Bear Valley

A lean, mean, free-heelin' machine I am not. Ken & I made the drive down to Bear Valley last weekend for their annual telemark festival. The first day, Friday, I enrolled in a day-long clinic for beginners. Telemarking (click on telemarking to read the Wikipedia article) is a bit different from alpine skiing (something else I'm barely proficient at). So after a full day of shuffling across the bunny slope, trying to keep my knees apart, and trying to keep my weight properly distributed, I collapsed into my bunk with legs full of bruises (and an odd cross-like skin inflamation on my left shin). That was it for me. On Saturday, I hung out and read "The Romanov Prophecy" (all 400-and-some pages). I managed to get Ken to agree to a day of cross-country skiing on Sunday at Bear Valley Cross Country. That was fun. Not many folk were out and some of the trail difficulty was challenging but manageable. Even better, there was a warming hut/cafe serving hot chocolate. All-in-all it was a good weekend, but I don't know that telemarking is for me.