April 17th and still skiing, though the snow has lost its integrity, like certain academics I know, grump, grump

It was one of those 12-hour days in the office, and it seemed to snow all day long. Here is the view from my office. 

When I got home, Enrico had a nice pasta dinner ready, and Alex was playing violin. Ah. 

After dinner I harnessed up Noko, and we went out for a ski. Two observations:

1) Despite the fact that it has been snowing all day, the new snow could not keep up with the melting and there were exposed areas of the trail like the one in the photo below.

2) The snow has lost its integrity. How do I know? Well, when Noko and I were skiing around, every so often we would here a sound like Pshhhh! A whole plate of snow would then collapse. It was quite startling to Noko. It is a cool sound, like all the snow crystals are tiny bells that softly ring together. 

So, it is about over. Soon this little stretch of trail will be under several feet of water, as the river is expected to flood, possibly as much as in 2009. 

When I got back home, Enrico was looking at flood maps. I need to get a kayak and float far, far away from here. 

I can't believe I'm still skiing on April 16th!

Took my classic skis down to the river first thing this morning so that I could ski before it got too hot. The trail was in pretty good condition. Some parts were icy after melting and then freezing, which scraped my wax off. I did a lot of poling, which is just as well--balances out the lack of upper body work from my running. I caught up to a couple of older guys in Lindenwood, just out chatting and skiing. I love that. Then I  met a guy from Jamestown. He had heard on WDAY that our trails were groomed, so he drove all the way here to ski. He said his daughter had driven from Grand Forks to use the skate trail. COOL! Fargo is becoming the ski mecca I always knew it would be. On the way back, I skated for awhile since my wax was no good, and that was nice, except for the short poles. I saw a huge hawk in Pointe Park. Near the water treatment plant I saw some blood, fur, and bits of bark in the trail, so probably the hawk was having some hunting success. I skied for about an hour and a half. It was getting quite sunny by the time I finished, so this won't last long.

Tax day, post-blizzard ski

Yesterday I was supposed to drive to Bismarck for work, but as the day progressed, the lines on the ND DOT Travel Information map went from green to blue to purple to red as a winter storm swept across North Dakota. While we were waiting for the storm to hit Fargo, I went for a 10-mile run as part of my preparation for the Fargo half-marathon. After all, the ski trails were OK yesterday, but there was a lot of melting in the afternoon, so I doubted they would be that great on Sunday. From what I could see of the trails on my run, it was a good decision.

About an hour into my run, the snow started up. At first, it was just gently falling small flakes that melted as soon as they hit the bike path, but then the temperature dropped, the wind picked up, and soon my black dog, Noko, had a blanket of white on his back. When we got back home, we cleaned up, ate a lot, and then hunkered down to watch the storm. It did not disappoint. Flakes got fatter, and the array of flakes became more dense. Soon there was quite a bit of accumulation. We were falling asleep when the call came that school would have a late start in the morning to allow for a ski, I mean to allow for snow removal.

Today, Monday, April 15th, we woke up to the sound of our neighbor, Darren, snowblowing. He did the whole block--what a guy! Enrico sent the boys out to do hand-shoveling in other areas. I gulped down some protein mix, put Noko's harness on, and headed out the door with my skis. What big piles of snow! Both Noko and I were bubbling with excitement. The tiredness from the 10-mile run was forgotten as we climbed the dike and glided down to the trails.

First surprise--the bike path was already plowed--those Fargo Parks employees, they sure are on top of things!  I stepped gingerly over the pavement on my rock skis, and we headed downhill toward the river. That's when I got the big surprise . . .

Fargo Parks had already groomed both the classic trail AND the skate trail--unbelievable! Not only that, the skate trail was already set up, so we could ski it without gouging it. Heavenly day!

Noko on top of the dike

Why I LOVE Fargo Parks

End of the ski--heading back up the dike onto our street

Happy with my tax day "refund"

April Fool's Day ski

I feel lucky to have been able to ski on April 1st this year, although conditions were not very good in spots. Nevertheless, I enjoyed some parts quite a lot, getting into a good skate rhythm in the firmer sections. I had to take my skis off a few times to walk over the section that had been plowed to the water treatment plant and the part of the bike path that no longer has a snow bridge over it. I just skied to Lindenwood and back--the parts that were mushy were kind of hard on my knees and ankles. Lots of sunshine, shrinking snowbanks.