Why ruin a good walk by strapping planks to your feet and slipping everywhere? If God had intended us to travel on snow, etc. etc. These were my views on skiing before we headed up into the mountains. But after my experiences of today...well...
We hadn’t managed to get ourselves prepared enough to hire skis in the supposedly cheaper area of lower-altitude Berkeley. It didn’t matter, as we quickly spotted Don Cheepo’s Snowboard and Ski Shop but a few blocks away from our holiday cottage. How could we resist?
$10 for a full set of cross-country (“XC”) skis and away we went. Getting to our destination took a little longer than anticipated (see previous post) but soon we were slip-sliding away with the best of them.
I’m still not sure about the rules and regulations. Several of the recreational ski areas that had been recommended to us were displaying ‘closed for the season’ signs (isn’t it the season now?) We eventually parked by the side of the road next to a couple of big trucks and headed into the white wilderness.
This cross-country stuff isn’t as easy as it looks. Sometimes your skis get crossed over. Sometimes you end up sliding in different directions from those your brain is telling your feet. Sometimes you meet other skiers and embarrass yourself by having to drop your ski poles and grab the nearest tree to stop falling over...and still fall over. But they were very understanding.
After a while we did manage a beautiful glide along the shore of Lake Tahoe, before some back-country exploring when we forgot where we’d left the car. We returned the skis to Don, with the promise that we’d return to hire some snow shoes tomorrow, and I’m staving off muscle pain with a healthy mix of a hot bath and several glasses of white wine. The Nevada state line is only a walk away. We might spend tomorrow in the less physically taxing environs of a casino.
My kind of shop.
Plenty of choice!
Snow bird.
Trying to ski before I can walk.
Down at the lakeside.
Water skiing can wait for another day.
Hannah ploughs a lonely furrow.
Polar bears, that is.
Demonstrating the technique.
I took to cross-county skiing so easily that I quickly graduated to downhill.
