Skiing and Snowshoeing -- Embracing Winter

Okay.....we have snow. I've shoveled about a foot off my driveway. Now it's time to enjoy winter in Montana.

I've never skied, and Whitefish Mountain Resort offers a great package. At $72, you get two half day lessons and all of your equipment rental (boots, skis, and poles). Yesterday, I had my first lesson with Ron Bassett, certified ski instructor, and the picture below shows my first step of snow plowing. I was very lucky because this should have been a group lesson, but I was the only one, so I got 2 hours of private instruction. So I went from the snow plow to learning how to go down hill with my skis parallel and making turns.

I was surprised when Ron took me off the "bunny hill", and we went up a chairlift. One of the other things I learned, was how to get up when I fell -- which I did getting off the chair lift (plus a few other times). To me, this new hill looked HUGE. Luckily there was an "easy" way down (vs. the cliff I was staring at) and even it was scary. I did fall once on that run -- more like I bailed out because I seemed to be heading towards a ravine with big trees, and I really didn't want to fall in there. The following discussion occurred:












Ron: "Where were you looking?"
Me: "Right at the ravine"
Ron: "And where did you go?"
Me: "Right at the ravine"
Lesson learned!!

Today I'm having my second lesson -- can't wait. And I would recommend Whitefish Mountain Resort for a wonderful skiing experience. It's a beautiful area with lots of beautiful condos for rent. And the town of Whitefish can't be beat for great places to eat and shop -- plus great libations and entertainment every evening.

But wait.....I didn't stopped my winter quest there. I now own a pair of snow shoes and poles. Glacier National Park offers a great show shoe hike on Saturdays and Sundays at 10:30 and 1:30. A park ranger leads a 1 1/2 mile hike on the "Oxbow Stroll", which took us along McDonald Creek through the woods to the point where the creek makes a loop called the "Oxbow". It was a beautiful day, although the snow was a bit packed as Glacier had a little rain the previous day.



"Ranger Becky" (I've worked with Becky at the Visitor Center in the summer) made the hike fun and quite educational, pointing out a variety of fresh footprints and discussed the animals who made them. We saw a beaver den and Becky not only had a beaver pelt, but talked about how the beavers survived the winter. We also ran across some weasel tracks and discussed what a vicious hunter it was and how it changed colors in the winter. We also learned about the various types of conifer trees and how to identify them. And did you know the Ptarmigan (alpine type of grouse) also uses camouflage and changes from brown in the summer to white in the winter?

So it was a beautiful day, a great hike, good company with my fellow hikers, and quite educational. I really enjoyed the show shoeing, and plan to make many more trips into Glacier -- a place that tugs at my soul and eases my stress.