Cross Country Chronicles: NE Women’s Ski Day draws crowds in NH

With a full day of activities, the 12th annual New England Women’s Cross Country Ski Day provided many opportunities for women to learn about cross country skiing at Bretton Woods, N.H., on Sunday.Instructors taught skate and classic technique at clinics in the morning and afternoon. Attendees could also check out a New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) expo of equipment (skis, poles and boots) from Madshus, Rossignol and Salomon, and receive waxing advice given by techs from Toko and Swix. There was even an Olympian present ? cyclist Lea Davison. While she participated in the women’s cross country mountain bike competition at the 2012 London Summer Games, she won collegiate titles in both cycling and skiing at Middlebury.The clinics gave women a chance to practice skiing on the trails of Bretton Woods. My girlfriend Laura and I saw one instructor guiding her students past us on the 3.3-kilometer Perimeter Trail that afternoon. It looked like she had everyone successfully navigating the area between the groomed tracks on the left and right.According to a printed schedule of the day’s events, the clinics were for “first-timers through all ability levels.” Bretton Woods itself has trails across the skiing spectrum. The Perimeter Trail was listed as one of the “easier” trails, and indeed it was mostly flat, save for several small downward inclines. Laura and I skied it once on Sunday (we also skied it twice the day before when we went there with her friends). The groomed tracks on either side helped us tremendously.Sunday was a beautiful day to ski the trails. The slopes of Mt. Washington loomed before us under a clear sky. The red-roofed, white-walled structure of the Omni Mt. Washington Resort offered an elegant backdrop, and the bubbling of a stream lent a meditative quality.We also got glimpses of the local wildlife. Along one section of the Perimeter Trail, we saw deep tracks that looked an awful lot like moose tracks. We did not see any of the big creatures ? which is perhaps just as well. We did, however, pass a flock of wild turkeys on our way back to the Nordic Center, and we heard the barking of the dogs that pull the sleighs for visitors.By the time we got back, the trails were closing for the day. We had a cup of hot chocolate with whipped cream by the Nordic Center fireplace before the return trip on 93 South.Congratulations to everyone who participated in NE Women’s XC Ski Day. And to those who came up from Massachusetts ? maybe you’ll be able to practice what you learned today, given last night’s snowfall!Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].