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It was lovely weather. Surprisingly warm, with no real wind at all of which to speak. I walked most of the journey wearing just a capilene shirt, with my two spare fleece pull overs and retro-x jacket tied about my waist. One of the women with my group had done the race before in previous years, and so we followed her lead on which trails to take. Fortunately or unfortunately (I didn't really care), we took a wrong turn. Keep in mind that they have trails set so that they accomodate several different lengths (50K, 25K, 10K, 5K). We were supposed to go 5K total, but as it turned out we went went a bit more than that, possibly 7 or 8K. I didn't mind in the least, of course. Show shoeing is far easier than I remembered it. It's not entirely unintuitive. I did notice that my calves were working a bit more than normal, though I really couldn't at the time figure out why. They're a bit sore today as a result, but nothing that can't be worked out at the gym (or at the masseuse, where I'm headed after the gym today). As it turns out, this morning I read an article on walking using poles for upper body toning, and it said that if you use poles you not only strengthen your arms and upper back, but as you swing the poles forward for the next step, your calves pump harder, you walk faster, and you end up burning 20% more calories than you would otherwise. So maybe that's the reason I'm still a little sore through the calves today. At any rate, after weaving our way through the woods and meadows for an hour or so, we arrived at the infamous aid station, where people can get some electrolytes as they work on the longer races. I hadn't been going for speed, and therefore had my own pack with refreshments and food, but I was keen on seeing the aide station because I had heard there was a giant snow sculptured sphinx, not to mention a bar-b-que and some merriment going on.
I should also probably mention that there was a lot of free food and alcohol. A surprising number of people actually just stop their race here, with no concern for finishing. Others finish, then ski the 3K from the finish line back to the aid station for the party, adding another 6K to their day. Not only was it the first time I'd snow shoed any distance, but it was also the first time I'd snow shoed about 5K, eaten steak and polish sausage, had a few Rolling Rocks, a margarita, and a couple shots of Jägermeister, then snow shoed an additional 3K. Much fun. Looking forward to next year.
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I love the stratigraphy of the snow along the left.
On the right you can see one of the guides that helps
you (and the plow trucks) to see the edges of the
road when, after a storm, everything can be white.
Sun penetrating clouds.
And again the sun fights to be seen.
A cloud sits atop a peak, sun falling through
The final - and my favorite - photograph from the drive.
