The Ludgates host weekly “Thursday Nights in January” outings for the Cayuga Nordic Ski club at their residence on Canaan Rd. in Dryden.  January got off to a rough start, after a late December/early January thaw left us with no snow to ski upon and led to a canceled first outing.  Mother Nature managed to pull through, though, and the next two outings went off without a hitch.  A small dose of freezing drizzle this past Tuesday compacted the inches upon inches of lake effect snow that have been dumping on the area during the past couple weeks into a nice firm base, and another couple of inches of the fluffy lake effect on top of that led to perfect skiing conditions last night.

17 skiers (plus the Ludgates=19) and 4 dogs ventured out into the cold temps.  Climbing the Sauna hill was a bit easier with the drier, grippier layer of snow resting on top of the base.  (For those of you still having issues with your glide and/or grip, check out Mike’s previous blog entry on “How to Wax your No Wax Skis” for some tips on how to address this.)  Once we reached the Snowmobile trail, we broke into two groups.  The speedier group took on the FLT and headed up to the radio tower.  Having skied the radio tower loop a number of times already this season, and wanting a bit of a slower pace, I decided to go on sweep for the other group, which had decided to take the Lady Slipper trail (R2) to Y5 to Y7.  I love Y7 on a perfect snow night, so there was no way I could pass it up.  For those of you not familiar with Y7, it parallels Canaan Rd., and is an undulating descent, with a good dose of sharp corners and trail hugging trees to keep things interesting…   really interesting when the snow is a little on the icier, faster side.  But conditions were more toward the fluff-side last night, so control was present and strong for everyone.

Back at the shop, we met up with the radio tower group.  Treats, in the form of oranges and chocolate chip cookies, were abundant and passed around to hungry skiers.   Hope to see most of you next week!

CNSC race

The CNSC race at Hammond Hill on Saturday January 15 became a little more
than a pipe dream in the past day or so. As of now, it is definitely a go.
We skied the course tonight and it is in great shape. The grooming
equipment got dropped off earlier this evening and is ready to go.
Saturday’s weather conditions should be perfect for a great classic ski
race. Plenty to choose from:

a short kiddies race for anybody 12 and under (they race for free)–We would
really love to see the little twerps out there!
a 5k citizens race that includes lots of climbing and descending
a 10k race for everyone else that serves as an Empire State Games qualifier
and a NYSSRA points race. The 10k race has twice as much climbing and
descending as the 5k since you do the same loop twice.

The skireg link for on-line registration is
http://www.skireg.com/events/register.asp?EventID=3190. Or you can register
at the race from 8:30 AM to 10:15 AM. Races start at 10:30 (see registration link).

If you were waffling because of the snow shortage, you’re done waffling now!
Hope to see lots of you out there.

Jack R

http://cayuganordicski.org/new/