Can't get enough of winter

Even though the Twin Cities were covered in endless feet of snow all winter, and were a xc skier's paradise from December til March, it's still nice to get away to more snow in further northern climes.  In February, right as our house was ready for re-entry and settling in, we packed up our bags and headed north to Camp DuNord for the second annual Open/Expo extravaganza.  8 families.  18 kids- 14 of them middle school boys this year.  I'll say that again.  14 middle school boys.  And it was a hoot.  We completely lucked out on the weather- fresh snow in the woods- the trees were astoundingly beautiful, plus sunny skis and temperatures in the 20s with just a hint of light breezes.  We could easily have landed on one of the many sub-zero days and had to either really bundle up or get lots of air fresheners for the cabins if we were going to stay inside all day.  We skied 2-4 times a day.  The kids developed their version of the Winter Olympics.  It was quite adorable- xc ski sprints, longer races, a biathlon that involved skiing then throwing a frisbee at a tree, slalom events on the tubing hill, plus an attempt to mimic the inaugural 'slope style' events.  The only one that probably will never come to an olympics near you is "Hunger Games Run".  Not sure how it went down, but it involved a king of the mountain type thing at Blueberry Island, then a dash to shore, where you could push competitors into the snow banks, from which many had trouble re-emerging.  There were results kept and medals made.  I think Tim LG was the most involved in the whole thing- he got way more into it than any of the kids.  Because he is the biggest kid.

I skied out into the BWCA and fell in love with the gentle down hill from the ridge on the North Arm Trails back down into camp.  Could take you an hour to get up to the top of the ridge and maybe 15 minutes of gliding down.  Lovely.

The last morning we awoke to a snowstorm, which didn't stop us from getting out into the woods on skis.  We broke trail through nearly a foot of new powder.  The term 'silent sport' really was appropriate.  Except for the fact that there were lots of middle school boys skiing with me.  They thrilled to hit pine branches with their poles, causing avalanches of snow on unsuspecting victims- most often themselves.

Best of all was the great crew of people.  7 other families that we have met through our educational journey. What a great community.  Can't wait to return next year!