Acclimatizing to Snow and Cold

I'm getting ready for a snowy, high elevation adventure this weekend, so I've been trying to get ready for it by spending more time outside in the snow and cold. Last week I took advantage of the fresh snow and went cross-country skiing four times. Twice I went at lunch up the Upper Lehman Creek trail. I was the first one to break trail. I could see the old trail trough, but it was under about 15 inches of fresh powder, so I got a good workout.

I went up from the trailhead 30 minutes, then turned around and skied down my tracks--it only took 12 minutes and was beautiful.

The next day I convinced my co-worker Brooke to come along. We followed my tracks the following day, which had been enhanced by two folks from Alaska who had continued higher. It was just a little bit warmer, but that was warm enough that the snow stuck to our skis on the way back down, making it a little frustrating. Nevertheless, it was great to be outside.

When I got home I thought I'd see how it would be to ski around the house. The roads were packed down and worked out fine. The kids gave a try.

Desert Girl especially stuck with it. She was stumbling all around, getting her skis twisted and falling often at the beginning, but after an hour she was doing great. We might even try to have the kids enter the Ely Birkebeiner on February 20, a cross-country ski race.

Next up was a before-work ski up the Baker Creek road. You can see my long shadow! There were snowshoe tracks, but I was the first skier.

It was so peaceful skiing in the morning.

Eventually I went past the snowshoe tracks, but I found plenty of animal tracks! The birds were also quite noisy.

Then it was time to head to Eagle Point Ski Resort for a Superbowl Sunday ski. It sure cleared out after lunch and we had the slopes almost to ourselves. It was warm, not windy at all, and the snow was great. We put the kids into ski school and my husband and I enjoyed a rare lunch date.

When we picked up the kids from ski school, they were eager to show us what they had learned. They did great! (They were also entertained on the ski lift by taking selfies.)

Another ski run all to ourselves.

Desert Girl was so tired, but she was a trooper, willing to ski until the lifts closed. We can't wait to go back!

And then this week has been some snowshoeing for work. Hopefully I'm ready for the big adventure. Whatever happens, I imagine it will be worthy of a blog post!

Hope you're enjoying winter!