10 reasons to take up Nordic skiing BY DAVID MCMAHON
1. SUPER-HUMAN FITNESS Nordic ski racers are arguably the most highly conditioned athletes on the planet. It is low-impact sport that exercises your heart, lungs and every muscle in your body—an excellent way to stay in shape. Runners will find that Nordic skiing will help them maintain or improve their fitness while allowing their joints and muscles to recover from overuse or repetitive stress injuries. 2. FRESH AIR EXPERIENCE Nordic skiing is a clean oxygen-fed sport that takes you into nature and away from busy roadways and claustrophobic gyms. In the spring, a strong crust of snow covers the entire landscape that allows you to ski anywhere in total freedom. “Crust-cruising” can take you skate-skiing from the trailhead, through the woods, over a mountain and back within a morning. 3. GREAT RETURN ON INVESTMENT Good equipment is essential to provide a quality skiing experience. Expect a modest entry cost that may be higher than running, but certainly less than canoeing or alpine skiing. The new gear will last years and thousands of kilometres. The payoff is immeasurable in terms of health, fitness, recreation and personal growth. 4. NORDIC LIFESTYLE People of all ages frequent the Nordic ski trails to maintain and improve their health. It is an environment where Spandex lives in harmony with wool, and where skiers, regardless of ability, exchange salutations in passing. Hard bodies in Lycra and rosy, healthy faces make an afternoon outing in the park not too hard on the eyes. 5. SKI-IN POTLUCK You are missing out if you haven’t skied hut-to-hut, stopping for a candlelit dinner around a woodstove with wine, fondue and friends. It’s a decadent and efficient way to share the effort of preparing a meal and enjoying a workout. Food always tastes better if you have to carry it some distance. Delicacies warmed over a woodstove seem 12 | OTTAWAOUTDOORS
so much more wholesome inside your tummy when there is a cold breeze on your face and icicles hanging from your eyelashes. 6. STAR-GAZING You would be surprised how many people ski in the Ottawa region after work. The night sky is a planetarium overhead stretching from horizon to horizon. The trails are particularly bright on evenings where there is a full moon casting a blue hue magically through the trees. Skiing at night can feel a lot like striding at the edge of the universe— without gravity, you might even ski into space. 7. LAUNCHING PAD Science has told us that given enough thrust, it is possible to make a brick fly and so it is with a self-propelled activity like Nordic skiing. There is even more satisfaction knowing that the experience is self-generated. This is perhaps why children aged eight to 80 will find any bump in the woods to launch from for hours, or the more amplitude-craved jocks pop a “backscratcher 720” off something improbable. 8. TIME Squash court bookings, scheduled aerobic classes, ice time, and alpine lift lines are the few obstacles to doing exercise on your own terms. Avoid getting stuck dangling from a HOME
chair while your limbs freeze and your butt goes numb. There is no wasted time waiting to Nordic ski. It’s up to you when and where you go. Nordic skiers can do lots of vertical runs in a day without ever stepping into a lift line. 9. FREE-RIDING Unless you and your friends have a helicopter at your disposal, the only environmentally-friendly way that you are going to get into the backcountry is on snowshoes, alpine touring, or Nordic skis. The fastest means is using Nordic/telemark gear. Since the majority of your time will be spent climbing or traversing the flats, it is in your best interest to become proficient in Nordic ski technique. 10. EARN YOUR TURNS There is a certain satisfaction reaching a destination or ascending a mountain under your own power. In a time before lifts, people made every turn count; focusing on the quality of the experience. In Nordic skiing, speed only comes with skill and experience. You need not fear getting blindsided by some novice skier going Mach 2 who can’t turn or stop because they’re supported upright by the stability of their high-tech equipment.
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