TOASTY WARM

I realize yesterday’s post made me sound like a wuss. Plus, I’m sick and tired of having other people tell me how cold it is outside. I’ve decided that I’ll determine what’s cold for me – rather some weatherman on TV or a co-worker. Just because the thermometer happens to go from +1 to -1, doesn’t mean it all the sudden becomes brutally cold outside. It’s all about mindset and I think the “weather terrorist” have it all wrong.

As I tell my girls, if you can’t get outside and enjoy our winters, you’re going to be miserable.

Of course, starting this new hobby in my late-30s makes me wish I had started earlier. I did ski a little as a kid, but it was mainly back-country blaze-your-own-trail sort of skiing – not competitive skiing. On Sunday I was all pumped to get in another nice ski in the afternoon. However, when my daughter said she wanted to go to skiing at the county park, I happily traded a solo ski for a father-daughter outing.

Anyway, with all that said, I was bound and determined to get out and exercise this morning. Last night I re-waxed my skis and laid out all my clothes. This included, from bottom to top;

Thin socks
Toe warmers
Thicker socks
Shoes
Wind briefs
Old running pants cut into half-tights
Thick pants
Thin pants
Long sleeve mock turtleneck
Long sleeve shirt
Thick jacket
Thick vest
3 pairs of thin mitts
Hand warmers
Face mask
Hat

With all this on, -7 degrees with a wind chill of -15 were no match. I was toasty warm.

Unfortunately, there were 2 problems when I got ready to ski. 1) I bought some new skis and I couldn’t get the back hook on one of the bindings to snap into place. I had a little problem with them the first time I used them, but eventually got them to work. Today I couldn’t get them to work at all. 2) I tried skiing anyway and there was absolutely no glide. Luckily, as I was leaving the house, I threw in my running shoes and I was able to get in an hour run.

So today’s question for the skiers out there is, how does a wax that claims to work from +10 to -25 degrees not work when it’s -7? Is it a grind issue? I’ve had problems with warm weather waxing too. It’s really going to be a bummer if I can only ski when the temperature is between 5 and 25.

Quote of the Day;

“I wish I learned to ski really early, so I could have taken it further than I was able to take it.” - Jan Guenther