Cross Country Chronicles: Skiers take to the trails during blizzard

What better reward for shoveling out the car than to snap on the skis and head for the bike paths?The Blizzard of 2013 brought over two feet of snow to Massachusetts, creating a welcome opportunity for cross country skiers. Based on our experiences on the trails of Cambridge and Somerville this past weekend, quite a few people made the most of this opportunity.The best day to ski was probably Saturday, after the snow had stopped falling but before the plows really started to salt down the streets. My girlfriend Laura and I worked our way through knee-deep snow on an entrance to the North Cambridge bike path and found, to our delight, ski tracks along the path.The landscape was scenic, something out of New Hampshire or Vermont: snow-covered pine trees that looked a lot shorter than they usually do because of the drifts, with a beautiful sunset in the background. We did have to watch out for tree branches in our way, though.Once we crossed Massachusetts Avenue and went on the Somerville continuation of the bike path, conditions improved. We skied on the path the whole way to Davis Square, on mostly flat terrain. At least one other skier passed us, as well as plenty of walkers, some of whom had brought their canine friends. At Davis Square, we paused to enjoy the snow sculptures – pyramids, igloos and snowmen among them – created by the “Banditos Misteriosos” flash mob earlier that day.That trip from Cambridge to Somerville on Saturday stands out because the snow on the bike path itself offered both a good grip ? and a good glide. We also didn’t have to deal with falling snow, winds or ice. What remained was a pleasurable skiing experience.The other two days of the blizzard were a little trickier. Friday night, we went out during the storm to test the snow. We skied on sidewalks and streets (the car ban helped ? though we had to watch out for plows). We also tried one patch of open land off Rte. 16. Overall it was tough to glide ? in some places, tough to move at all. When the wind started to pick up, we called it a night.Sunday was the day when we saw the most skiers. This time, we followed the North Cambridge bike path towards the Alewife MBTA station, hoping to ski across the Alewife Brook into Arlington. Alas, we couldn’t do this via the path, as a section of it was still pretty much covered in snow. Much of the snow was also very soft, and we felt ourselves sinking on multiple occasions, including when we tried the powder on Russell Field. Yet when we returned on the bike path, we enjoyed a gentle, stable glide.By my estimate, we saw about 10 fellow skiers on the trails this past weekend, both men and women. People skied by themselves or in groups of two. They were joined by runners, sledders and dog walkers (including one man who told us he used to snowshoe). On two occasions, though, people were so surprised to see skiers that they asked if they could take our picture. The woman who made this request on Sunday hailed from a much snowier locale: Novosibirsk, Siberia.I hope that North Shore skiers got a similar chance to enjoy the opportunity to get out in the snow provided by the Blizzard of 2013 ? and I invite you to share your ski stories from this weekend with me.Rich Tenorio can be reached at [email protected].