It’s been quite a while since I’ve been out for a genuine cross country ski session, but that’s what I got to do today at the Bolton Valley Nordic Center. E planned to take the boys up to the resort’s sports center for some swimming this afternoon, and with a fairly short window of time and not much new snow over the past few days, some cross country skiing seemed like the perfect fit.
The resort was again quite busy today with many people off from school and work, and indeed the lift queues looked fairly substantial as we passed by the base lodge. We were able to park right down by the sports center and E and the boys headed roff to the pool while I got my gear together. I took a nice round trip out on Broadway and Maple Loop, and enjoyed the ability to actually ski in the tracked lanes. Where possible I used the tracks and skied classic, but also skated in some spots. My skis aren’t really skate skis, but I was able to fumble through some strides. I jumped into the powder off the sides of the trails a few times and even managed a few Telemark turns, but I was thoroughly reminded of just how unstable real cross country skis are.
The boys had a lot of fun catching balls as they jumped into the pool and did everything else they’ve missed since the last time they were in the water. We walked up to get some sandwiches from the deli before we left, and could see the mass exodus of visitors heading back to their cars as the ski day ended. Based on what we’ve seen over this holiday period, I think the resort has seen a lot of visitors thanks to fairly decent ski conditions, so hopefully that’s been a big positive during what is typically the biggest week of the ski season.
