Winter is comeing--- are you ready? Cross Country skiing for beginners

As a survival skill Cross Country skiing can keep you mobile were other's are dead in their tracks, sometimes literally.
I could tell you that's I've enjoyed the sport of Nordic skiing since I was kid. that you can do it anywhere there's snow... last winter they could used ski's over in Atlanta... I could also say it's a great way to keep in shape over the colder months... and how with cross country skiing you don't have those long lines for the ski lifts... would it help if I said it's something you can do with your kids?

Not buying it uha? how about I give ya two good reasons to give it a try?


Interested now? What can I say... I know how to motivate ...

Equipment
To get the most out of your skiing experience proper fitting equipment is essential.

Ski Length
A traditional rule for ski length is to lift your arm above the head and have the tip of the ski come to the wrist. If you’re petit go 5cm shorter or 5cm longer if your heavy. The newer mid-length skis can fit as the same as your body height and even shorter.

Pole Height
Classic ski poles should not be above shoulder height. One rule is that the pole should fit snugly underneath the arm pit.

Shoes
Opt for the Salomon Profile™ or NNN™ boots for groomed trail skiing. They provide more downhill control than the older style 75mm boots. Wear a medium weight wool hiking sock and have at least 1⁄4 inch of room in front of the toes.

The Backcountry will teach you more than you ever wanted to know the equipment we use... don't let it overwhelm ya...Baby steps man, baby steps.



While on the subject of equipment... when it comes to Cross Country ski's there's basically two types

Wax and Waxless... as you can see in the photo the wax type has a smooth flat bottom... As a beginner or a more casual skier, you'll want to look for the Waxless types of ski's.



There's all kinds of different profiles and each maker claims theirs is the absolute best ever... maybe so... but the reason I suggest to use the waxless type is there's less maintenance as in no need to wax your skis might not ever need to use a skin to climb a hill either... just put em on and go...

Later if you want to try racing or Biathlon
you can try out the sleeker faster ski's But I'm trying to give you all and easy way to get started. So remember that word "Waxless"

As for the how to ski part of this... No, I'm gonna spend all day writing up a how too guide, what are you nuts?
Here's a place to start this guy put together a really good how too for a diagonal stride for beginners. Once you get that down he even goes into the kick glide.
I's easy ---Do the Cha-cha, 1-2, 1-2-3,Glide...1-2, 1-2-3,Glide... You can Cha-cha right?

This website Nordic Ski gets more into the advance stuff.
There's this old saying in ski circles ""Ski like a cat. Curl the claws on all four paws (poles and skis) to grip the snow and spring
forward."" That's when things get fun fun fun man....



Yes there's a WikiHow there a damn WikiHow for everything nowadays..

With all that said I strongly suggest you take lessons... don't need to pay a pro, just ask around I bet you'll find someone glad to help ya get started...
If you want to learn how to shoot and ski...Check this link out

I grew up X-country skiing. Both "classical" and skate. I think skis offer better flotation in deep snow than modern snowshoes. I remember using a pair of new, composite/aluminum snowshoes for the first time and sinking halfway up to my knees.

I guess people think this is "normal". With a good pair of x-country skis, you won't sink down more than a few inches. The old school wood snowshoes also provided much better flotation.

The only problem with back country x-county skiing is that the skis are long, and hard to navigate through brush.

It's also handy to learn how to "herring bone" up a hill, and do a 180 turn around on the side of a hill when doing switch backs down.

EDIT: If you are looking at back country x-country skiing, look for x-country skis that have metal edges. Fischer makes some. They'll last longer and give you more "bite" in crunchy, icy snow.

Listen to MystikMushroom folks... he's right..

Metal Edge skis were made for icy/crunchy snow.
Fischer not the only company making those...
I use the Rossignol BC 70 Backcountry Skis with NNN BC Auto Bindings

that same snow can be really hard/abrasive of skis too...

Just saying..

a reply to: HardCorps

Do you remember those old "duck" style, 3-hole boots/bindings? LOL

a reply to: MystikMushroom

I remember my little sister running over the backs of my ski's in a set of those crappy old binding...
I came to a dead stop when she did that, face planted in the snow... and since the bindings didn't release, broke both my ankles...

The moral of that... Little sister is mean man...

JK... when it comes to boots and binding forget goodwill... go to a real ski shop and let them do ya up right.

a reply to: HardCorps

Cross country skiing.. i hated it when i was still at school. We have cross country skiing a part of the physical activity curriculum at schools, we start skiing at schools in first grade. The problem with those skiing hours were when we all did it in line, those days there were 30 pupils in class and when you put 30 pupils on skis and everyone was running over each others backs, you might lose your self control (no wonder we are very good with swearing ). If you were lucky you were first in line and fast enough that no one stumbled on yours... I hated it at school, but always loved skiing with just a few friends and family.

Now we don´t need to wax them, which is actually a relief, everything can go wrong with waxing..

a reply to: HardCorps

Love your threads. Thanks for the info about cross country. When it comes to winter I am not very prepared. I have a favor to ask that is off topic could you please post a thread about snow shows and the best wood burning stoves.




And yes winter is coming and it will not be many seasons waiting like in the Game of Thrones.

a reply to: HardCorps

Hey HardCorps!

I love winter, but it never snows hard enough for long enough down here in the south of England to warrant buying anything more effective than chains for my boots.

What I was thinking though, is how awesome it would be, if someone bought out skis, with tiny little tank treads, and motors. Can you imagine churning up the snow on radical tank tracks attached to your feet? I get the feeling that it would be legendary. What say you?

a reply to: SubTruth

There is no such thing as a "Best Wood Stove"
There is however a best woodstove for your place and for that you need to talk to a real expert.

That's what the wife and I did when we bought our place out here in Colorado. guy we went too took into account what we wanted, sq feet, insulation in the walls, to small and it'd never keep us warm, to big and we'd just be wasting fuel...I'm not a HAVAC guy so I leave that to the pro's... keeps me from burring down my house ya know.

In our case we went with an indoor hybrid pellet stove... got a self feeding hopper on the side, fill it up and it's good for 18 hours of normal use... yes it requires power for that and the fans the move the air but if need be we can still use regular old logs to keep us warm...The do make big outdoor ones that take over the task of central heating but that'd be a bit much for our smaller place.

my next big project will be to install solar panels so we at least have uninterrupted power during bad weather, and just big enough to save a bit on our normal power bills... It'll be a small project, as that stuff gets real expensive real fast! 20 k for a windmill Gen... What, are they gold plated?

Well, beeing norwegian im kinda born into this topic against my will. Since this is posted in the "survival" section i would say don´t pay too much attention surafaces and materials other than that it need to be solid. Your are not skiing for an olympic gold medal. You need something that will carry yourself and a heavy load on your back without sinking through the snow. There are som pointers in the linked PDF..

www.wainwright.army.mil...

I've done some alpine skiing but would like to try nordic sometime. How do you select length for the skis?

a reply to: GreenElf

Ski Length
A traditional rule for ski length is to lift your arm above the head and have the tip of the ski come to the wrist. If you’re petit go 5cm shorter or 5cm longer if your heavy. The newer mid-length skis can fit as the same as your body height and even shorter.

Pole Height
Classic ski poles should not be above shoulder height. One rule is that the pole should fit snugly underneath the arm pit.

The longer the skis ... the harder it is to turn but their more able to support your weight over lose powder... there's a bit of a trade off there.

I'd love to get into it but how bad is it for someone with back problems? I ambulate fine without a cane or other walking device, but do feel sore after a lengthy walk. Hate to drop a bunch of $$ to find out it's a no go. I suppose I could ask the doc but he usually says to try it out if it hurts don't do it, simple logic really..LOL I can imagine cc skiing burns lots of fat and builds muscle pretty well, kinda like anything you do in the snow/ winter.

a reply to: jaynkeel

I have a bad back too
Thanks to my misadventure's in the Corps I've been blown up one to many times...

Still Cross Country skiing is more of a low impact sport than is downhill alpine skiing. oh sure there are moments when you may take a hard bounce, and when it tweaks my back a little it's just a reminder not to stupid 'S**t'

If you can, see if there's a place nearby where you can rent skis for the day, get a little instruction and give it a shot. ya never know until ya try

Besides all the guys back in Fort Riley will give you hell for letting a lowly Jar Head like me show up the Army's 1st Infantry Div. right?