Since many of the topics on these forums tend to be about bad things (real or hypothetical) that happen, I thought I might start a more happy thread about getting out and enjoying winter.

One of the great things about living in Alaska is having access to some incredible wilderness. In the Anchorage area we also have a wonderful network of trails right in town. I am lucky to live within a few blocks of the "Tony Knowles Coastal Trail", which follows the shoreline for about 10 miles total, from right downtown to Kincaid Park (a world class nordic ski area). The "Chester Creek Trail" follows a greenbelt from the East side of town and connects with the Coastal Trail. These are paved bike trails in the summer, and are groomed for cross country skiing in winter. As we sink slowly into geezerdom, DW, DDog, and myself try to take advantage of this, to keep our aging bodies in some sort of shape.

Last night after work, DW, DDog, and I drove halfway out the Chester Ck Tr and skied home. It was about 10 deg F at our house, and maybe 5 deg colder in some of the low spots along the trail. I probably shouldn't admit this on a forum dedicated to survival equipment, but we tend to ski these trails without carrying much gear. The Chester Ck portion is lighted and there is usually enough ambient light along the Coastal Tr to make a headlamp unnecessary, but we each took a headlamp just in case. In my fannypack I also put an extra insulation layer, a small water bottle, my cell phone, and a few dog treats. I should also say that while it feels like one is in the woods along this route, in reality there is no place where you are more than 200-300 meters from a street or building. (Some of our 'in-town' trails are a bit further out, and I do carry more stuff when skiing them.)

We drove to our starting point and got on our skis. DW clipped DDog's ski-joring harness to her fanny pack, and away we went! About the only real potential hazard on this route would be running into a grumpy moose. Usually they are not at all agressive, but occaisionaly one has an attitude. On this route on New Years Eve two years ago, we had the (you-know-what) scared out of us when we inadvertently got too close to a mamma moose and baby. Mamma let us know, in no uncertain terms, that we were in her space! So, we backed off, and all was well. Whew! But last night we stayed alert, and didn't see any moose. All went well. One advantage of XC skiing in chilly weather is that you tend to keep moving fast to stay warm. Makes for a good cardio workout! We met a number of other skiers, a couple of runners, a walker or two, and two people on fat-tire bikes with their dogs. All the "usual suspects" on Anchorage trails.

We got to Westchester Lagoon, where Chester Ck joins the Coastal Tr, then after another mile we got off the trail and walked about 4 blocks to our house. (Right after a snow, before the plows get there, we can sometimes ski right to our front door.) We skied bit over 5 miles total. We drove my car back to retrieve DW's car from where we started skiing. A quick stop for some take out food, then back home for supper and a glass or two of wine. All in all, a perfect winter evening!

How about you? What do you like to do in the winter?

Well, down here in Ventura, CA, we also have a very nice paved trail network, but it is used by bicycles year round. If it ever should snow here, they would be fine for x-country skiing. One of the more popular routes, the Ojai Valley Trail, follows an abandoned railroad right of way and has very comfortable gradients as it wends it way inland.

The OVT intersects with the Pacific Coast Bike Route, reputedly the most popular bike tour in the country, about a mile from my house. It, too, is a very nice ride, proceeding toward Santa Barbara. Our wildlife is not nearly as exciting as your moose, but I have seen bobcats twice along the OVT, once within the city limits, and we have lots of coyotes...

I just finished putting some of my Christmas presents on the bike and I think I will take them out for an inaugural ride tomorrow - that is, if it isn't too cold. It was all the way down to 43 degrees this morning! I would have had to wear my long sleeve bike jersey. Oh, the agony!

Anything involving skis on my feet is very high priority! As a father of two (4 and 7 year old) the trips are short and fun. The only problem is that living close to the Atlantic coast of Norway the winters can be pretty unstable, but we usually have VERY good skiing conditions only 15 minutes away. Amazing what a few hundred meters of altitude can do to the snow conditions.

More often than not I can just put on the kids skiing boots and watch as they run for the nearest hill to slide or ski down.

I really dig doing winter stuff with my kids - but I also long for more "grown up" skiing stuff, both downhill (telemark) and nordic. With some friends I have one long weekend reserved for such a trip. That trip is SACRED and has priority above anything else (although we'll reschedule if someone has a child birth or something). Most years we've done winter camping at Finse, which is pretty hard core arctic. I've been camping there in Beaufort force 8, which was pretty awesome. We'll probably go there this year, but that is only because we (or I, specifically) couldn't afford to do offpiste telemark in Chamonix this year. That is the plan for 2013, though...

Biking in winter is fun, too. With changing weather you need good tires Nokian extreme (bike tire with spikes). On hard ice it is much safer to bike with these tires than to walk. Great fun!

Whatever I do I feel pretty great mastering the conditions and environment. The challenges in winter are many, including hungry and frozen children, though driving conditions and frozen door locks. Best time of the year is when there's white stuff on the ground!

Sounds similar to Anchorage. We also have a strong marine influence on our weather. We usually get at least a couple of major melt-downs each winter that wreck the skiing. But usually before too long it turns cold and snows again. The Nordic Skiing Association of Anchorage raises money to pay for grooming our trails. I know what you mean about the difference a slight elevation change can make. Besides some back-country, I often tele at Alyeska Resort, and I been there when it was great powder skiing at the top, and raining at the base!

My wife is the serious biker in our family. She has studded tires on her bike. We also see a lot of people on super fat tires riding in the snow. We haven't tried those yet, but looks like fun!

I love to ski (downhill), but haven't had much opportunity to do it in recent years. This winter will be completely ski-free due to an injury. While getting old is better than the alternative, it sure does make for longer recovery times.

We do tend to go sledding with the kids a bunch, and I've been known to start snowball fights with them as well.

Happy Winter!

AKSAR, you have re-fired my desire to see Alaska! I may yet move there, but I definitely need to thoroughly investigate & research it all.

I hike along the Appomattox River and am an old hand at Midwest winters. In VA, I'd rather hike in cooler temps than summer. Today is the coldest of the season at just below freezing! Its so mild!

Have a great week, all!

I try to still spend quite a bit of time outside during the winter. I'll borrow my parents' place up in the mountains, given the opportunity. It's about a mile of snowshoeing to reach the house during the winter, or 1/4 mile if you have a truck with 4 wheel drive and chains (I don't).

I also took up snowboarding last winter, but here in southern Idaho, the local ski resort still has as much dirt showing as snow! I am too broke to go to more distant ski resorts, so snowboarding is not currently an option.

However, my rule is that kayaking season doesn't end until snowboarding season starts! We had a rainstorm sweep through the area last Friday, which brought all the rivers up and cleared all the ice. So I spent New Years Day paddling on the South Fork Payette, our local class IV stretch of water. Lots of fun, with appropriate gear! You can tell it's cold out when your lifejacket is freezing solid while you wear it.

i just want to procrastinate and drink hot chocolate on winter!

well, of course other than that, the basic.. skiing!

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I gave up skiing long ago because there were too many people. I love to snowshoe and camp in the white. Unfortunately life has brought me to Florida which has lousy weather (I LOVE snow and cold) so I don't get to do it much any more.

Thanks for the plesant thoughts,

Jerry

Here's a link to picking snowshows for any snow conditions.

I have carefully analyzed the conditions in Minnesota this year, and made my selection............Flip-Flops!

http://dsc.discovery.com/adventure/how-to-choose-snowshoes-for-any-conditions.html

Thanks for the link Byrd. I was hoping for snowshoes for my birthday at the end of the month but we haven't had any snow accumulation here yet. Good excuse for a road trip I guess. Or for moving a new fixed blade to the top of the list. (Both right after "NEW CELL PHONE!")

Hmmm....

Snow shoeing is fun. But I would never snow shoe when I could go skiing! Sooo much MORE fun! I'll leave the "trudge! trudge" thingy to you, while I go "gliiiiiiiiiide! gliiiiiiiiide". Contrary to popular belief, nordic skiing was invented before anyone prepared groomed tracks... The slinky thin modern racing skiis are useless outside carefully groomed tracks, but most old fashioned skiis that aren't purpose built competition skiis will do OK if the snow isn't too loose.

Of course snow shoes have their uses, such as hunting in very challenging terrain and snow conditions. Or carrying your snowboard up a mountainside.

The way the weather's been around here this year, snowshoes and skiis are both moot points. Insulated rubber boots are the hot item this year. (In fact, I left mine behind when I left the curling arena on the weekend because my inside shoes were a prefect match for the weather.) We bought snow tires for 2 vehicles, 2 new toboggans, a snowboard and new hats and gloves for everyone for Christmas this year so it probably won't snow a flake now.

Ski is still fine, resorts need to make money so they run the snow guns, however snow shoeing and XC ski is out of luck.

I just went 4 nights in a row and my legs are sore, may go tomorrow again if it's better. Of course a couple more ft of snow will make it much more enjoyable, as it is it's 70% skiing 30% skating.