Nordic skiing

We have spent this weekend in the Cypress Hills Interprovincial Park. It's about an hour an a half from Ralston on the border with Saskatchewan. The park run lots of free courses to encourage people to use the facility. Last year I tried snowshoeing with them and when we spotted that they were doing beginners nordic skiing classes we decided to make a weekend of it.

Just to recap for those who are new to this blog. My involvement with downhill skiing began and ended last winter in a 45 minute period, stuck up a mountain in the Rockies with temperatures of -26c. Jim on the other hand has skied for several years and although not obsessed by it, likes it an awful lot more than me (it wouldn't be hard!)

Could nordic skiing prove to be our common ground? Well, amazingly... yes!

Our group lesson on Saturday went really well and with beautiful blue skies and temperatures near freezing all weekend, we went back out for 3 hours on Sunday!

Away from the crowds, the chairlifts and the teenage boys showing off, skiing turned out to be a rather civilised sport. Up on a plateau gliding through the woods, we saw only half a dozen people all day and when we stopped, the only noise was the wind blowing through the pine trees. It was a wonderful peaceful way to see the countryside... we'll be back!