First Ski of 2012

I did not grow up in a family that skied. We took a few winter trips to the bunny hills of Telemark Resort in Hayward, Wisconsin but that was pretty much it. The fact that my downhill ski experience was at Telemark is is funny because Hayward, Wisconsin is ground zero for the American Birkebeiner ski race - which hosts a 54 km classic and 50 km skate ski races from Cable to Hayward.

The American Birkebeiner was held this weekend and we have three friends who raced, two in the skate and one in the classic, and all finished! We haven't heard the stories yet so we're not sure how they fared but I think it's probably pretty safe to say that after skiing a little over 30 miles you're probably a bit tired.

In honor of their epic skis this weekend I took my skis out for the first time this season! Calhoun helped me buy some classic skis a few years ago and, while I enjoy skiing once I'm out there it's the getting out there that's a little hard for me.

We slept in and had a leisurely morning filled with coffee and quality time with National Geographic. We finally decided we needed to eat a little more before heading out for our afternoon ski and sat down to some amazing smoked canadian bacon from Everett's Foods and Meats, smoked gruyere and crackers. 

Then it was time to get ready! We layered on the long underwear and warm socks while Sogn waited - not so patiently - for us to get ready to hit the big outdoors.

Then we did! And it was AWESOME! It was just me, Calhoun and Sogn on the lake. We cut our own  trail around the shore of the lake and were mostly able to stay out of the wind. The major complication in our route came when we hit some big open water. The geese down here are either the smartest or the dumbest geese you've ever met. They don't fly south for the winter. Instead, they use their body heat (gross) to keep an area of water open all season long....so although the rest of the lake is frozen solid there's a lot of open water around these silly geese. Skiing was going great until we came to the open water which came much closer to the shore than we had thought it would and we had to take off the skis and tromp through someone's backyard to make it around to complete our loop. Thankfully, we made it without anyone ending up in the water!

It was a great first ski of 2012. And I'm so glad that we went out yesterday because there is NO CHANCE we are going out today. We're currently under a wind advisory, with winds at 30 mph, gusting to 38! The house is rattling and the snow has been blown off the trees and we are staying inside!