Journey in to the heart of winter

So far the winter of 2015-2016 has tended toward the irritating.  Brown, icy, cold blasts that come without moisture (also known as snow).  As cross-country ski enthusiasts, this is hard.  Theo is on the ski team and has been practicing since November.  One time he has been on his skis.  Once.

Back in the fall we made plans to head up to the northland with a pack of pals to do some skiing, some skating, some saunaing and ice-hole jumping.  We made reservations for over New Years.  As the date inched ever closer it became apparent that our winter getaway may not be so wintery.  The cities were dusted with a glaze of ice, but nothing skiable, and the reports from up by Ely weren't much better.  Unbelievably, Burntside Lake was still open, ice-free, days before Christmas.

So I convinced myself that despite the lack of skiing and winter sports, it would still be more beautiful than our street in St. Paul, and we would have good times with friends, playing games and gathering around the fire.

We drove north and things got better, a little whiter, a little more wintery.  But the front office at DuNord had signs warning against stepping on the ice, and that skiing was mostly confined to the trails in camp.  We skied around camp and it was nice, but my soul needs a little time out on the North Arm trails in all seasons, so I was determined to get out there despite the reports that it wasn't so great.  A bunch of us suited up and skied down the icy North Arm road, taking a right where we thought we saw an opening for a forest road.  The trail quickly narrowed, with the recent snow weighing down the branches of trees so every few feet we had to duck under branches.  But we emerged, like through the rabbit-hole, in to the most beautiful of winter wonderlands.  And there was enough snow to ski.  The surroundings were as gorgeous as I have ever seen them.  Every branch was thickly blanketed.  The white contrasted with the green pine branches which were offset against the brilliant blue ski. It was like we had left some crusty imitation of winter and entered the very inner heart of the season.  We didn't ski for long, but it was enough to soothe my soul and get me through the brown back in the cities.

And added bonus of this trip was bringing along our Mac international student.  He is from Pakistan and winter has been just a concept to him. We showed him how to ski and to skate.  We convinced him to take a sauna and then jump through a small hole into the frigid shallow waters of the lake.  Best of all, we initiated someone else into the wonders of getting out in to winter.