Skiing in Vermont

So, there was cross-country skiing to be had in Vermont today. Its not even Halloween yet (its tomorrow) and we were skiing.

7:45AM - I swung by the UVM dorms and picked up one Paul Smith and we hopped on I-89 south to meet up with Eli Enman down at the Richmond park-and-ride. We parked and rode in Eli's sweet bio-diesel further down 89 to the Waterbury/Stowe exit and headed north on 100 and then did the shake and bake, left-right-left, through Moscow-by Stowe HS-and onto the Mountain Rd. **Take that! Stowe Village Traffic**

8:45AM - We decided to pass on skiing the Stowe toll-road and go right for the Notch Rd. The Notch Rd. is Rt-108 and is closed between Stowe Resort and Smuggler's Notch Resort once the snow flies. The old Stowe Road Race, something I've just heard legend and lore of, used to go up and over the notch. We drove right up to the end of the plowed road and parked. The UVM ski team van was there and Fritz and Jurgen were sitting inside the van, doing who knows what. We talked to them for a moment, then geared up, slapped down the skis, and got going.

9:00AM - We chose to just use waxless classic skis...light touring skis. I'm not going to lie and tell you it was midwinter perfect skiing, but it was real skiing. The road was completely covered, and we weren't stepping over water or rocks every 10 feet. We kicked and glided our way up the notch and passed UVM skiers heading the other direction - including Ryan Kerrigan, who racked up an impressive win at the recent Brandon Gap time trial. I'm picking Ryan to do something real good on skis this winter. He's been working real hard at it for a while now - and I think its time he shines through.

9:30AM - As we started to climb further up the notch we saw UVM assistant coach Pat Weaver coming towards us. Pat was skiing clean-up - the caboose at the back of the of the UVM train. We stopped and talked to him for a few minutes. I think Pat was happy to see that Paul was out skiing with Eli and I. Paul didn't quite nab one of the UVM ski team spots this year (there were 17 guys for only 8 spots) and I think Pat really likes Paul - so he was happy to see that he was staying on top of his skiing and training.

10:30AM - We continued on, back and forth on the notch road for a total of about 1.5 hrs. On the way back to the car we passed the unstoppable force...the immoveable object...Trina Hosmer. She's in her early 60's...an Olympian back in the mid 1970's...and she's still pretty dang fast! And she's right there with the college kids chasing snow up high in the mountains.

11:00AM - When we got back to the car I asked Eli if he wanted to ski just a little more...and he said no, that he liked to keep the first few days of snow skiing in the real cold a bit short. It was really cold up there, and I thought to myself..."well, Eli's a lot more experienced than me, so why don't I go ahead and use his experience...and just do what he does." So, we called it a day, hopped into some dry clothes, and headed back to Burlington. I'd amazingly had some forethought earlier in the morning, and had picked up 3 cinnamon and sugar bagels from Bruegger's. We munched them down and listened to the entertaining radio political commentary on our way back north on I-89.

NextUp - A loosely planned, potentially bad idea, and a heck of a lot of fun - skate ski to the top of Mt. Mansfield and ski down on Saturday morning. Pictures for sure!