A few weeks ago, Steve and I managed to wrangle another day off together, and we decided to make the most of it by doing something a bit different. I found a good deal on cross country ski rentals and a trail pass for the Snow Farm, so we woke up early and headed out of town. The snow farm was an hours drive over the mountain along the same road we traveled to go to Treble Cone for our birthdays. As we wound up the road past golden-brown grass covered hills it was hard to have faith that there would be enough snow up there to go cross country skiing. Even when we arrived at the access road for the snow farm the mountains were still bare, but as we rounded the final bend all of a sudden we were surrounded by white. The same phenomenon occurs when we go snowboarding... because the climate is just too mild for snow to survive anywhere but at the very tops of the mountains in the shaded areas.
When we arrived at the Snow Farm we found out they were gearing up for a big cross country ski race the next day, and we felt a bit out of place surrounded by a bunch of Lycra-clad athletes springing around the trails. The skis we were given were thinner than the cross country skis we have at home, designed more for racing than exploring the back country, but they didn't take too much getting used to. We decided to leave the racing crowd behind and set out on the Loop Trail, a 13 kilometer round trip that would take us over gently rolling hills and past the Meadow Hut. It took us about three hours to reach the hut, where we stopped to warm up a bit and eat the lunch we had packed before continuing the last few kilometers back to the base building. We debated exploring another one of the shorter trails, but decided to save our energy so we could go night skiing at Coronet Peak.
When we arrived at the Snow Farm we found out they were gearing up for a big cross country ski race the next day, and we felt a bit out of place surrounded by a bunch of Lycra-clad athletes springing around the trails. The skis we were given were thinner than the cross country skis we have at home, designed more for racing than exploring the back country, but they didn't take too much getting used to. We decided to leave the racing crowd behind and set out on the Loop Trail, a 13 kilometer round trip that would take us over gently rolling hills and past the Meadow Hut. It took us about three hours to reach the hut, where we stopped to warm up a bit and eat the lunch we had packed before continuing the last few kilometers back to the base building. We debated exploring another one of the shorter trails, but decided to save our energy so we could go night skiing at Coronet Peak.
We drove back into town around 4pm and treated ourselves to Domino's before headed up to the mountain. Neither of us had ever been night skiing before and we weren't quite sure what to expect. The sunset from the top of the mountain was spectacular, and we soon got used to the darkness in-between light-towers. The evening was warm and the snow was quite soft and slushy, so after a few hours on the main chair we decided to head over to the beginner lift and work on some tricks. We've both been concentrating this season on learning to ride switch (with our opposite foot forward) and we spent the last few hours working on 360s, tail and nose presses and buttering. We won't be joining the x-games anytime soon, but we both made good progress on new skills and had a lot of fun riding together.
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