This is the earliest I have ever gone cross-country skiing. Yesterday, Sunday, a couple friends and I traveled to Lolo Pass to check out the conditions. What did we find? We found out that the conditions were great.

I had my old setup with duct tape and screws holding everything together. About a third of the way through my buckle broke off of my boot. We used duct tape to mend the problem boot.

A couple miles later I fell backwards and broke the binding completely off of the ski. So we brought out the duct tape again. This time using all that we had to tape my boot to the ski.

After another mile it all un-raveled. The back part of the binding fell off and my heel was slipping all over the ski. Finally after some real hard effort the entire thing came of the ski and my day of skiing was over. I had to hike back to the vehicle.

But wait, we are not finished with the mishap list. I started to run and soon realized that my feet were getting cold. I looked down and the sole of my boot broke out and the sides were letting in snow. I was thinking I was going to end up bare foot. What a challenge.

I finally arrived at the lodge and overcame it all. The ginger snaps and coco re fueled my soul for skiing and now my thoughts are drifting to next week … skiing with some new skis. I a hoping to score some used equipment at one of the shops in town. So now I sit recovering from over exertion, enjoying this fabulous Monday! Yea right!