Going downhill can test cross country skiers

The downward incline before me at the Weston Ski Track was hardly Mount Washington. And yet I stood before it with no less sense of trepidation than if I had been going down the venerable New Hampshire peak.Up to that point, my girlfriend Laura and I had enjoyed the mostly flat trails of the ski track, which makes its own snow, on Saturday afternoon. We had skied the 2-kilometer manmade loop, going around the curves, admiring the folks double-poling, and letting gravity take us down on the rare, brief descents.Then we came to the “Teaching Hill,” which Laura wisely walked down. However, I wanted to try going downhill. Laura advised me to bend my knees.It wasn?t so much the incline that felt intimidating, it was the length. It seemed like the hill stretched downward for 50 yards.Knees bent, I glided downhill. Gravity carried me over the icy surface. I tried to look ahead. “Strong core,” I urged myself, trying not to teeter.The seconds stretched on. I forced myself to remain upright. Sensing gravity trying to take me down, I vowed, “Not gonna do it,” channeling the old Dana Carvey impersonation of George Bush.After what felt like an eternity, I came to a stop at the bottom of the hill. My heart pounded away. It felt good to be back on level ground.However, I wasn?t in the clear just yet. The ground now sloped upward and I had to move to the top at a faster pace. When the ground finally leveled out for good, I rested, let my heartbeat come back to normal and waited for Laura.We cross country skiers may not ride gravity quite as often as our downhill counterparts. However, we still need to learn what to do when we reach the top of a hill and there?s nowhere to go but down.One resource might be Ski NH, which has instructional videos on YouTube. In “Cross Country Skiing Downhill Terrain Tips,” Maryanne, an instructor with the Jackson Ski Touring Foundation, suggested two possibilities to go downhill: remaining in the tracks, or using a wedge or snowplow formation.For both methods, she said that skiers should keep their “weight a little bit more forward, don?t stand up too straight, a little forward, keep your knees bent.”Knowing the basics might help us ski more safely … and it might make the hills feel a little less intimidating.