Elliot wins Gold at the Michael Gray Jr race!

Elliot's first run on the course and he does really well!

Uphill Skiing Walk of Shame

This was my fourth day of uphill skiing at Windham Mountain and I planned to try the new trail called Wolf's Prey to get to the summit of the western peak after two previously failed attempts.  Of course if I had all day, the two previously failed attempts would have been successes but my activities are tied to the time my son is out race training.

The Trail Map that Windham offers is very misleading because I found that Wolf's Prey was essentially straight up.  I grabbed a water break on a corner section of the trail where there was a rock I could sit on and take a little rest.

2nd Skin

The following weekend it was really cold so I dressed accordingly.  This time around I wore a cycling t-shirt and thermal long sleeve that I also wear for the cycling.  Over that I was wearing my favorite fleece with zip pits.  However, by the time I got to top of Wilbur Park I was sweating profusely once again.

I headed up Wing'n it but then when I saw the last section to the top I knew I wasn't making that so I cut over on a trail called Wintuck, thinking I would probably be able to climb Why Not only to find the trail closed due to ski racing.

In the afternoon I headed over to the western side of the resort to try and climb the western mountain. Along the way I saw Elliot up in the chair.  I was probably 100 yards up the mountain and we was already taking his third run.

I never made it up the western mountain but I still had fun climbing.  Coming down was great, too.

Uphill Skiing is Fun!

I have yet to get back on the bike due to my bike crash late last year but for the past couple of weeks I have felt good enough to ski and one thing I wanted to try this year was uphill skiing.  This is my second year on Telemark skis and it's a such a blast!  Every turn is a learning experience.

  

I have my son enrolled in an adaptive racing program at Windham Mountain through the Adaptive Sports Foundation.  Last year we were going to Jiminy Peak every week for their racing program but Elliot grew out of that program which has brought us here.  The big difference with ASF is that I can't shadow Elliot like I did last year so while he is off shredding the trails with his guide I have some time to kill.

So, I bought an Uphill Seasons Pass at Windham, which means for $25 I can ski up and down the mountain, I just can't use the lifts.  When you have skins, why would you even want to use lifts?  It sounds like cheating!

Similar to the scales you get with waxless cross country skis, skins let you walk up a slope without sliding backwards.  In fact, they are far better than scales!

My first outing was on a particularly warm Saturday afternoon on Martin Luther King, Jr's Birthday weekend.  My first skin was up Lower and Upper Whirlwind and it was basically straight up and I got really hot, really quick!

 

I went out wearing a t-shirt, turtleneck and a wool sweater and half way up I was sweating profusely. In my ruck sack I am carrying water, a parka shell and my helmet because I knew going downhill was going to be really cold.

But the beauty of this type of skiing is getting access to closed slopes!  After this climb, my down hill selection resulted in finding a slope that the upper part had snow making on it which seemed to be deterring the other skiers from this particular slope.

Thus giving me the entire lower section of the slope open to make some really good turns!