Snow and ski - new idea for getting kids/teens into xc...

It's a perennial topic, I know.

But I just had an idea... One way to get more kids into XC skiing
would be simply to do XC skiing around more kids!

How many kids have actually seen much good, proper, fun XC up close
and in person? I'm talkin' dyno ski action that makes it look as fun
as any other snowsport -- maybe moreso. The other sports need *stuff*
and *facilities* and *special conditions* (hills, lifts, heavy,
expensive equipment, heavy clothes, even ice). With XC all you need is
snow and you're good to go! A kid would understand that if they ever
SAW it.

I had a chat the other day with some Boy Scouts and their parents
about XC. They were fairly into it. They said "Why, it's the most
fitness in exercise that you can get! It works out your whole body! My
daughter just did a report on it." --But none of them mentioned that
it's just plain FUN. Sure, I've long heard about its miracle fitness
properties, but I was somewhat embarrassed and ashamed to hear that
being the only way it was known or touted. It's a bit forced, in a
way. I mean, you'd get a lot of fitness if you tried to swim in a suit
of lead-weights. Actually, it's totally forced: what it's saying is
that snowboarding is fun but XC is a good workout. Argh! XC is pure
fun with nothing in the way. THAT's its MAIN benefit. Obviously such a
sport will have fitness as a main side effect. Good things have good
results. How can ya go wrong playing in a field of snow?

Anyway, it struck me that these people simply had not SEEN xc skiing
up close and in person. ...Except maybe for shufflers or Olympians on
TV -- and that doesn't count for really SEEING.

So...if a group of frisky skiers -- or even just ONE -- were to go out
and ski around at a school playground while the kids were having
recess... think of it! It seems like it would be best if the skiers
were teens and other young people, but anyone with some zest would do.
It would be best if the clothing was COLORFUL but not revealing --
lycra is not the mission here. The equipment should be simple, not
exotic. It shouldn't look hard or expensive or over the top, not too
intense. A small loop with a few rollers and berm turns, a couple
little jumps -- the right half-acre in most side-lots would do the
trick -- that's all it would take. Then ski around and around.

A college campus where young people could see the skiing as they
walked between classes: that's the ticket!

Our local middle school has their cafeteria overlooking a perfect
rolling meadow, pond and woodlot and part of the XC-running course.
Someone XC skiing around there (in a zesty way) about noon would show
those lunching kids a real thrill! ...It would show them that anyplace
that's pretty and curvaceous in the wintertime IS STILL THEIRS.

I bemoan the fact that at the half dozen local places that I ski that
I hardly ever see other people except for a few middle-aged trundlers.
Well, it's time for a change! I think I'll make some forays to where
the kids are this winter! ...And I'll see what I can do to get anyone
else to join in.

I'm in the process of signing up to be an XC Ski Badge Counselor for
the Boy Scouts. I just read through the badge requirements. They're a
bit pitiful, in a way. I see their point, to a very small extent. They
treat XC skiing like mountaineering. THAT'S WRONG! So, I guess I need
to talk to some higher-ups there. Do the rollerblading or ice-skating
badges have kids demonstrate orienteering, survival and broken-bone
splinting skills? XC skiing should be presented to Scouts as a fun
skill, good for an hour or so in any snowy neighborhood. The
wilderness expedition angle should be for the winter season option of
a expedition/mountaineering badge. Of course, the requirements aren't
too hard and we can run thru them easily and quickly but the focus is
off. (OK, it's not TOO far off, but there are a few unrealistic
requirements that grate and reveal common misperceptions. At least
they don't mention ice-axes.) The reality is that XC is the best
winter activity ANYWHERE THERE'S SNOW. It's the BASELINE outdoor
snowsport. All others branch out from it. And the pure fun is
concentrated most potently there, too. So there! :0

Another kinda sad thing is that when I talk to teens about winter fun
they often come up empty. If I ask if they like skiing they might say
Sure! Then it turns out that they like going up to Boyne (an alpine
resort). That's a 4-hr one-way drive and a $1000 weekend. That is NOT
what kids should be liking about winter! It's like hearing from a kid
that what they like about football is box-window seats and catering.
It means they've been CUT OFF from THEIR HOME!

My goal is to give them back reality. XC isn't my mission per se. XC
is simply unmediated winter fun. It's eating low on the food-chain of
fun. Every season has its suitable fun modes for a given region. Kids
must have unmediated fun or they wither and turn into zombies and
become prey for exploitation -- both as kids and later on as adults.
And I ain't kiddin'!

Pardon the hyperbole. Hopefully there's an angle here that could be of
use...