My Latest Ski Outing Leads to a Sticky Situation-Dan’s Almost Daily Journal
Volume 57-Tag Along With Me on My Sometimes Boring Sometimes Interesting Sometimes Humorous Journey Through Life
Welcome back to my journal. It’s hard to believe it’s mid-March already. Spring begins officially next week on the 20th. Before we know it we’ll be starting to clean up our yards and preparing the garden. I have already planted some seeds, some using the Winter Sowing technique, and others using the traditional method. We have received 4 snowfalls already in March, the latest being a sizable storm that dumped about 16 inches of snow here in Central NY. Today the temperature is in the high 40s, whereas just a few days ago, we were experiencing near-blizzard conditions. Tomorrow, rain is in the forecast. Here is a story I wrote earlier in the week about the big storm and its historic timing:
Yesterday, I took advantage of the latest snowfall to enjoy my favorite winter pastime: cross-country skiing. I returned to one of my favorite locations here locally, the 9,000-plus acre Pharsalia Woods NY State forest, which is about 15 miles from my home.
The latest snowstorm (Winter Storm Sage) raged Monday night, all day Tuesday, and early Wednesday morning. By the time Wednesday afternoon rolled around, the skies cleared, and the sun illuminated the freshly fallen snow, showcasing a winter wonderland. Even though there was still a stiff wind, the sun and temperatures in the upper 20s made the outing pleasant.
This huge State Forest offers numerous locations to ski, especially since it is also part of a snowmobile trail system. The machine-groomed snowmobile trails allow for wonderful conditions for cross-country skiing.
For this outing, I choose to ski on Coy Street, one of my favorite trails in the forest. The snowpack is now over 2 feet, the deepest of the season. Better late than never. Just before the arrival of Spring.
An Unusual Situation
When I started down the trail, I saw the trail groomer enter from another side trail. Great news. Nothing better than a freshly groomed trail. However, when I reached the groomed section, I soon realized it might not be good skiing after all. For some reason, the snow was sticking to my skis. For those of you who are skiers, you know there is nothing worse. I’m not sure why it was happening, maybe the snow had too much moisture or it was too fresh. I have skied in warmer temperatures with no problem.
Since my skis are the no-wax type, there was nothing I could do. So I just enjoyed the scenery and skied as best I could. It was more like using snow shoes. It still was fun to get out and enjoy the fresh snow. The only other time this happened was on my first outing of the year at Bowman Lake State Park. I look forward to getting out a few more times. This weekend will see a cool down again, hopefully, the snow will have settled and provide better conditions.
