The sun shone brightly today on northern Vermont, so the Skimeister and I burned off some steam by taking a lunchtime nordic ski at Catamount Cross-Country Center in Williston, Vermont.
What a gorgeous afternoon it was. The blue skies and the warmth of the sun were fantastic. The snow coverage—not so good. Unfortunately Catamount is at a lower elevation here in the Champlain Valley so it got a few inches of that fluffy snow yesterday, but there was nothing underneath it. The previous warm, rainy spell had taken its toll on their snow base.
Nonetheless, we gingerly skied or tiptoed around grassy spots, icy spots, dirt and rocks. When we skied deeper into the wooded part of the center it was actually not too bad, but any part of the trail that is exposed regularly to the sun was really thin. I carried my skis over the final meadow that led to our car. I couldn't bear hearing the earth and rocks scraping at my Pavos!
We need another base-building event (a big, wet snowfall) to help lower-elevation nordic centers like Catamount.
Now we're planning on some alpine skiing this week while the sunshine continues and the temperatures warm up a bit. We want to make the most of it before the rain or mixed precipitation hits on Friday. Grrrrrrrrr.
