Category: Free Inquiry

This is the final post on my cross country ski inquiry as the weather has shifted to feeling more and more like spring and effectively ended my ski season.

When I look back on my experience, I can’t help but be proud of what I accomplished in such a short period of time. My first day of cross-country skiing I literally had no idea what I was doing, I just went for it! I fell more times that I can count and had no control going down hills. The video below shows me struggling up a hill, there’s no skill or grace involved, just pure grit and determination!

As I gained confidence and spent time practicing specific skills, my performance improved. Focusing on bending my knees and shifting my leg from one to the other increased my gliding and dramatically decreased the shuffling movement I relied on at the beginning. You can see in the video below that I am able to hold my balance and gain some speed coming down a slight hill in the video below.

By the third day I really felt things were starting to click for me. I noticed that I was able to spend more time enjoying my surroundings rather than focusing on what I was doing to avoid falling. Below is a video of me coming down quite a long, steep hill! This was a pivotal moment for me as it really built belief in myself.

Taking up a new sport like this was a really good experience for me. It has taught me to try something new, even if you aren’t very good at it at first because at the end of the day it’s fun to learn! It has also taught me to persevere when things don’t come easy, to keep trying and put in the time.

Today I just wasn’t feeling it. It was cold, windy and icy. There hadn’t been any recent snow and a couple weeks had gone by since our last ski day. I just wasn’t feeling as confident as I had been. Despite this, we decided to go out and just do a short loop. Oftentimes, when I’m feeling like this, I need to just go do the thing I don’t want to do and I never end up regretting it!

So that’s what we did. We went out, we ski’d and we had fun. It was really icy and I fell I a couple times but I shrugged it off, got back up and kept going. Something I’ve always struggled with is wanting to do something perfect the first time. Going into this experience with no previous knowledge or experience about cross-country skiing has meant that at time I really had to guard my mindset against all the old stories I have about not being good at certain things. I’m glad that I went out today because it forced me to practice in conditions I knew would be trickier and I would have to really concentrate on using the skills that I had learned so far.

I went into this day with more confidence and was eager to continue to practice the skills I had learned the previous week. The gliding technique felt much more efficient than the shuffling I had started out doing and this combined with bending my knees as I pushed off the snow had me sailing along the flat track. I also worked on doing a light jog as I went up the hills which although seemed a bit easier on the legs required more cardio effort.

This week we decided to do the route we had done the previous week but in reverse. The route was quite hilly, one way being long gradual hills up and short steep hills down. We wanted to try the opposite direction, thinking that long gradual hills down would be more enjoyable and short steep hills up less work to climb. I was gradually gaining confidence in going downhill and was actually starting to look forward to them. We were headed down one particular hill that we had already been on three or four times before. At the bottom of the hill was a Y in the trail and we were headed left. At the top of the hill we caught up to two other skiers that were taking a moment to enjoy the scenery. After exchanging some pleasantries, I took off to get ahead of them, knowing that I would need as much room as possible to safely get down the hill and make my turn. Right as I was headed down the hill, at a point when I couldn’t easily stop, both of the skiiers came up from behind and one of them crowded the other one into me! I shouted “woah woah woah!” to convey my distress at being so close to another person at such a high speed and instead of slowing down, he cut me off to go right in the trail just as I needed to turn left, forcing me to go left as well. I ended up crashing in a heap of skis and poles and instead of checking to see if I was ok, he glanced back at me but continued to ski on up the hill! My mom voiced her displeasure at his behaviour with a few choice expletives and we continued on our way.

In the past, an experience like this might have made me feel like quitting and going home. It was fairly scary and I am really lucky I didn’t get hurt more than a bruised ego. But I decided to brush it off and continue on. I was not going to let somebody else’s poor behaviour affect my desire to get better at skiing or take away my enjoyment of being out in nature on a beautiful sunny day.

We continued on our planned route and were happy we did! We had quite a few kilometers of nice, long gradual hills down and a couple steep up hill climbs back to the beginning. We passed the skier who had cut me off, he wouldn’t even make eye contact with me! People are funny.

Up until this winter, the only skiing I had done was downhill (alpine), which requires a completely different set of gear than cross-country skiing. Since cross-country skiing is new to me, I have spent a fair bit of time researching and learning about how to buy cross-country ski equipment. I found several helpful websites but checked in with a local ski shop as well to make sure I was on the right track. Through my research I determined that to get the right gear for me I would have to consider the type of cross-country skiing I panned to do, what level of skier I was and my height and weight. 

There are three types of cross-country skiing: classic, skate and backcountry. Classic cross-country skis are the most recognizable of the three and are longer and slimmer than the other two. Classic skis are meant to be used in the tracks of groomed trails or on packed trails. Skate skis are shorter and have a lower tip than classic skis to support the quick and agile movements of pushing off their edges. Skate skiing is faster and for most people more of a workout than classic. And finally, backcountry skis are designed more for more off-track exploration of the hills and forest away from the trails. Backcountry skis are also shorter like skate skis but are wider than both classic and skate skis and usually have a metal edge, similar to alpine skis. To learn more about the different type of cross-country ski you can visit this website. 

To keep things simple, I decided to stick to classic style cross-country skiing. Once I decided on the classic style, I was able to find out exactly what length my skis and poles should be based on my height using the below equations: 

For skis: body size (cm) + 20-30 cm = ski length 

For poles: body size (cm) x 0.85 = pole length 

You can read more about this here. 

Because I was trying cross-country skiing for the first time and had no idea what to expect, I really wanted to find used equipment so that if it was not something I really enjoyed or saw myself doing very much, it was not a huge investment. I am lucky enough to have access to an amazing used/consignment outdoor store not too far away from me and was able to find a pair of boots that were my size and skis with poles that, although were a bit on the long end for my weight and height, seemed to work ok. Overall, I have been really happy with how my gear has worked out so far and was able to start a new hobby for very a very affordable price. 

Friends! I am so excited! My goal today was to get down the very first hill of the trail without falling and I did it! In fact I didn’t fall at all! Success! I’m so excited for how today went!

Today we went on a huge adventure covering new trails we have not been on before. My goal was to implement some of the techniques I had learned watching the YouTubes videos mentioned in my previous post. Specifically, i concentrated on gliding, snow plowing, and “running” up the hills. I noticed a huge difference in my efficiency when I focused on gliding rather than shuffling my feet. I’m confident that this contributed to my endurance and my ability to ski for almost twice as long as I had previously.

Photo by Patty Proctor

This route was also great for practicing going down hill as there were many more long and steep hills than we had done previously. I really focused on bending my knees and shifting my balance forward and overtop of my feet rather than sitting back like I had been. This gave me a greater sense of control and meant that I was actually able to go down most of the hills with one ski in the track and one ski out of the track. This technique allowed me to snow plow when necessary but for the most part I was able to ride the hill out which was a lot of fun! Finally I focused on “running” up the hills and using the grip of my skis to get me up the hill rather than basically hiking up the hill. While I would say it was faster and somewhat easier, it was definitely must more of a workout.

All in all it was a successful day. We ended up being out for about 3 hours and about 13 km. By the end, both my mom and I felt we had been hit by a bus, we were exhausted but happy.

I went into day 2 of cross country skiing feeling like I may have under estimated how hard cross-country skiing actually is. Reflecting on my experience of day 1, I realized that I had jumped into a pair of skis naively believing that I could figure this out with basically no understanding of the skills that were actually required to do it well. I literally had no idea how to turn or stop… which when I think about it is kind of terrifying. So my goal was to be more intentional about how I approached going down hills and to get a feel for how the skis were moving underneath me.

The day didn’t start off quite the way I had hoped, I still went flying down the very first hill and fell at the bottom. Not sure whose idea it was to put a hill at the beginning of the trail but I would guess that they probably don’t remember what it was like to learn to cross-country ski! Despite falling on my butt right off the bat, I did manage to make my way around our route without any additional falling.

As the day progressed I definitely felt more and more comfortable on the flat and slight inclined portion of the trail. At times I actually felt what it was like to be gliding on the skis rather than just shuffling along. I could feel myself intuitively picking up one foot and then the other almost as if I was running. Slowing myself down was starting to get easier too. By picking up one foot slightly and pressing with the opposite toe, I was able to make tiny turns with my skis in a pizza slice shape as I carefully made my way down the hills and around the corners. I even managed to make my way down most of a hill with one ski in the track! Huge win!

Now that I have done a couple days of skiing and have a sense of what I’ve signed myself up for, I think I will likely do a lesson in the next week or two. To really understand what it takes to turn and stop effectively I’m going to need the help of an expert! Stay tuned!

If anyone ever tells you that if you can downhill ski you can cross-country ski, they’re lying – I found this out very quickly as I went careening down my first hill on cross-country skis.

ca-reen

1. 1.

   NORTH AMERICAN

   move swiftly and in an uncontrolled way in a specified direction.

   “an electric golf cart careened around the corner”
2. 2.

   turn (a ship) on its side for cleaning, caulking, or repair.

   https://www.google.com/search?q=careen&rlz=1C5CHFA_enCA918CA918&oq=careen&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j0l5j69i60l2.1891j1j1&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Yup, that pretty much sums it up. The part about “moving swiftly in an uncontrolled way in a specified direction”… not the part about the ship. Just making sure that’s clear.

Nothing about cross-country skiing is even remotely the same as downhill skiing other than you have two skis strapped to your feet. Not the way you use your poles, not the way you use your skis to turn and not the way you stop yourself – these are all important skills you should have to ensure you don’t end up falling flat on your face with your sun glasses full of snow. I found this out the hard way the moment I was slammed face first into the snow like a fly-swatter. Luckily, the only thing hurt was my pride and I was able to finish our route for the day with only a few minor difficulties. Despite all the drama, I still had an amazing day up in the mountains and the sun.

By now you might be wondering why I decided to take up cross-country skiing in the first place. I’ve been a downhill skier for quite some time and since moving back to the CR area I’ve been wanting to ski more. However, between my full university course load and family responsibilities, I just haven’t been making running a priority like I should and I just don’t have the leg strength required to make a day of downhill skiing worthwhile. Although I would say cross-country skiing is an excellent workout, you just aren’t using your legs like you do when you downhill which means I can go farther. Secondly, being back in CR means I get to see my Mama more! She invested in cross-country skis a few years ago and I thought it would be something fun we could do together. Luckily both our schedules allow us to go most Tuesdays mornings while the kids are in school.

When we were required to document a free inquiry topic of our choosing for our Technology and Innovation in Education class,  it seemed like a no-brainer that I would document my experience learning to cross country ski. Despite the minor injuries sustained to my pride on my first day of cross-country skiing,  I’m looking forward to learning something new, forcing my self to get up the mountain as much as possible and having this to look back on to see my progress. Hope you enjoy following along with me on this journey!