"I'm slipping a little bit. We'll have to put on klister. Kilster is the last resort", Sarka said within about five minutes of starting on the trail at Horseshoe Valley. We stepped off the track, and she pulled out the gunked up ziploc baggie containing said klister and continued "And if klister doesn't work," (here she paused talking for a second to carefully peel the baggie away from the sticky tube, and I held my breath waiting for the magic solution for situations when klister doesn't work) "we'll have to suck it up and slip".
Ha! Bailing? Not an option. So, even though we'd just had a waxing lesson for Johanna (Sarka thought we'd try hard wax first - though there's nothing particularly "hard" about the special violet we had put on) in the wax room, we now had a klistering lesson. Klister is not for klutzes. But it works! Or, at least it did yesterday - we went most of the way around on the green in the West Trails, and while there was a bit of extra work involved in the wet granular, we had ok grip. And I got more lessons on kicking and gliding and Sarka expressed her opinion on my pole length (too short! they always sell you too short poles if you 
ask their advice!) and my skis (they seem to have good glide - but once again, I just had what the man at the ski store sold me when I confessed my "but I don't know anything!" skill level)
We came to a point where the green, red and blue trails all went off in different directions. Sarka eliminated the blue from consideration, because it was labelled "back to chalet", and puzzled over her (two year old) map - she was convinced that the powers that be had re-routed the trails to eliminate the spot she was so 
fond of, heart attack hill. Apparently, this was not just a cute name - you go "straight up" for a long time, and then you are at the top "and then, you go up and down over all these hills, which is good. Now, there are no hills, and it will go back to the chalet, which is not good". Hills good, back to chalet, not good. I wasn't sure if I entirely agreed with this, but I don't know anything. After a bit, we pulled out my (new) map, and figured it out - and Sarka wanted to do the re-routed bit that would take her back into the good hills, while we agreed that I would take the rest of the green back over the not-good little hills to the chalet, and futz on the flatter trails.
Which I did. The unspoken word of the day was "considering" - the conditions are good, people kept saying (considering it is the end of March and south-facing slopes are bare). My speed was good (considering that I don't have much experience). The grip was good (considering we were skiing through slush and melting ice and water). The most succinct summary of the day came when I was herringboning my way up a hill on the blue in the east trails (Sarka was still off on her good hills red adventure) and stepped to the side when a skater came up behind me - "it's spring skiing!" he breezily called out. It was a great day out, considering it's spring skiing. I was doing well, considering I suck.
I found Sarka in the chalet having lunch when I returned from my east blue loop (having had to walk around two muddy patches on golf courses), and she finally solved the heartbreaking loss of heart attack hill by asking all the staff members until she found one who had been around long enough to not look at her like she was strange when she wanted to know what they did to the hill. Something about a golf course, and loss of access. After lunch, we did the west blue one more time, but re-klistered first. Sarka told me to go ahead while she finished her skis, but of course she caught up to me fairly quickly. And right around that point, it started to rain (this was also the point in the loop furthest from the chalet). But there was no complaining, seeing as we'd not used all this anticipated sucking it up karma when the klister actually worked, and we just sloshed through the puddles.
And then, on the way home, I agitated for stopping at Sojourn in Barrie - I wanted to see what they had in stock in terms of drytops (not much - looked like last season's leftovers) and check out the end of season sales. I am two toques richer now! And ende of season clearance longer poles. And a Massassauga Park map - mine went missing sometime in the last year, did I lend it to you? No matter now, I have a new one. Because in June, I am doing a GLSKA new members trip with Keith and Jim (this the direct result of concern expressed that it's sometimes difficult for new people in the kayak club to get on trips). You should come.
I am really, truly shifting focus now. Today, the sun is streaming in, there are only the smallest crusts of snow in the shadows of buildings here, and I might go for another bike ride and do a little bit of post-winter cleanup in the garden. Winter is over.
Posted by Johanna at March 26, 2006 08:42 AM