XC Skiing - Hills Course

Today was xc skiing lesson #2: hills.  The weather was unbelievably warm in Peter Lougheed.  It was +4ºC when we started at 10am and +6ºC when we finished at 4:30pm.  I put on the red V60, which worked great for the morning, but had to reapply in the afternoon as I was loosing all my grip. These things were nice and fast on the downhills!  These are some of the exercises we went through today:

Morning: Meadow Trail

• Can't remember what we did first!
• Turtle.
• That weird turn where your leg goes around 180º. Anyone know what it's called?
• Ski downhill by moving to the side then back into your imaginary lane.
• Ski downhill on one foot.
• Double pole downhill
• Herringbone.
• Herringbone with some skate-like speed at the end.
• Snowplow.
• Snowplow and spaghetti combo.
• Covered about 2.0km here.

Afternoon: Meadow and Woolley

• Mini tour to try various hills. The corduroy on Woolley was quite frustrating: no trackset, and texture was getting crusty. 
• Double-poling with one foot kicking up.
• Covered about 6.2km here.

Teresa was a great instructor, and really made it fun. Lots of interesting bits about skate skiing as well, so that felt like a bit of a bonus. She also reassured us that probably 80% of this is mental. Don't let the downhill Caution signs freak you out. I went for some nice speed at the end, and celebrated with a nice big face plant a mere 20m from the end of the trail at the end of the course. But, the turtle always gets you up.

Later Afternoon: Moraine and Boulton Creek

The course was done around 2:30pm, so three of us decided we wanted more. We drove to Boulton Parking, intending to ski that little 1km+ loop right around Boulton. We started on that - it took us across roads twice and left a fair bit to be desired in terms of the excitement factor. Just before the black hill a great suggestion was made: why not add a 4.5km loop of Moraine and Boulton Creek.  Yes, this was our win for the day!

Moraine was real pretty and we were all surprised when we arrived at an open area overlooking a little ravine and with views over to Indefatigable. Otherwise the trail was in the trees, but our newly-applied skills were put to a test. Downhills here curved and trees were on both sides, so you needed control. We encountered more snow towards the east end. Boulton Creek was real pretty, though the track was worn out pretty good in some spots, as well as crusty, with pine needles all over, a tight downhill curve, and a creek at the bottom.  Miss your turn (so easy for the old tracks ensure skis would slip out) and you land in the water.  But, we survived, so the lesson paid off.  This was definitely an awesome way to finish off the day ... plus a stop at Woody's.  Covered about 5.8km here. Day's total: 14.0km.  We think we're ready for a 20km day!