I love to ski in the moonlight, but I am not a night person, so I miss out on it because I get sleepy in the evening. However, because we have had a couple of cold, blustery days in which my only exercise has been walking to the dog park with Noko, I was determined to catch the wave of rising temperatures this evening, and the nearly full moon (The Farmer's Almanac states the "full wolf moon" was on January 12th). I took a short nap after work and then took Noko to the dog park, so I would be ready.
After our family had dinner, Enrico and Alessandro played a flag game while they digested their food, and I talked with Max in the living room while he was playing a video game. About 8:45pm, Enrico and I got ready. The temperature was +1, and though we were happy to finally see a temperature in the plus range, it still felt pretty cold. The wind had dropped off a bit, as we hoped it would, but was still about 10 miles per hour.
My internal temperature drops in the evening, so I decided to dress a bit more warmly than I do for a day ski--thin thermal top, fleece vest, and fleece sweater; long underwear and biking pants on the bottom. I surprised Enrico with warm ski boots, that I had put on the heating register after dinner. Nice! When I went to the door, I saw that Enrico had FOUR layers on! He suggested that I add a wind jacket at least, so I did. Since Fargo finally has decent snow cover, we decided to use our new Toko classic skis that we got from Finn Sisu in the cities last winter.
We walked to the end of our block and climbed over the dike, leaving the street lights behind. The moon was pretty high in the ski by then (about 9pm), and we glided down the dike, creating new tracks in the deep snow. I wondered if we would be breaking trail the whole time, since between the new snow and the blowing snow, our previous tracks might be covered. However, as we crossed the skate trail, I thought I saw something . . . could it be? . . . Yes! Fargo Parks had groomed the classic trail!
We skied to the I-94 bridge and up the little hill there to Lindenwood Park parking lot, then we turned around and headed back. About halfway back, I began to feel tired, and I began yawning. A couple of times, we saw creatures run across the trail. One was a rabbit, the other longer--maybe a river otter? We did not see any other people in the river corridor that night. It was romantic--a kind of "date night" that I prefer, so on our next stop, I stepped over to Enrico's track and kissed him. He said my long hair was all white and frosty, and his beard was all frosty too. And yet, we were very warm inside.
We got back at quarter to eleven. Our children were already in bed, tired out from a week of final exams and swim practice. Now we were tired too, but in a good way and full of visions of moonlight.
After our family had dinner, Enrico and Alessandro played a flag game while they digested their food, and I talked with Max in the living room while he was playing a video game. About 8:45pm, Enrico and I got ready. The temperature was +1, and though we were happy to finally see a temperature in the plus range, it still felt pretty cold. The wind had dropped off a bit, as we hoped it would, but was still about 10 miles per hour.
My internal temperature drops in the evening, so I decided to dress a bit more warmly than I do for a day ski--thin thermal top, fleece vest, and fleece sweater; long underwear and biking pants on the bottom. I surprised Enrico with warm ski boots, that I had put on the heating register after dinner. Nice! When I went to the door, I saw that Enrico had FOUR layers on! He suggested that I add a wind jacket at least, so I did. Since Fargo finally has decent snow cover, we decided to use our new Toko classic skis that we got from Finn Sisu in the cities last winter.
We walked to the end of our block and climbed over the dike, leaving the street lights behind. The moon was pretty high in the ski by then (about 9pm), and we glided down the dike, creating new tracks in the deep snow. I wondered if we would be breaking trail the whole time, since between the new snow and the blowing snow, our previous tracks might be covered. However, as we crossed the skate trail, I thought I saw something . . . could it be? . . . Yes! Fargo Parks had groomed the classic trail!
Although visibility was great, the set tracks made the skiing by moonlight even better because we could ski by feel as well as by sight. We skied at a leisurely pace, since we were so well dressed, and within ten minutes, we were toasty warm. Our kick wax was sufficient, though we didn't have the best glide. Nevertheless, we kicked and glided, kicked and glided, finding a pace and rhythm that we could share, skiing side-by-side, not talking, just looking at the moon and stars and the shadows of the trees on the snow.
The snow was still cold, despite the warming air temperature, so although it wasn't squeaky cold, it was still firm enough to be a bit noisy. Enrico and I talked about how to describe the sound, kind of a waaa-waaa of the skis and a yow-yow of the poles. Enrico talked about a blind man he frequently sees on campus and how he was worried about him navigating the ice on campus walkways. We wondered if he could feel with his cane when the surface was more slippery. I postulated yes, as I believed I could predict the snow conditions from the vibrations going up my pole. When we came to areas of the trail that the snow had blown over, I could feel the difference in the snow through the vibrations in my hand even if I could not see the kind of snow. I took a few photos with my iphone, but they don't show how very light it is in the moonlight. In this one, however, you can see our shadows on the trail:
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