rcantor
New member
I think snow is something you visit when you want to, not something that should drop in uninvited. That's why I love where I live now.
So work bonuses coincide with the REI ski closeout sale and I'm looking for some winter exercise and think I can pick up cross country skiing where I left off 20 years ago. The forest service says the ground's covered with snow until late April up the hill from us. Since Tank's hot at 50 degrees, I take him with me last week. ODOT said there's 14" of snow 60 to 90 minutes up the road. Perfect. I never missed the gloves I forgot to bring because it was a balmy 20 degrees and I was otherwise perfectly dressed.
So I harness up Mr Tank and then I put my skis on. As soon a I do Tank nudges me and one ski goes flying backwards. I found out I make a really funny noise as I go down. Poor Tank knew he'd knocked me down so he flipped belly up and I had to give him a tummy rub. After that it took me a good five minutes to get up. I'd lost the knack. I knew I'd get it back, but this was a poor start. So off we go and there's this beautiful, pristine FS road
And we go up. But Tank quickly finds out that the snow is more like 30" deep. He takes 2 steps and the next one his paw breaks through and he does a faceplant in the snow. After a few of those he wants to go back to the car.
So work bonuses coincide with the REI ski closeout sale and I'm looking for some winter exercise and think I can pick up cross country skiing where I left off 20 years ago. The forest service says the ground's covered with snow until late April up the hill from us. Since Tank's hot at 50 degrees, I take him with me last week. ODOT said there's 14" of snow 60 to 90 minutes up the road. Perfect. I never missed the gloves I forgot to bring because it was a balmy 20 degrees and I was otherwise perfectly dressed.
So I harness up Mr Tank and then I put my skis on. As soon a I do Tank nudges me and one ski goes flying backwards. I found out I make a really funny noise as I go down. Poor Tank knew he'd knocked me down so he flipped belly up and I had to give him a tummy rub. After that it took me a good five minutes to get up. I'd lost the knack. I knew I'd get it back, but this was a poor start. So off we go and there's this beautiful, pristine FS road
And we go up. But Tank quickly finds out that the snow is more like 30" deep. He takes 2 steps and the next one his paw breaks through and he does a faceplant in the snow. After a few of those he wants to go back to the car.
I get him to follow in my tracks which are already packed. He gets the hang of it but decides he wants to be by my side. After several dozen yards, I think, 'Nessa shot!'
But it wasn't, really.
Tank was very clever. He caught on early that the skis were what held me up so whenever he wanted to take a break, He'd plop down on my skis:
I was looking forward to the downhill return because I thought I'd whoosh down the slope. But as one of my favorite bloggers recently noted, powder is heavenly *on a slope steep enough to guarantee continued movement* But this virgin powder was on a slope not of the required steepness. So I kick and glide, or more accurately, kick and stick my way down the slope. Tank runs ahead in my tracks.
Tank was very clever. He caught on early that the skis were what held me up so whenever he wanted to take a break, He'd plop down on my skis:
I was looking forward to the downhill return because I thought I'd whoosh down the slope. But as one of my favorite bloggers recently noted, powder is heavenly *on a slope steep enough to guarantee continued movement* But this virgin powder was on a slope not of the required steepness. So I kick and glide, or more accurately, kick and stick my way down the slope. Tank runs ahead in my tracks.
Tank's impression of Nanook:
I tried for a Sandra shot but Tank wasn't having any of it.
I'm not Neptune! I'll just wait for you here.
So eventually we get back to the car. Tank was really anxious to get there, probably because he feared for my life. But the worst was yet to come. Tank hops in, I disgorge my gear and back the car out. Except the wheels are spinning and no backing is happening. No big deal, there's only 8" of snow and a short distance to the road, one push should do it. So I have one foot on the accelerator and one foot on the ground. I can't push facing the windshield so I turn around. One push and the car starts moving. I take a step to hop in and go whoosh, slip on the ice and am now being dragged on my back with one foot in the car and we're careening across the road at a million miles per hour and I'm having visions of poor Tank going off the cliff in my car. I look where we're headed and see a big, reassuring berm of packed snow (with a mountainside behind it). And so I leave my leg hooked there and notice that it takes an awfully long time to careen across 2 lanes. A million miles per hour isn't as fast as it used to be. We finally make impact, I swing up and drive off, neither of us any worse for the wear. Then we get to Diamond Lake where I did some skiing without Tank and took him for a walk along the edge of the lake. This is what we saw:
I'm going again tommorrow! Tank's version of the events and more pictures are in his blog.
So eventually we get back to the car. Tank was really anxious to get there, probably because he feared for my life. But the worst was yet to come. Tank hops in, I disgorge my gear and back the car out. Except the wheels are spinning and no backing is happening. No big deal, there's only 8" of snow and a short distance to the road, one push should do it. So I have one foot on the accelerator and one foot on the ground. I can't push facing the windshield so I turn around. One push and the car starts moving. I take a step to hop in and go whoosh, slip on the ice and am now being dragged on my back with one foot in the car and we're careening across the road at a million miles per hour and I'm having visions of poor Tank going off the cliff in my car. I look where we're headed and see a big, reassuring berm of packed snow (with a mountainside behind it). And so I leave my leg hooked there and notice that it takes an awfully long time to careen across 2 lanes. A million miles per hour isn't as fast as it used to be. We finally make impact, I swing up and drive off, neither of us any worse for the wear. Then we get to Diamond Lake where I did some skiing without Tank and took him for a walk along the edge of the lake. This is what we saw:
I'm going again tommorrow! Tank's version of the events and more pictures are in his blog.
