Sketchy skating

We have not blogged for a while.  Just too busy working on home improvement projects, Bobke, and work, but I wanted to post a quick update about a new activity we tried: skate skiing.  It was my idea; we have lots of friends that do it and they all say it is an awesome work out.  We've seen the skate skiers whiz by us while we cruise slowly along on our classic cross country skis.  It was time to give it a whirl.

We went to White Pine Touring center in Park City, where they have lots of groomed trails.  We rented equipment, and by a stroke of good luck, my co-worker Don Deblieux, who has been a ski instructor at White Pine for over 10 years, just happened to be there on his day off, so he gave us a very helpful first lesson on the proper techniques of skate skiing.  It is kind of what you'd expect: you push your skis out diagonally like you would on ice skates or rollerblades, but the difference is you have long skis that have no metal edges on your feet and long poles in your hands that you have to coordinate with your leg action.  For me it was a recipe for failure.  I just couldn't get the hang of it, even though I have spent time on both ice skates and rollerblades.

Drew, on the other hand, seemed to pick it up naturally, and promptly left me in the dust/powder.


It was, however, an excellent work out.  I'm still not rushing out to buy new gear.