Very quiet cold snowy day at the snow park on highway 88 Carson pass. Very popular winter camping spot for people going into the backcountry or going to Kirkwood resort. Weekends it fills up with people snowshoeing, Alpine touring and cross-country skiing in toward round top peak on day trips.
It's about a 5-hour tour across both lakes and up to a beautiful winter camp at haypress meadows. The view at haypress Meadows is desolation wilderness to the west and echo lakes and Tahoe to the east. Mount Ralston with really fun skiing right above you.
Hey everyone! In late February I am skiing in my first race for anything ever when I go to Hayward, WI for the Kotelopet. I have been reading some posts that have given me great training ideas but I am super anxious about moving too slow and not finishing.
A bit about me: I am a 30 year old 235lb man who used to be super active (played basketball and general gym workouts) but since having a kid in 2025 I have struggled to always find the time after work to put in true workouts (gained 10-15 pounds since). I am always down to walk 18 at some very hilly golf courses (every course in La Crosse has hills).
I have only cross country skiid a couple of times each time going for 4-5 miles and really enjoyed it. I plan to buy skiis (would love recommendations!!) and get out a lot more this winter once we get snow. I stopped drinking alcohol and really cut back on coffee and soda which has seen me go from 245 down to 231 this morning! Basic math says I need to go 3mph to finish in the 6 hour window for this race but I have no frame of reference for how that will look/feel.
I’m just looking for any advice, encouragement, skii brands to look into, etc that you fine folks may have to get me across that finish line.
Thanks everyone!!
Hitting big early season volume with beautiful views
Preferably for skating …
What kind of preparation would I need to do to be able to ski the Birkie next year? The farthest I've ever skied was 16 or 18 miles. I don't do any roller skiing but I road bike and mountain bike. Do I need to start running or something before winter? Maybe I should do the korteloppet first since I'd be able to do that, but I kind of like the idea of skiing the full distance.
I'd be doing the classic and I'm kind of slow.
They're paving a decent sized cemetery near me. I run through it all the time, but rollerskiing in a cemetery? What do you think? I'm leaning towards "no" but fresh smooth pavement is hard to resist.....