Thursday, Jan. 6,2010 -Skiing Green

Have you seen the windmill at Jiminy Peak? When I was there on a blustery day in December ,
I skied as close as I could get to check out the sound from
the spinning blades. From a couple of hundred yards away it was hard to hear at first above the sound
of the wind. It sounded a bit like a jet flying high overhead ,
 overlaid with a rhythmic whirring as the massive blades swiped
 across the sky. I felt a little less guilty that day knowing that
clean energy was powering my ride to the top. I'm a big fan of windmills.
I'm an even bigger fan of cross-country skiing. I'm lucky to live where I can walk out the door
and put on my skis. I use a pair of wide waxless with
partial metal edges paired with sturdy NNN BC boots - just the thing for breaking trail in variable
conditions. I like backcountry skiing, but it can be a lot of work.
 At Notchview, just a ten-minute drive away, you'll find me
on lighter gear. Why? Because the trails are packed down and smoothed out, I can use skinny skis to
skim over the surface of the snow. Groomed trails are  relatively new
phenomenon for cross-country skiing.

When I was in high school in the
seventies we'd ski the course before the race to set the track.
 If the snow was really deep, we'd snowshoe first. Now specialized
equipment is pulled behind snowmobiles or snow cats to prepare the snow for our skiing pleasure.
 Notchview has a tiller. This piece of equipment is like a giant rolling pin
with teeth that churn up the crust and knock the air out
of deep powder. A heavy plastic comb sculpts a corduroy surface behind while hydraulic pans press
parallel tracks firmly into the snow. Skate skiing in particular would be
impossible without this type of trail preparation. I'm glad we have these
machines; they make skiing easy and fun!
It's a fact that today's grooming uses more energy than we did back in the day. Compared to a downhill
area though, it is just a drop in the bucket.
Cross-country skiing is still the greenest skiing around. The next time you come to Notchview
remember that your choice for winter fun is a good choice for the environment.

 

Hal Westwood
Berkshire Trail Elementary School
Grade Five

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