It fell over a foot of snow since last week, and it was time to inaugurate the ski season. So I brushed the dust off my cross-country skis and went for a tour in the forest. What a great pleasure to glide on the white snow, accompanied only by the squishing sound of the skis, and the light friction of my socks against my skin at the heels... It felt so good after 2K that I decided to deviate from the usual route and follow the 10K track. That's where things got wrong: unfortunately, I did not realize that it was well after 4pm when i took this decision. Soon enough I could see the light fading as I passed birch tree after birch tree, and intersection after intersection. I kept on pushing, as the tracks I followed became less and less defined.
It was nearly dark when I saw a very debatable indication for the 10 vs 15K track... I reflected for a minute before choosing left or right, knowing that a wrong decision would cost me a finger or a toe (did I mention I overestimated the temperature when I left, so I did not wear clothes warm enough?). I took a left, which turned out to be the right decision and kept on pushing, and at that stage I did no longer enjoy the friction of my damn socks against my heels. It is not such a good feeling to be alone out there in the dark, not knowing if I was on the right trail, with no friend or wife to blame for the bad situation.
In the end, I made it safely back to civilization, with little damage other than some more erosion of my confidence in leadership skills, and of the skin at the back of my heels.
Note: the supporting pictures I took with my phone for this story got corrupted... blame Motorola for it.
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2 comments:
I have a pair of skiis to sell you. They are intelligent skis, as they always seem to send my back to the lodge on the 5 km track. Without fail they begin telling me at about the 3 km mark that it soon will be time to turn around and go back home. I'll sell them to you for a good deal, 5% off what I paid for them... of course in USD equivalents since I don't want to be hit for the recent devaluation of the Ruble.
I'm glad you survived. I'm also happy you resisted the temptation to post photos of the back of your heels.
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