Saturday "At Home" Style. . .

 

As I suggest so often here at Classic Style, directly or indirectly, even when holding up the a wall at home during the weekend, one need resemble neither a schlubb, nor a schlobb when it comes to personal presentation.  

Following a hot shower and shave, attire for today (Saturday) includes a vintage L.L. Bean Norwegian fisherman's sweater (the real 'Made in Norway' deal), cords and flannel shirt from Land's End, and the usual Allen Edmonds suede camp moccasins given to me by my late mother 10+ years or so ago.  My go to hausschuhe (as they say in German) for the colder months.  

I've been wearing these sweaters for about 30 years, long before I ever realized they were a thing among the trad/ivy/prep crowd.  I just naturally gravitated toward them given my cross-county skiing, linguistic, and academic tendencies.  I'll tell you all about it sometime, but I spent a lot of time in Norway and its immediate neighbors during the 1990s.

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In the meantime, more family skiing planned for tomorrow (Sunday) at an area park about 25 minutes south of here, which has a more extensive network of (groomed) trails, which always means even more fun to be had. Breaking trail is fun too, and the Grand Duchess actually prefers that kind of skiing, but I like the speed offered by groomed snow.  

As an aside, and non-skiers might not believe it, but with all of the physical motion involved with cross-country skiing, one is not cold after the first five or 10 minutes.  It's right up there with swimming and cycling for full-body workouts.  

Contrary to popular notion, cross-country skiing is anything but trudging and dull.  Schussing down hills at speed, navigating turns at the bottom, and achieving a fast glide on flats (even uphill) when conditions and stride are in synch provide as much of a thrill as any downhill (Alpine) jaunt where skiers must depend on a lift or towline to get 'em to the top of a hill.  

Cross-country skiing, by contrast, offers considerably more mobility and versatility in my view.  The Young Master, in particular, has become a speed demon the last two seasons.  It's really quite something to behold out on the trails. 

Not to be outdone by our son, last weekend saw me wipe out several times atop a newly arrived (from Norway) pair of racing skis (pictured below), which I ordered a year ago, my first equipment upgrade in 23 years.  Skinner, lighter, and faster waxable skis meant a learning curve, which included a spectacular face plant as I neared the bottom of one hill, much to the Young Master's amused delight.  

Sorry, everyone.  No pictures of that one.  I can relate, however, that it was like going from my now long gone 1976 Volvo 244DL sedan to a Lamborghini!  But I had the hang of things by Day Two, and was once again handling descents with aplomb, even achieving forward glide on long climbs by the end of Day Three, which was something new.  

A charming side effect of these family ski trips is seeing my wife and child enjoy themselves.  The Grand Duchess has skied for over 40 years since she was a girl -- Our first true "date" was on skis at a groomed Nordic center outside of Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Minnesota back in February 2001 -- and we have had the Young Master on skis since the winter after he turned five (2014-2015).  Making sure he is well-acquainted with his Swedish heritage, you understand.

Watching wife and (now teen-aged) child descend a wooded trail at speed and emerge from the treeline at the bottom, in particular, warmed my heart in a way that is difficult to describe.  I lack video footage sadly, but when tinkering with your phone or camera, you risk missing a lot other special family moments.  I will forever retain that happy vision clearly etched across my memory nonetheless.  

Wonderful, hearty evening meals at the cabin we rented for a second year in a row followed with long chats by the fireside and wine with the Grand Duchess before we turned in for additional outings on skis the following day(s).  Yet the absolute best aspect of our ski getaway last weekend was seeing and chatting with all of the ski enthusiasts in their 60s, 70s, and 80s, who are still zipping around on skate skis like they are teenagers.  

Skate skiing, a slightly different cross-county technique than the classic skiing the Young Master and I do, is something that the Grand Duchess -- an accomplished cyclist, speed skater, and downhill skier who also does classic diagonal stride skiing -- is learning currently.  It's something I hope to take up myself in the next couple of seasons.  But I digress! 

Back to our senior skiers for a moment.  Discussion of the trails skied so far that day, kick waxes, technique, and equipment with these more seasoned and still very active skiers is a joyful and fascinating and unexpected part of the activity.  Clearly, approaching advanced age needn't mean sitting in the shade beneath a tartan lap blanket tended to by a stern nurse ala numerous Benny Hill vignettes, or the Carry On films.  

Parenthetically, I was always more a Bob Todd and Frankie Howard man myself. 

As for the Stollens, we're headed north again in two weeks to a new ski area on Saturday, Black Mountain Nordic Ski Trails (Cheboygan, Michigan) with lessons at our favorite place thus far, Forbush Corner Nordic Center (Frederic, MI) Sunday morning before another couple of hours skiing and then home again.  Because, you know, there is always room to improve one's technique.  And it's hard to stop and clip out when having that much fun.  Can't wait!  

-- Heinz-Ulrich