Cross country skiing just out the front door

It was so nice to grab our cross country skis and walk out the door of the condo to take a trip around the lake.  Peaceful.  Beautiful.  Free (love that one!)

The next day, we took Logan and Dallin to the Frisco Nordic Center to rent some cross country skis.  We started out great, but not too far into it both Logan and Dallin were not feeling so good (hungry, fever, coughing, ugh) .  We had to turn in early.  (next time we will all be healthy before this venture)

Snowshoeing in Breckenridge

Because I forgot my Snowshoeing book at home, Heather and I did a quick search on the internet to find snowshoeing trails in the Frisco/Breckenridge area.  Heather picked one out and we headed towards Breckenridge.  We continued for some time without finding our next turn.  (Jared was a bit irritated we didn't have a map in our car or exact directions - all well)  We decided to stop at McCullough Gulch Trail (trail #73 in my snowshoeing book I later found out).  

It was a beautiful hike on a beautiful day!

3 miles round trip

10,300 to 10,848 feet elevation

SLEDDING IN FRISCO

We can't go to the condo in Frisco without some good sledding.  James and the boys were getting creative with the ways in which they made it down the hill.  They did a train, jumped onto the sled, backwards, facing each other, and finally, the sandwich.  The sandwich was James' idea.  Disregarding my feelings of trepidation, they headed down the hill.  Needless to say, James was the only one that made it to the bottom still attached to the sled.

Telemark skiing experience

I was so excited to hear that Heather was too tired to do another hike up the mountain with Jared.  I quickly volunteered (never been on telemark skis before) and Jared and I headed up to Copper Mountain.  We started at the bottom at Union Creek and started heading up the green trail.  It was amazing that the skins on the bottom of the skis kept such good traction.  

It was a great workout and I was determined to get to the very top of the mountain.  After about an hour or so the green run turned into a blue run and got increasingly difficult and steep.  I wanted to keep going, but I was more concerned about going back down on unfamiliar skis. 

We finally decided to go down.  We took off the skins, attached the bindings and put our layers back on that we had recently shed.  O.k., let's go!  Jared effortlessly glided down the mountain in the exact lunging technique that is required in telemark skis.  With much confidence, I followed.  Hmm.... I was not quite able to ski "alpine" style.  No problem, I thought, with a little coaching from Jared, I will pick up this lunging thing and work my way down the mountain.  It was not an easy task.  I fell many times to say the least.  

And fell again.  

And maybe again.

Even snowplowing was difficult in these skis.  Every once in a while, I got a good left lunging turn, but as I got ready to turn to the right - you guessed it -  I fell once more.

I worked my way down the mountain snowplowing, a manageable turn, snowplowing, and a good fall or two.  Jared was pretty patient (or pretended to be) as I continued down the hill.

We finally made it back to the bottom.  It was a great experience and look forward to another telemark lesson again.

First day of skiing

You can't beat $10 skiing!!!!

I happened to look over Loveland's 2009 calendar and noticed they had a $10 ski day each month sponsored by a local radio station.  The February date was close to the week my parents' condo was available in Frisco.  Could it be more perfect?  Unfortunately, James couldn't make it up until Saturday, so I tackled the feat of coaching Logan and Dallin through their first ever day of skiing. I purchased a ski harness and an "edgie wedgie" through Craigs list for Dallin and I felt confident that Logan would get the hang of it since he has been on cross country skis and snowboard before.

The greatest task was all the preparation: renting and fitting the equipment, teaching how to click into the boots, strapping up the harness, and getting onto the lift.  

Logan was a bit concerned when he realized the lift was only a two - person lift.  I reassured him that he would do great by himself since he has been on a lift before and I had to stay with Dallin.  I don't think Dallin knew what to think about the whole process - it was all new, exciting and a bit scary.  He kept commenting on how high we were on the lift.  When it came time to get off the lift, I held him against my side and we glided to a stop.  Dallin immediately said, "Can we do that again?"  He didn't know the fun part was suppose to be going down the mountain, not up. 

Logan cruised down the mountain at an uncomfortable (for me) high speed and quickly realized he enjoyed skiing much better than snowboarding.  He spends more time skiing and less time falling.  Dallin had a difficult time the first run or two, but after we ate some lunch and went up again, he didn't want to stop.  Dallin also didn't want to have anything to do with snowplowing. He no longer needed the "edgie wedgies" to keep his ski tips together.  He liked to go fast!!  By the end of the day both Logan and Dallin were doing so well.  I had to talk them into ending the day.  They both can't wait until we can go again.