Date: Winter 2023
Location: Backcountry Trails, CO
For Christmas, my wife and I both got cross country (XC) skis. We opted for backcountry (BC) skis with metal edges in widths of 76mm (Asnes Nansen for me) and 68mm (Fischer Outback) for my wife - both waxless. Bindings are NNN BC for both of us. While my wife did a fair bit of downhill skiing growing up, I've never been a skier, so this has been a learning experience for me.
After around 125 miles on the skis so far, I am loving it and my usual "hurry up and get over winter" attitude has been replaced with excitement to explore on skis each weekend.
I will admit that I have fallen more in a few short months of skiing than I have in almost a decade of paddle boarding. The broken pole below (snapped the carbon fiber) occurred, unfortunately, about 5 miles from the trailhead.
Typical outings are about 8 to 10 miles and I love breaking trail in fresh snow.
We've spent a fair bit of time in the Indian Peaks aka the Windy Peaks as can be seen (kind of) in the whiteout/blizzard photo below.
Love adding this new method of exploration!
