SNOW DAY WHITE PASS ON CROSS COUNTRY SKIS

31 degrees and relatively sunny…Hmmm. Read curled up in the chair by the fire at Adytum or Get Out There…Fresh mountain air…Peace in Nature??? Trying a new thing? Okay…Into the car and a trip 60 minutes east to White Pass for a venture into the World of the skier, snow-shoer, and cross-country skier called the day- this New Year’s Eve day….

4500 feet at the summit. Parking so bad- okay, it WAS New Year’s Eve and good weather – we had to park a mile away. We started in Lewis County and parked in Yakima County. Interesting…Thank God for the shuttle. Non-skier that I am, I thought those were just in airport parking lots…Who would believe White Pass would be slammed? But it was New Year’s Eve…

Shuttle Master Gabe was great and got us to and from with a light heart – clearly One who likes his job and is grateful for work. I’ve never met someone so genuine; he’d drive slow and yell “Hey, do you want a ride???” to anyone walking along the slushy road. He advised us there was a blizzard last night (“My job is harder than it looks…”in code) and that a foot of new snow fell.

The fresh mountain air and peace of the Nordic (cross country/snow shoe) side of the road contrasted dramatically with the stench of fumes belching out of cars loading and unloading passengers into the Lodge side and raucous, energized crowd on the ski lift side. There was seriously a very clear division. Chicken for downhill that I am, I chose “Nordic”.

“What size shoe? Lift your arm (poles)” and $65 later for two, we were trying to figure out how to clamp in. Ah…that snow and ice blocking the entry is the problem…minutes later I was remembering my humiliating experience going arse first down the slopes on my first ‘bunny hill’- and this was only cross country…how do skis equate with childbirth? Well, they do…

Have you done it? It’s a little harder than it looks. Those darn skis are so long they want to cross and when they do, you just want to do a face plant so tremendously bad it’s hard to resist. I wanted that “Nordic Track/Elliptical Trainer” feel…I can DO that but it escaped me… My fingers froze first and then I was telling myself, “It’s like riding a horse bareback…just relax. The more you relax the easier it is…”  Breathe! But horses don’t elicit the desire to toss you – yes – face first like these *#*# skis do….

It took me about 20-30 minutes (NO I didn’t time it. I was too busy trying to stay upright!) to ‘get it’. Then it was fun! I can skate. I thought, “This should be easy…I’m athletic…But part of me thought, “Could I NOT have at least watched a YouTube tutorial???” Ok. There’s a learning curve and particularly when faced with a hill. The hill – intimidating at first – DID actually become welcomed when sweat was running freely under 4 (yes 4, I’m from California…) layers. In fact, it was fun! (Until The Big One…)

The feeling of being in the groove finally emerged under all the stress of TRYING (to slow down…) my forearms are sore for heaven’s sake…who ever heard of that?)

But there were moments when I could see the beauty in this. The peace of gliding (exaggerating…of course) through the stillness of the snow-laden trees. It was spectacular. The essence of the Christmas that just passed. Where are the deer? Still the reason there are more pictures of me than Donn is because of that little nagging issue…balance with gigantic pieces of wood strapped to your feet. Penguin? Clown? A cross between the two?….you get the point.

Where are, by the way, the “Runaway Truck Ramp- 1 mile ahead” signs? We have experienced cross country skiers all around- although at points we were blissfully alone…Is there not a little bit of pressure when someone appears behind (slow) us? I am silently thinking, “You have no idea what you’re in for…” as they try to pass me….I hope you’re good – I mean anything could happen! If you saw that sign, you’d know…

 Okay….at minimum this is a great workout. As I said, my forearms are sore (digging those poles into the snow to slow myself down from my toboggan race to the bottom of the hill…) and I’m thinking- more times than one “this is going to get me into that bikini in three weeks when we go to Hawaii.” 

The more I stretched out into the long stride, stretching my hip flexors, the more my glutes said, “Oh Yeah Baby…” and the more I thought, “This sure beats reading a book by the fire on a fair weather day!”.

Do I admire the gutsy downhillers? You bet. And when I queried Donn which was the best exercise, he said they both have their merits. But for us, who are more “Muir” people than adventurers, cross country skiing just ‘works’ and it’s a lot cheaper. $13 each for a day pass/$165 for the season. Gee…how much was that gym and was I breathing in pristine air, hearing the little birds and watching the Ravens above and listening to my own heart/thoughts/soul while I got a pretty darn good workout?

Actually, I admired even more the dad I saw hook a baby in a jogging cart to himself and head off, wife watchfully pulling up the rear. I imagined this young lad saying to his buddies, “Hey, what’d you do today? The playpen? That’s it? I was out cross country skiing with my parents today. Playpen? Seriously? That’s just lame, dude…”

Back at the Yurt after the loop around the Lake, it was full of happy people having lunch and chatting in the small space. We knew the staff and they were so friendly. Cathy Lillianthal is a Massage Therapist and will serve guests at Adytum when not filling in for the season at White Pass. We are so Taos-like here in the Pacific Northwest…everyone does a bit of something in order to live in all this outrageous beauty

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On the drive back, over 150 elk in four different herds…those white fannies just begging to be a target. Yes, I’m a vegetarian but do you NOT see a target? We explored the last town before White Pass: Packwood with lots of flavor and some interesting shops. We picked up an antique trunk at an antique shop for $40 that clearly had a $100 price tag on it. I’d just bought about the same thing in Olympia for $100. Believe me, there are bargains to be found here…

We learned something I wonder if you know: The rounded top trunks were obviously loaded last. They belonged to the ‘Blue Bloods”, these privileged passengers were the “First Class” in their day. ”Last on and first off”. So the flat topped trunked passengers loaded and waited and waited and waited…yes, we’ve all been there. THEN the people that don’t waste their time waiting get on with their rolled top trunks are loaded on top of the flat trunks below. The ‘designer’ roll top….

Cindy, who runs the last gift shop before the mountain helped Donn load a rounded top one in the car…inside she shared that ONLY on these rounded trunks is a curious orange/blue border and always the exact same.

The pictures in the middle might change but that border is consistent…Interesting bit of trivia coming from Cindy who has called Packwood her home for 36 years…Quite far from the freeway in Packwood. We, at Adytum, are 20 minutes from I-5 and choices to visit Seattle, Olympia and Portland. Packwood is about far as it gets to the Mountain. (i.e., the end of the earth) and I so admire the rugged souls that commit to living in the reach of the mountains as a Way of Life and the wisdom they teach us.

Okay, enough sharing. I’m heading for Adytum’s Salt Water Hot Tub to ease those over extended hip flexors and enjoy a glass of red wine under the Milky Way. Last year, we were listening to Beethoven’s 9^thin Seattle on New Year’s Eve and we actually left our guests behind so we could indulge. This year was equally monumental here at Adytum and we enjoyed Jupiter lighting up the sky as the single star visible on our drive home.

The New Year bodes well: loving life and exploring more in our own backyard, full of gratitude to our  God that gave us so much pleasurable possibilities on this Earth…enjoying each of  YOU and reveling in seeing YOUR zest for life. It all spurs us on. Yes it does.