I moved to Canmore in '97. The Canmore Nordic Centre was a big reason
why we chose to live in Canmore -- I've XC skied for 30 years and it's
my favorite sport. Up to this year, I took 8-10 XC ski lessons every
winter from the Canmore Nordic Ski Club. This winter I decided to try
something different -- downhill skiing! -- and I've spent quite a lot
of time at the alpine resorts (Louise, Norquay, Fortress, Fernie). I'm
firmly convinced that what I have learned on alpine boards this winter
has done more to improve my XC skiing than another series of XC
lessons would have. Evidence of this is that last weekend I finished
in the top 3 of my age class (50-59) in the Lake Louise Loppet (20 km
classic) -- my first top-3 finish since moving to Alberta in '97.

Alpine skiing is all about balance and weight shift -- fundamental
skills that definitely transfer to XC. Another big plus is that
downhills that used to intimidate me on XC skis now seem quite
straightforward (this has probably done more to improve my loppet
times than anything else).

By the way, don't let anybody tell you that alpine skiing is
physically easy, just because you get carried up the hill. Yesterday
we skied black diamond and double black diamond runs on the backside
of Louise for 7 hours, and last night I was completely used up
physically. It's true that this work is essentially all muscular
instead of aerobic; but the fact that alpine skiing works different
parts of your body than XC makes it a superb complement to XC -- this
morning I did a long fairly hard skate at the Canmore Nordic Centre
(2-1/4 hours -- excellent spring conditions!).

-Everett