If you work 40-50 hours a week, often the only way to get any decent amount of training in is to strap on the headlamp and head out after dark. Kerry and I probably log about 50-70% of our training hours after dark in the winter months and that was definitely the case today.
I decided to do a classic ski up to the top of China Bowl on Vail mountain this evening. So I waxed up the classic skis with a nice long thick layer of kick wax and started up the cat-walks out of Gold Peak. I skied Mill Creek road up to the bottom of chair 11 and then threw on a some narrow skins and went straight up the ski runs the rest of the way. When I was young, I xc skied up and down trails a fair amount after dark without any light. Now days, I always bring some sort of head lamp. Once I reach the top of the Ridge, I decided to ski the ridge over to the Lionshead gondola and checkout the action at adventure ridge. Lighting is definitely not a problem there as adventure ridge can be seen from top of any other ridge/peak in the county and is quite the eye sore. From the gondola I skied down Lodge Pole, Ledges and made my way back to Gold Peak. This was definitely the hardest part of the ski but excellent downhill practice. You think you are a good skier, try linking turns down ungroomed blues on 205 racing classic skis and low top racing classic boots.
Kerry did a similar ski tonight up Mill Creek and over to the gondola. She is not a big fan of skiing down in classic equipment so she rides the gondola down. This definitely produces some strange looks from the tourists. Ski up, ride the lift down. Not the way most people operate.
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