The Wisconsin Life: Cross Country Skiing in our backyard
The biggest surprise gift we received for Christmas were classic cross country skis, poles and boots from my dad. A complete set up for all four of us - what an opportunity to really embrace the Wisconsin winter life!
Unfortunately, it has been unbearably frigid for weeks here in the Fox Valley. We've been gripped by the same arctic air much of the country has dealt with, but given our northern latitude, it has manifested as sub-zero temps on some days and sub-zero wind chills on most days for the better part of almost three weeks.
Finally this past weekend, though, we got a little bit of a break. The sun was shining, the air temperature approached freezing, and the wind chills were back in positive territory. I've learned pretty quickly, that means it's time to get outside!
One challenge we faced in trying to achieve the first Wisconsin bucket list item: it's been so cold, we haven't had any snow. It's almost literally been too cold to snow. Of course, that also meant it was too cold to melt, so there is still some snow on the ground, just not enough for the local trails to be open. I looked at the Wisconsin Snow Report and found that about an hour north of here, there was enough snow on the ground for groomed trails to be open. It seemed like a long way to drive, but I was determined - seize the moment! And this was the moment to ski!!
By Sunday morning, though, my certainty was beginning to fade. We'd watched several videos on YouTube, but honestly, none of us knew how to ski. What if we drove an hour and couldn't figure it out? What if we were outside for ten minutes and it was still too cold to bear? What if the groomed trails had uphills and downhills, and we were way to novice to manage it? My coworkers had recommended skiing on Lake Winnebago - talk about a shock when I heard that advice! You can cross country ski on a frozen lake? Never even thought of it! That would've had the distinct advantage of being perfectly flat, but the definite downsides of 1) being very exposed to the wind (which never stops in Wisconsin, by the way - we can put Central Texas to shame) and 2) being very hard if we fell - when we fell, more accurately.
I finally decided, there's enough snow in the backyard, I'll just try the very beginning techniques I saw in the videos in the twenty or so flat feet we have in the backyard. Nothing ventured, nothing gained - and something ventured, nothing lost, with no investment of time or gas to get to the starting point.
Much to my delight, it worked, and it was awesome!! I spent about twenty minutes outside alone just trying to get the hang of the relax and bend your knees/lean forward/push and glide/move your arms in the opposite direction/RELAX!! tips I'd watched on YouTube. I was also very, very glad I'd tried it in my backyard first - it is definitely not as easy as it looks!! I could tell right away, this is something that will take practice, but that is also natural enough that I'm confident I will be able to get better pretty quickly if I stick with it.
With the backyard option, I grabbed the kids, did a quick tutorial inside on the bouncy relaxed knees/nose over toes lean forward, and then we all headed outside. Strangely, it took us quite a while to figure out how to get the kids' boots into their bindings! Turns out, they really need to be clear of ice and snow to stay in the clips; mine are a lot more forgiving, so it took Justin to figure it out.
We all started with the basics: one ski on, one ski off, with the no-ski boot pushing to get the feel of it. Back and forth across the backyard until we all felt we could keep our balance. We progressed to both skis, gently shuffling back and forth, using our poles but also falling a few times - so we got practice getting up, too!
Finally, we had the basic rhythm of the thing, and we were managing that twenty foot back and forth with relative coordination and grace.
We were ready for the next challenge - but I was still struggling with needing to drive somewhere to get a bigger opportunity. Justin asked, how about just using the path in the preserve behind the house? BRILLIANT! I guess I had assumed it wouldn't have enough snow, or that we needed groomed trails, but after going back and forth in the back yard, I realized - you make your own trails pretty quickly! No professional grooming required!
We headed out into the preserve, Caroline, John and I, blazing a trail on the path where we see winter hikers and dog walkers enjoying the outdoors. It worked out great - I couldn't believe how perfect it really was!
There was quite a bit of falling by all of us, but also a feeling of adventure and elation when we got some of the push-glide down. I managed four or five loops around the preserve, with each loop at about a quarter mile. I'm so encouraged by this first experience! I absolutely loved it, and the kids did too, even with all of the falling! And while the temperatures were in the 20s with wind chills in the low teens, we didn't suffer from the cold thanks to the effort and exertion it takes to push-glide, push-glide. I have definitely found my favorite winter cross training sport - and maybe just my favorite winter activity in general!
The forecast now looks like it's going to warm up above freezing, with maybe even some rain coming to melt some of the snow. I have confidence, though, that the Wisconsin winter won't let us down. We have four reliable months of snow left before the spring thaw comes, and I know we'll have plenty of opportunities to get back out there. I can't wait to progress to the trails for family adventures in the snow!
One challenge we faced in trying to achieve the first Wisconsin bucket list item: it's been so cold, we haven't had any snow. It's almost literally been too cold to snow. Of course, that also meant it was too cold to melt, so there is still some snow on the ground, just not enough for the local trails to be open. I looked at the Wisconsin Snow Report and found that about an hour north of here, there was enough snow on the ground for groomed trails to be open. It seemed like a long way to drive, but I was determined - seize the moment! And this was the moment to ski!!
By Sunday morning, though, my certainty was beginning to fade. We'd watched several videos on YouTube, but honestly, none of us knew how to ski. What if we drove an hour and couldn't figure it out? What if we were outside for ten minutes and it was still too cold to bear? What if the groomed trails had uphills and downhills, and we were way to novice to manage it? My coworkers had recommended skiing on Lake Winnebago - talk about a shock when I heard that advice! You can cross country ski on a frozen lake? Never even thought of it! That would've had the distinct advantage of being perfectly flat, but the definite downsides of 1) being very exposed to the wind (which never stops in Wisconsin, by the way - we can put Central Texas to shame) and 2) being very hard if we fell - when we fell, more accurately.
I finally decided, there's enough snow in the backyard, I'll just try the very beginning techniques I saw in the videos in the twenty or so flat feet we have in the backyard. Nothing ventured, nothing gained - and something ventured, nothing lost, with no investment of time or gas to get to the starting point.
Much to my delight, it worked, and it was awesome!! I spent about twenty minutes outside alone just trying to get the hang of the relax and bend your knees/lean forward/push and glide/move your arms in the opposite direction/RELAX!! tips I'd watched on YouTube. I was also very, very glad I'd tried it in my backyard first - it is definitely not as easy as it looks!! I could tell right away, this is something that will take practice, but that is also natural enough that I'm confident I will be able to get better pretty quickly if I stick with it.
With the backyard option, I grabbed the kids, did a quick tutorial inside on the bouncy relaxed knees/nose over toes lean forward, and then we all headed outside. Strangely, it took us quite a while to figure out how to get the kids' boots into their bindings! Turns out, they really need to be clear of ice and snow to stay in the clips; mine are a lot more forgiving, so it took Justin to figure it out.
We all started with the basics: one ski on, one ski off, with the no-ski boot pushing to get the feel of it. Back and forth across the backyard until we all felt we could keep our balance. We progressed to both skis, gently shuffling back and forth, using our poles but also falling a few times - so we got practice getting up, too!
The forecast now looks like it's going to warm up above freezing, with maybe even some rain coming to melt some of the snow. I have confidence, though, that the Wisconsin winter won't let us down. We have four reliable months of snow left before the spring thaw comes, and I know we'll have plenty of opportunities to get back out there. I can't wait to progress to the trails for family adventures in the snow!
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