white ground like dark lightning.
Off the trail there were tracks, small impressions from hopping squirrels. Later we'd see the deep footprints from a pair of deer.
After we finished the greenway trail Heather headed home and Mark and I tackled the trail on the small wooded knob right behind the school.
Mark talked of the time he found a small shelter and fire ring just off that trail during a run a few years ago.
It was probably the work of kids looking for a spot to hide while cutting class. With its pretty view of the neighborhood and the surrounding mountains, it was a killer spot for a woodsy hideaway.
"I never take time to enjoy this view when I'm running through here," I said. "Maybe because I'm always so tired by this point."
The view is different under these conditions, Mark observed.
"The mountains just seem bigger when there is snow on them," he said.
This trail, too, was marked by footprints. Had it not been it would have been more difficult to follow than the greenway trail.
It's just amazing how obvious trails can vanish in heavy snow.
Atop a pretty steep downhill spot I stopped and shed the skis.
"If I tried this, I would kill myself," I said to Mark.
He didn't dispute this and shot off.
Looping back to the school we did a 200-meter half-lap on the track and then headed home.
The hour had gone fast.
I finished with an urge to pick up some used skis so I would be ready at a moment's notice when the snow comes.
But I fear that if I do, we'll be in for another long string of snowless winters.
And I don't want that.
