Had my first cross-country skiing experience on Sunday. Originally, we were supposed to go downhill skiing, but it was deemed to be too cold, so we opted to go off-road. While waiting at the bus stop, Tanya asked about skiing terminology in English. In Russian, downhill skiing is referred to as "mountain skiing" while cross-country skiing is referred to as "regular skiing" (or at least that's how she talked about it). I explained that, contrary to Russian, if one were to simply suggest going skiing, the presumption would be that he or she meant downhill skiing. She seemed miffed at the idea that she would have to stipulate cross-country skiing in order to get her point across, but I was just happy I finally found something that takes longer to explain in English than in Russian. I love me some Russian, but da'gummit they got some long words!
The world is my frozen oyster.
Turns out that cross-country skiing is actually two different sports. One of them is really fun; one of them really sucks. It all depends which side of the hill you're on. It took a little getting used to in terms of orienting myself. After having spent all my hours on the mountain clomping around on fat downhill skis, the bamboo thinness of the XC skis I procured for $6USD (love it!) were a bit...tricky. I know what you're thinking and the answer is no, I didn't fall. The skis were also extremely slick on the snow, making for the occasional Saturday Night Pneumonia Fever moment. I swear I didn't fall.
The good news is conditions were perfect: Tanya's sister, who came with us, hadn't been on skis in a decade or two, and Tanya's son was at a friend's birthday party, meaning I wasn't shown up by an 11 year-old. I quickly discovered the main difficulty of cross-country skiing, aside from the agonizing exertion of skiing up a hill of course, is heat maintenance. In order to protect oneself against sub-zero temperatures, one must bundle up sufficiently. Rapidly and continuously flapping one's arms and legs around like a frostbitten chicken, however, has a tendency to up the core temperature. I forwent the "happy medium" approach, opting instead for alternating periods of extreme cold and heat-induced sweating. I wouldn't recommend it. And no, I didn't fall.
Technically I'm only half way up, but trust me, that's an accomplishment.
All in all I had a lot of fun. It was nice to get some exercise in, and the scenery was quite picturesque. Apparently my friend Olga goes every Saturday, so I'm sure I'll be hitting the gradual inclines slopes again soon. Tanya and I have already made tentative plans to go downhill skiing on Wednesday, so I'm looking forward to that. I'm interested to see what it's like, as I'm told the downhill place isn't even outside of town, and I'm pretty sure I would have noticed a mountain hanging around. I'll let you know how it goes.
Okay, so I fell.
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