Training Log Archive: AliC

Wahoo!! We woke up 3 times overnight to the sound of Santa out grooming the trails, but meant we had amazing freshly-groomed trails to ski on for Christmas! Skied back a longer way than the way out with our slightly-lighter packs. Chill pace, felt better cold-wise than yesterday at least, and very nice to not be skiing in a white-out!

Merry Yurt-mas Eve! A month ago or so, I booked a yurt at the nordic center for Tom and I to stay in Christmas Eve. For most of the month, there was no snow. But lucky us, northern AZ got an intense Christmas Eve storm. Starting at 11 am or so, it just kept accumulating in the inches-per-hour rate. When we got there at 2pm or so, it was skiable coverage, but a complete white-out. So we donned our packs and our skis and headed out in it! The yurt was only 1.3 miles away, but breaking trail, going uphill, being at 8000 ft and having a cold made it slow going!

We arrived at the yurt and started up the wood stove first thing. It did take awhile to really warm up, but then we were able to cook on it and it basically became a sauna and we had to keep opening the door for temperature modulation. The snow was coming down so fast, that we had to shovel the way to the woodshed every hour or so.

Anyways, super-cozy and wonderful way to spend Christmas Eve into Christmas! Totally recommend if anyone is near Flagstaff anytime. They are also open in summer, feature an outside grill and such.

Blah, cold has descended. =(