ESQUÍ DE FONDO

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Donde fueres haz lo que vieres, y aquí todo el mundo se mueve patinando. Así que nos alquilamos unos esquís y nos fuimos a probar esto del esquí de fondo.

Estuvimos unas cuatro horas y media marchando arriba y abajo por todos los senderos que estaban ya preparados por el personal del parque. Más tarde hemos descubierto que la mayoría de sesiones de esquí de fondo no suelen pasar de un par de horas como máximo. Para los lugareños salir a esquiar es como en Barcelona salir a correr. A menos que seas un ultramaratoniano (como casi todo el mundo ahora) pues no sales a correr durante casi cinco horas.

Esto del esquí de fondo tiene su gracia y es tremendamente más barato que el esquí tradicional así que este va a ser nuestro deporte de invierno. En parte también por necesitad ya que hay tanta nieve que es imposible ir de excursión sin esquíes o raquetas de nieve.

Nuestra técnica debe hacer daño a la vista pero nos movemos, que en el fondo es lo que cuenta. Y parece un deporte muy completo ya que acabas con los brazos más cansados que las piernas, que afortunadamente no sufren ningún impacto (al contrario que cuando corres). Es un poco como ir en bicicleta pero sin bicicleta. 

Empezamos por uno de los senderos o carriles o como sea que se llamen que está justo detrás de casa y que sigue el curso del Bow River por dentro del cámping de Lake Louise, actualmente cerrado ya que no pueden conectar el cercado electrificado y todavía hay un oso pardo que no ha ido a hibernar.

Una vez tuvimos ya cierta confianza y dejamos de parecer Michael Jackson haciendo el moonwalk nos aventuramos hacia el otro extremo del pueblo, donde cogimos el sendero llamado Tramline que sube hasta The Divide, donde seguimos por la carretera que lleva hasta el Moraine Lake.

Después de unos kilometrillos de subida nos avisaron de que la carretera estaba cerrada antes de llegar al famoso Moraine Lake por el riesgo de avalanchas así que nos dimos la vuelta. Y qué divertido. Pones los esquíes en los carrilitos y bajas como si fueses un coche de Scalextric, y menos mal porque ya íbamos bastante cansados.

Marina encontró en el trastero de casa unos esquíes y unos botines de su talla así que ahora sólo tenemos que alquilar los míos, menudo chollo.

Enrique & Marina

English version

CROSS COUNTRY SKIING

In Rome do as the Romans do, right? And here in the Rockies everyone gets on the move sliding in some way. OK, so let’s do the same. We got ourselves some cross country skis and off we go.

We spent about four hours going up and down exploring the tracks nearby our house that were mostly already track-set. We latter found out that you normally don’t ski for such a long time unless you’re going somewhere. The usual length of a skiing session is about a couple of hours or so. Cros country is the pretty much the winter equivalent to running in Barcelona so, unless you are a ultra-marathon runner (well, like almost every second person now…), you don’t go out running for nearly five hours on a regular basis. 

It turns out that cross country skiing is quite a lot of fun and considerably cheaper than down-hill skiing. For this reason, we’ve decided that it’s going to be our winter sport while in the Rockies. Well, for this and also because there’s so much snow on most of the tracks that exploring the mountains is literally impossible unless you’re using skis or snow shoes. 

We’re still working on our technique. So far we manage to slide down and climb little hills without losing our dignity. Eventually we’ll look stylish. Besides, it apparently is a very complete sport because you not only use your legs but also your arms and, since you’re sliding, knees stay free from any impact (as opposed to running).

We started easy at the back of our house in the Bow River track and the camping ground loop.  Note that the camping is closed for the season and also because the electric fence that keeps wildlife away doesn’t work in the winter… At that time there was a bear still not hibernating and we had to keep our hears open for any dangers. The access to this area is now closed to the public because it’s too close to a river that recently got flooded with icy water and a huge ice block current. The damage was pretty scary and Parks Canada has decided to close the access to all the tracks surrounding the Bow River within Lake Louise Village. 

After getting some confidence and when we didn’t completely look like Michael Jackson dancing the moonwalk, we crossed up to the end of the township to take the Tramline track that leads up to The Divide, where we took Morraine Lake Road for a short bit. 

After skiing up for a few minutes we were warned that the end of the road was closed due to avalanche danger and that we were not going to make it to the lake itself. Again we decided to turn back. It was getting too late anyway and we aren’t very experienced in this environment yet. Oh! and going down was a lot of fun! You place your skis in the little tracks set in the snow and you basically can just let yourself go like a Scalextric car! So sliding down is faster and way less tiring!

I was lucky enough to find a set of skis left behind at our place that fit me pretty well. They’re really old but they work well if I wax them properly. So basically I can now go skiing instead of running anytime and when we go on an adventure it’s only one set to rent. What a bargain, hey? 

Enrique & Marina