March 10, 2025: Talk about sudden. Today the skiing was soft, wet, and fast. The sun was out and now that daylight-saving time is here, it has that much more time and a higher, more direct angle to do its work. Where it had spent time shining on the fields, skis sunk softly. Where shadows had edged onto the track, the surface refroze into needle-like crystals that scraped against ski bases. More noise than grip.
We might get another week or two the way the forecast is shaping up. Cold nights. Warm days (at least above freezing, if not bumping into the 50s or even 60s).
March 11, 2025: I’m sure there are scientists who can explain why snow is as variable as it is. By that I mean that, at a glance, all snow looks pretty much the same. It’s white. But from one day to another – or at this time of the year, with the sun becoming noticeably stronger, warmer, from one part of the day to another – the feel of the snow, and thereby the experience of playing in it, can be very different.
Here's what this non-scientist can say about it: Today the temperature when I went for a ski (at 5:30 p.m., thanks to daylight saving time) was 56 degrees, the sun was filtering through a gauzy layer of high clouds, the wind was a steady 10-15 mph, and the snow was soft and moist. But fast. I’d expected a sticky slog through mush and thought about rubbing some wax onto my ski bases before heading out with Milo. But didn’t need it. Except where pine needles had accumulated like shallow green puddles on the track, the surface was kind of ideal. A reliable kick and satisfying glide.
March 12, 2025: Last night the mercury dropped into the high teens. And never climbed above 30 during the day. On my way home from town around noon, I surveyed the trails and thought I was looking at the surface of the moon. So today I will take Milo for a walk/run on the road and wait for the big warmup beginning tomorrow and the (short-lived) return of a softer, more forgiving surface. It wasn’t so long ago that a super-fast, super-slick surface was just another challenge. I’m trying to tell myself it’s time to satisfy myself with tamer challenges.
It feels like the days for Nordic skiing this season are coming to an end. Where is our March snow!?
March 13, 2025: We’re on the other side of the time change and so the late afternoon light even coming through high milky clouds is enough to soften snow, even at 40 degrees. And this time of year, the groomer heads out late day, while the snow is still ripe to lay tracks before the sun drops behind the mountains and the snow stiffens.
Skiing today, following the track recently tilled by the groomer, was some of the finest of the season. Soft and fast and with enough grip to hold a kick. It’s corn season. I know the fun of corn skiing on alpine equipment – the splash of kernels. New to me is the pleasures of corn on Nordic equipment. The sound. The slide. The sun. And the understanding that with a forecast like this, it won’t last long.
George is saying the snow might last a couple more days.
March 14, 2025: Soft and sunny. No stick. Good kick and pretty good glide. Again, skied in the wake of the afternoon groomer. Early spring is its own season.
