Spring sking

[Flamestead]

I was dropping trees and skidding them off the hill much of the weekend, and it sure felt like spring sking conditions. My skidding operation shut down several weeks ago due to lack of snow - I had been chunking up what I had, and even did an engine and hydraulic oil change on the splitter. Winter came back on Thurs/Fri, leaving us with 12", so I'm able to go back to pulling out some more wood. But it sure doesn't feel like it will stay, with these warm days and some strength in the sun. By noon I was taking a tractor bucket load of snow on each trip back to "repair" spots in the trail that had lost its cover. I'm hoping that I'm done with 2013 and am well into 2014, but find I a poor judge of log-length piles.

 

[LLigetfa]

I wish I had been working on my firewood and not Spring skiing. I wiped out on a hill and hit the trail real hard. It knocked the wind out of me but I dusted myself off and kept skiing. I was a few km down the trail when the endorphins wore off and the pain started.

The weather is making it hard to choose the right wax for skiing. -9°C one day and +9°C the other or both on the same day depending on the sun and the trail.

I'm glad to have all my wood where I want it and not be at the mercy of the weather for it.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

It sounds like Spring arrives here on Wednesday. It is winter now.

 

[Flamestead]

I wish I had been working on my firewood and not Spring skiing. I wiped out on a hill and hit the trail real hard. It knocked the wind out of me but I dusted myself off and kept skiing. I was a few km down the trail when the endorphins wore off and the pain started.

The weather is making it hard to choose the right wax for skiing. -9°C one day and +9°C the other or both on the same day depending on the sun and the trail.

I'm glad to have all my wood where I want it and not be at the mercy of the weather for it.

It has been a while since I've done much XC sking. Klister comes to mind on days like this. Faced with that or doing something else, I generally chose anything else. I suppose these days there might be some better mannered waxes for above freezing. Half the fun of it, though, is hitting the right wax for challenging conditions. We haven't seen +9°C yet (about 7 today), but are expecting -17°C tomorrow night.

(Hope you didn't do any damage.)


(edited due to poor spelling)