I'm not quite as quick as Lew to get my report out...

I skied the snowy golf course known in the winter as Okemo Nordic Center.
They claim 26/28 km of trail. Though their one off the course 'backcountry'
trail didn't seem to be open. My observations we
1) Their skating trails seem narrow. They have a (new) machine that sets
two traditional tracks, with a skating lane in-between. With the width of
the groomer... this makes the skating lane ~6 ft wide, which for my big
legs/reach seems really narrow? How normal is this?
2) The trails are pretty twisty around trees, up down (like going over
bunker bumps)... not that I don't like excitement, but it made it tough to
get some cadence going... and made it pretty difficult to get, and maintain
a decent target heartrate. One local I met commented that "since none of
the people who work here ski, they don't realize how to set tracks to make
the skiing better".

Anyway... the facilities (clubhouse) were more than I can imagine for a
xc-ski place. Mt Bachelor and Mt Hood barely had shacks. Nice gear shop.
Changing rooms etc.

I had fun on the 'practice loop'. I tried poles and no-poles, and will post
that report separately.

I'll be checking out graften ponds and Mountain Meadows and Woodstock Inn
next.

--
Mark Frost
Bedford, NH, USA

"Lew Lasher" wrote in message
...
I skied today at the Mountain Meadows cross-country ski area in
Killington, Vermont. Conditions were generally good, with the exception
of the trail on the pond, where the 2-3" of snow was getting blown away.
At least I didn't fall through the ice. Elsewhere the grooming was
pretty good, with just an occasional water feature or other obstacle
here and there. ...