How to train for hills in flat terrain?

I wonder if it can be helpful to add resistance by skiing with a
weighted rucksack or heavy touring skis -- to improve strength, power
and uphill ability.

It's flat around here. When I do get onto a hilly course the action of
stepping up the hill and lifting the legs and applying force off a
bent, raised leg is totally unfamiliar!

I suppose I can find a couple hills and do repeats on them. There
really aren't many good skiable hills. Some of the steeper hills don't
really have trails on them, so I suppose I could take off my skis and
use poles to charge up a few times. Not much fun, but whatever.

I've heard about nuts who pull a log behind them. Wouldn't want to
destroy a ski trail, though...

I've never skied much (in training) with a loaded rucksack.

Do biathletes find that they're faster or better on the uphills in a
normal ski event sans gun? -- Since they've been skiing with a back-
load?

I note that when I go on day-long adventure outings that I feel a bit
bad if my pack weighs more than 15 lbs so maybe I'm just a wimp. If I
train with a pack at least I'll surely be better off for that kind of
skiing (which is my main favorite kind these days anyway). OK, that's
it! I'm going to start skiing with a pack!

--JP
oyb

I've looked into this issue quite a bit and here's what I found:

Best solution is to get an Alpine-Touring setup and skin up the slopes
of a ski resort before opening time (really great workout...). Next
best, as you mentioned, is to ski-walk up a hill with poles (or a
local football stadium, if no natural hills around). I actually
enjoy this and don't find it boring at all, so long as I'm listening
to music.. (again, it's a really good workout, and while the down part
is harder on your body than skiing down an alpine slope, there's a lot
of research that says the eccentric loading you get on your muscles
has a lot of benefits).

Lastly, the dragging stuff behind you as you ski does seem to be
accepted as the next-best thing (personally, I've never tried it).
There's a local fanatic who drags a tire around while he skis and I
don't think that messes up the trails that badly (I'd imagine a sled
with rocks in it would be pretty low-impact as well.) While there's
no research to back it up, I find that breaking trail in thick snow
gives the same sort of "deep" workout as the above as well--but of
course you need fresh snow...

Jon

Your question seems snow-specific?

Dutch cyclist are great hill climbers. Yes, also the Alpine stuff. Our secret: headwinds. Headwinds offer very similar resistance and decelleration in between power impulses. You need to be strong to overcome lack of smoothness, but working on smoothness should not be forgotten.
I am a seriously big guy, but the first time I was at the bottom of a real mountain, I rode it up like I never did anything else. Really bugged the heck out of my German Alpencross friends.
Climbing, I've found, is also a mind set. If you don't enjoy the vertical meters slipping from under you as you breathe hard, it's never going to work. Another bike analogy : sprinters just don't see the fun of climbing, thus are bad at it. Sit on the bike all strong, try to be strong alone, forget being smooth. So, it hurts for them, in the bad sense of that word.

I live in a particularly flat part of world's flattest country. I am now looking for places to skate up (rollerblades with super slow wheels). There's a 30m tall bridge (way gentle though), a similar tractor tunnel with steeper summit, a 12m tall hill on a rollerski course, and the rest really is lame beyond that, too narrow, bumpy, or trafficcy.

So, I'm warming my mind up for some headwind intervals. Skate into the countryside, and do some back-and-forths on a nice and empty cycle path. I've done it before, and boosted my fitness like nothing I'd ever done.