Peninsula SP Candlelight Ski

Last night I went out with a couple of my buddies, John and Josh to Peninsula State Park's Candlelight Ski. The friends group had set up luminaries along a 1-mile loop of ski trail with a warming fire at the halfway point. We hit the trail planning on skiing a little farther than just the lit loop, so we brought our headlamps along. At the halfway point, my hands were painfully cold, so I moved in close to the raised fire pit to warm them. being graceful as I am, I began to slide forward to the pit, then tried to swing my ski tip away, parallel to the fire. I caught the tip of my ski, slid all the way against the pit, banged my shins removing some skin, and managed to fall over backward/sideways rather than falling into the fire. For a brief second I was terrified picturing my synthetic clothes melting to me out in the woods, and managed to get away with simple embarrassment as I picked myself up.

After this debacle, I got up and we headed out on the Orange Loop. One of the things I really like about skiing at night after a heavy snowfall is the "Narnia Effect." The Narnia Effect is where the snow sticks to the trees weighing down the branches, so it looks like you skiing in a scene from C.S. Lewis's "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe," or as John thought, "The Polar Express."

Ski Trails in the Land of Narnia!

The skiing was pretty fantastic - the trails definitely get better the farther you get from the parking lot. We were skiing by headlamp; two lights for three dudes. At one point, on a downhill, I flew away from John, who didn't have a light. I didn't really think much of it until we all turned off our lights and tried to ski. For the first few minutes we couldn't see the trail at all. After a bit the trail appeared in front of us and we chugged back to the candlelight loop. 

One thing I can help but think is that I need to carry some pruning shears with me when I ski - I don't think I've ever gotten hit by so many branches. 

We ended up skiing about 2.5 miles that night. We talked about going again, but John & Josh still had dinner and a 2+ hour drive to get home, so we split up about 7:30pm. 

I have really enjoyed getting out on the snow this winter. Just having snow and the ability to get out have given me an appreciation for what I have been largely missing the last two winters!