Training Log: Funderstormin

One last hike in Waterbury before the long and sad drive home! Fortunately it was grey and cloudy today which made it easier to leave. I thought all week about staying an extra day but knew I needed a day at home to transition back to normal life!

C • Fantastic Week! 2

Went out before work to check out the Perry Hill trail system, which is renowned for mountain biking in the area and somehow I've never been on. I didn't bring snowshoes with me (fail) and after Tuesday's dump I knew I wouldn't stand a chance until the trails had been packed down a bit.

A few brave soldiers had been on the trails for a bit, so I was able to hike with just my microspikes until the trail ran out. My hopeful loop turned into an out and back but the trails were beautiful and I look forward to biking on them some time.

Half of the trail system is open in the winter for multi-use, but the other half is closed for deer wintering, which I thought was an interesting approach but wondered how the deer knew to stay on their side of the forest.

I was *sure* that yesterday was going to be my last ski while I was here because of the rain forecast, but when I woke up this morning I saw it wouldn't start until early afternoon, so I had to get out for one more short ski. Since time was of the essence, I went back to the Von Trapp trails in Stowe and skied some of the trails I did yesterday. The yearning to explore new trails was strong, but I did the sensible thing.

On the way back down the mountain, it started to rain heavily. Thanks Universe!

I was supposed to take tomorrow afternoon off again so I could go skiing, but the forecast is for rain for a good part of the day tomorrow, so I switched the afternoon off to today. I was torn about heading to someplace I knew and enjoyed or trying someplace knew. In the end, I went to the Von Trapp Lodge trails in Stowe, where I'd skied once before with Amber, because I figured conditions would be great and it was close to the brewery that I wanted to visit afterwards!

There were 70km of trails open and I wanted to try to do a different route than what Amber and I had done previously. I ended up on a route that involved nearly a mile of climbing, which I enjoyed, but I was nervous about what awaited me on the other side! The downhill was a bit more than I could manage and the skis came off a couple of times! But there was lots of downhill to practice and I made up for this embarrassment later on the route, which I successfully managed a long downhill with five switchback turns.

I had a couple of chats with some lovely couples - one of whom I had had lunch beside at a cafe on Monday and another couple from Burlington who visit Prince Edward County every summer. They said they almost moved to Canada when Trump was elected and are still considering it. I never bring up politics myself when in the US (you never know!), but am happy to engage when someone else does and makes their stance clear.

I accumulated more than three time the elevation gain that I did the previous day at Craftsbury, which I thought was hilly at the time! The post ski beer felt well-earned.

I had taken today off and was grateful I didn't plan on this the day before! It was still snowing on my drive about an hour north to ski at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center and the roads were still a bit sketchy. I was impressed with how cautious all the drivers were.

I've skied at Craftsbury a few times before but never under such magical conditions! There was a total of about two feet of fresh snow that fell in the past 24 hours, and with it still falling all morning, the groomers couldn't keep up! The fresh snow made for hard work and slow conditions, but was a great boon to my downhill confidence. I skied some huge downhills and never had to take my skis off.

The day rate at Craftsbury is only $10 - far cheaper than anything else in Vermont, and surprising considering how awesome the trails and grooming there are. When I commented on this when I was checking in, the woman working there told me that it was because the center is located in the poorest part of the state, and their primary goal is to make it affordable for locals. Even an annual pass is under $100. I was as impressed by this as by the magical morning of skiing, which was followed by pizza at my favourite place up there and then a visit to my favourite brewery. A pretty great day!