It's December

(More blog entries from ryan)

It's my 9th favorite month!

It's December. It's my 9th favorite month. But, we've been through that already.

I have to say I'm more excited than I thought I would be for the 9th favorite month, and it's a rainy, warmish day today. But, I'm optimistic. Temperatures are looking better through the weekend, and I can feel winter coming. I waxed a pair of skis the other night. It's time. It has to be. There are a couple alpine resorts open in New England and that means we can't be far behind. I'm ready.

Talking to a number of ski types, there have been some glum faces, but I'm not buying into it. It's only December 1st. It's going to get better. We'll have a winter. We'll have snow. We'll have skiing.

Until then, I'll day dream with a little help from YouTube:

Comments

Re: It's December
by Sparkplug on Dec 1st 2006, 12:35 pm

Crap! You've been waxing skis already... I'm behind! Time to get up to the wax bench and get the skis ready :-)

Re: It's December
by Howie on Dec 1st 2006, 1:12 pm

I can feel it too. Definitely a sea change in the offing. I can feel it so much that I allowed my wife to wax my skis for me! I know, I know, but it's the sacrifice I'm willing to make. She offered! What was I going to say? No? I don't think so. Not the real classic skis, just the waxless race ones. By the way if that Norweigan video had been shot while using the proper technique (that would be classic), it would have been lots smoother. But nice to see some good snow cover. Howie

Re: It's December
by starfish on Dec 1st 2006, 4:42 pm

Howie, you should have recognized those as full metal edge BC skis, he's just skating to make sure he goes fast- I'm sure on the way up he was striding ultra smooth like Eli's hero Vergard Ulvang. Anyone else notice he was XC skiing with full bore goggles? Hmmmmmm

Re: It's December
by Sue on Dec 3rd 2006, 1:23 pm

I do like waxing skis. When I count waxing my alpine skis, I've been waxing skis for something like 34 years! There's something calming about the process. And it helps make my skis faster, which I REALLY like! Another thing I start doing this time of year when I am desperately waiting for enough snow to ski on, is watch ski videos. Some of our videos we've had for years, but that doesn't matter. I don't think I could ever get sick of watching Bjorn Daehlie and his masterful technique. My alltime favorite classic skier to watch: Norway's Bente Skari. I can watch a tape of her diagonal stride over and over, certainly with some hope that this visual image will seep into my own technique. Think snow and think cold!

Re: It's December
by Nate-tron on Dec 5th 2006, 1:34 pm

I love the thought of skating, classic skiing, or backcountry. I realize that most of the "older crowd" has a negative feeling towards skate skiers, but lets face it, any glide is good glide. And Sven, just so you know, "This is a backcountry adventure, you're nordic meister warmups might not be appropriate". Anyone out there recognize this quote?

Re: It's December
by Ryan @ Great Glen Trails on Dec 5th 2006, 5:05 pm

I don't care if the guy is on 2x4s and wearing those giant neon sunglasses from the 80's—looks like fun. YouTube has a good number of nordic ski stuff (along with everything else). I was going to include a video of some yahoos jumping...er...crashing, but I didn't want people to think that was how we introduced newcomers to the sport.

Re: It's December
by Mike on Dec 6th 2006, 9:46 pm

It is nice to see snow and it does look like fun. I can hardly wait...