Monday, February 4, 2008

A day in the classic tracks

Scott skied: 3 hr 45 min, 21.5 km
Becky skied: 3 hr, 15.5 km



Today, we headed out to try some classic skiing. We have spent most of our time this year on our skate skis, so this was a nice change of pace.

For the first part of our journey, we headed out across Galeairy Lake towards the Algonquin Park Leaf Lake trail system. It was a glorious day, the sun shining, but a little bit warm, hovering just above 0 degrees celcius.

The tracks across the Lake were set in some places, but not in others. Mostly, you just made your way across the flat surface. It was pretty easy going and quite pleasant.

We entered the park trails at Q and skied that narrow up and down trail to the trestle; the same path we skied yesterday on our skate skis. It was much easier with the classic skis.

Midway along the trail, I paused to smell the air and listen. It was uncannily quiet. You didn't hear any birds chirping, or snowmobiles growling. The only sound was the wind moving through the colourless trees. I snapped a picture of Scott. His bright orange jacket making him appear like a flower in a sea of dark green and bright white.

On one of the downhills, I felt that my balance points were a little off. I am usually cautious on downhills, but always ski with a feeling of control. Today, I felt that I wasn't as in control as I'd like to be.

We entered the trestle, then skied west to join with the David Thompson trail. We followed the trail from S to N to L. When we arrived at L (6.86 km), I stopped at the cabin to make lunch. Scott dropped off his backpack (which had lunch in it) and went for a bit more of a ski along the Fraser Lake loop.

Upon arrival at the cabin there was a gentleman from Barry's Bay enjoying a sandwich. We shared some pleasantries and he continued with his ski while I prepared lunch.

I prepared lunch on a little alcohol stove that I recently acquired. Lunch was a bit of an experiment. I had chicken soup mix and a dry mixture of basmati rice, red lentils, and green lentils. I boiled some water, mixed it all up, and let it simmer.

While making lunch, I enjoyed the company of at least two pairs of Whiskey Jacks and several chickadees that were not at all shy. I found some sunflower seed in the cabin, and placed them on the railings. The birds quickly came by to pick some up, testing how close they could come to me. The chickadees flew right over my head, such that I could hear the flutter of their wings.

I popped into the cabin to grab some more fuel for the stove and heard my phone ring. That is an odd sound, a cell phone in the middle of the woods. Scott called wanting to know if he should head back. I said yes. Later, I found out that he wanted to know whether it was closer to finish the loop or turn back. It turns out that if he continued on the loop, it would have been shorter than turning back. Oops!

After a nice warm lunch, we decided to take the Old David Thompson trail. This trail was packed but not track set. With each stride, we would sink into the heavy wet snow an inch or two. It was surprising that we were still able to get a decent amount of glide. It was quiet and peaceful, with the only sounds being our skis crunching through the snow.

We came upon a hill, that was signed with a warning. I remember the hill from a few years ago, from the first time we attempted this trail. I attacked it pretty quickly, and ran into some trouble right after the first turn. My snow plow turned out to be ineffective in the heavy snow, and I fell - laughing as it occurred, although I was a little bit shaken. I had a long way down to go yet. I dug myself up and prepared to tackle the rest of the hill. Unfortunately, I didn't make it very far. After about 20 feet, I fell again, this time rather spectacularly. My left ski ended up upside-down underneath me. My left two was at a very unhealthy angle. My right ski was also stuck in the heavy snow and such an angle as I could not move. Any attempt at motion caused pain in either my hips/abductors or my toe. I called for Scott to come and unclip me from my skis. I couldn't reach either of them. I can't imagine the mess I would have been in if I was skiing alone!

Scott made his way down to rescue me. I was afraid that he would lose control and plow into me, which would not end well! However, he was suitably careful and made his way below me to unclip my right ski. Once that was out, I could move my hips to a more comfortable position, and then figure out how to extract my left ski from under me in a manner that didn't further injure my toe. Through great contortions, I was able to straighten out my ski. At that point, I decided that we had had enough of the Old Thompson Trail. We were in about 1 km, and the ungroomed trail was 7km in length. With an uncertain toe and other potentially sore body parts, I figured it was wiser to turn around and head for safer ground. I unclipped my left ski and walked up the hill.

Once on flat ground, I put my skis back on. It wasn't until then that it occurred to me that the reason for my issues on the hills was my backpack. This was my first trip out this year with a loaded backpack. The load (although not that heavy) was causing me to adjust my balance inappropriately. I wasn't lowering my center of gravity correctly. Add to that, that my classic boots don't provide the same level of support as my skate boots (and I've done a lot more skate this year than classic).

The remainder of the ski home was pretty uneventful. I tried to take it easy as much as possible, so as not to hurt. I found I was really nursing the toe and not skiing with that great of form, but I was able to ski without too much discomfort.

When we got in, I got a chance to check out my toe. It was a little swollen, but not in too bad shape. I could still walk on it, with only mild discomfort. So, all-in-all a nice day of skiing and only a little mis-hap.

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