In article ,
Martin Thornquist wrote:
but what do you call xc skiing on groomed tracks in the
backcountry?

[ *@*.* ]
Track skiing. Modern groomed tracks are a far cry from natural

Track skiing.
Wow, Marcus and I agree on something! 8^)

My main point was in the part you snipped, that there is a continuum
from perfectly groomed tracks which I wouldn't call "backcountry" via
several categories down to marked routes only done once in a while
with snowmobile to maintain marking and pack the snow somewhat. What
do you call backcountry and what not?

Look I see a spectrum, too, but unless we have a specific reason
for making a distinction, I don't see a point except to try to make a
definition to the subdirectories for this storage to beat people into
a rut of this group and not rsa, rsn, etc.

What are you looking for? That will determine a definition.
You will find it circular and recursive.

Skiing lacking certain knowledge is merely deficient skiing.

Perhaps a bit like the difference between road cycling and
mountain biking. Except bigger.

This is pretty similar, there's a wide selection of paved roads, good
gravel roads, not so good gravel roads, good paths, smaller paths.
I've biked on all of them (well, dragged the bike along the smallest
paths), and I'm not sure where you would draw the lines. Some people
use cyclocross (beefed-up road racers) for path biking these days...

Oh kinda. Tracks get placed for various reasons.
A big part is the snow gets chopped up enough the beginners.
Racing seeks consistency. etc.

Speaking of cycling, a prepared XC-skiing track (skating style) is
great for cycling. In summer too, btw.

Around here they can be great for a while (in summer), and then
suddenly you're in the middle of a swamp with mud up to the knees. :-)

Sounds like Alaska.
The snow machiners tend to like them to skier consernation some times.

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