Ice Skating, Cross Country Skiing in the Great Outdoors

By April Gonzales

The snow stopped my daydreams of moving to Maui as the New Englander in me kicked back in. We have not had such delightful, dry snow in several years. Usually, it lasts a day and then melts, or it' slushy to begin with, but this crystalline powder stuck around.

As the temperature dipped, friends tried the ice on local ponds. While we were waiting for it to fully freeze we went cross-country skiing. I have fiberglass Rossignols with a fish scale base surface that allows me to go up hills as well as down. As a kid I used wooden skis that had to be waxed. The snow type (grainy, icy wet or dry), determined the kind of wax needed to create the right amount of friction for gliding forward, and keeping you from sliding backwards down hills.

There are many trails on the East End that are well maintained and take you through field and forests for a wonderful view of the local winterland landscape.

For the more advanced skiers, there are trails that go through the moraine. The hills in this area can make skiing more interesting and challenging. We took two trails through the laurels in Noyac. One, leaving from the cul de sac on Forest Drive, was an easy uphill glide that took no effort whatsoever, although my heart muscle and circulation were working overtime. What's great about cross-country skiing is that it isn't a lot of physical effort and yet the cardio workout is phenomenal, and, unlike running, it's fun.

Unfortunately, this pretty trail was cut off by a homeowner who put a metal deer fence across the trail and onto the hillside, cutting off access. Turning around we got back in no time, and moved on for longer trails.

We accessed another laurel stand from another location. That was definitely more challenging. The initial run was steep and entered the laurel bush at an angle, from there on the down hill run twisted and turned through the laurel stems. It took some quick footwork to get through.

We skied by teenagers who had built jumps on big hills. Slick, well-used down hill runs on smaller hills were made by the younger crowd. The sunset cast long purple shadows across the snow in contrast with the reds and oranges in the western sky and peachy clouds outlined in indigo. We decided to cut through someone's yard to get back to the car, rather than face the laurel bushes again. The homeowner came out, asked how the skiing was and invited us to use her driveway as a short cut any time!

As the weekend progressed, the skating crowd came out. We tested out Big Fresh Pond ourselves. My friend was out on the ice jumping up and down and saying, "It's not quite frozen yet."

"Jump up and down a few more times and see if you fall through," I suggested.

A group of us walked the edge with our dogs. As the booming cracks that are made as the ice adjusts to the weight changes sped across the surface, we occasionally decamped rapidly en mass to the shore. But people began to pile onto the lake and a steady stream of skaters tried their skill in the classic elegant dance of balance and glide. The snow fell after the lake had frozen and many people arrived with lightweight plastic snow shovels to clear the ice, but the snow was so light and fluffy you could skate right through it. Some one was even farther out on the lake chopping a hole in the ice to go ice fishing.

Old Town Pond was laden with skaters throughout the weekend. The Village has placed red ladders here in case any one ever falls in, but I haven't heard of that happening in years. Little girls twirled and guys played hockey in separate rinks that had been cleared of snow. Whole families skated through the powdery snow to the south end, away from the crowd, and groups of teens investigated the northern end of the pond.

But the most fun may have been had in my friends' backyard, where they built their own rink on a flat area. Here we tried to teach the little ones how to skate. Starting out with hockey skates is quite a challenge, I always thought that figure skates were easier. With an adult on each side or a chair or crate in front of them, the peewee crowd got its first taste of the fun. I watched in amazement as they cheerfully fell and tried to get up again. My first efforts were to keep myself from tripping. But as I got accustomed to the rhythm again, I found I could still do a minor pirouette, like riding a bike you never forget how to do it. Although watching the little ones making slow progress, we all marveled at how we had ever learned at all.

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