The high was just over freezing today, so I was a little worried about sticky snow, but I packed my wax and we headed out to Craftsbury Outdoor Center for some cross country skiing.  I really enjoyed my first time skiing there, but this time I needed to get off the green (easy) trails on their extensive trail network, and get onto some blues (intermediate).  Again this winter, I haven’t skied much, but I’m never going to get better unless I try things I’m not sure I can do.  Hills and turns are those things.

It was very busy near the Nordic center, but once we headed out on the trails, we didn’t run into other folks too frequently.  We chose Charley’s Cabin as a destination and made our way through the maze of trails near the center to Ruthie’s Run, which we were able to take most of the way to the cabin before crossing Lost Nation Road and hopping on the loop to the cabin.  It had been very warm in the trees, but once in the sun, it was downright hot!  Not something I’m used to while skiing.

The point of going to the cabin is that there’s a woodstove and hot chocolate there, very nice things in the middle of a ski day.  Today, however, happened to be a big kids’ party/tubing day so the cabin was packed, the hot chocolate had run out, and the stove didn’t even need to be fired up for us to sit there in base layers.  We still stopped and had our own snacks before heading out toward Max’s Pond.

As we made our way back to the Nordic center, the day had advanced enough that the trails in the trees were getting a little melty and sticky, but overall it was a beautiful day with wonderful conditions.  We skied just over 7 miles on mostly blue trails.  I was feeling pretty good on the hills by the end.