Cross-country Skiing

Snow Hiking-Arizona Style

It's snowing squeals seven-year-old Tanya. Look, Mommy, look! And like a child myself, I leap out of bed to see what the night has secretly done to the White Mountain village of Greer.

Fat flakes still tumble through the soft gray glimmer of dawn. The snowman Tanya made the day before is wearing a heavy new white coat, and five fluffy inches perch upon the roof of our car like a gigantic beret.

The most dramatic transformation occurred on the road threading between an Alpine meadow and our lodge. Buried under waves of velvety drifts, it's a trackless expanse of powder, the perfect beginner's cross-country ski trail.

Tanya and I are lacing our boots when her father and older sister tumble out of their blankets, lured by the promise of homemade sweet rolls in the lodge's dining room. In no time we four are gliding through the gleaming new snow, excitedly practicing lessons we learned from instructor Rick Hill the day before.

Rick, a native Tucsonan, opened a crosscountry skiing rental and instruction shop in Greer in the winter of 1979. Since then he's been introducing individuals, couples, families, handicapped children - even older folks who've never skied before - to the freedom of this very popular winter season sport.

"That's what's so marvelous about crosscountry," explains Rick. "Anyone who can walk can learn it in a day, either with the help of someone like me or even with a book." He gestures with a gloved hand, dark eyes sparkling: "It's pleasantly inexpensive, of course-no lift tickets to buy, no fancy clothes. And it's one of the safest ways in the world to enjoy the excitement of being outdoors on your own in the snow."

walk can learn it in a day, either with the help of someone like me or even with a book." He gestures with a gloved hand, dark eyes sparkling: "It's pleasantly inexpensive, of course-no lift tickets to buy, no fancy clothes. And it's one of the safest ways in the world to enjoy the excitement of being outdoors on your own in the snow."

Other cross-country skiers echo Rick's enthusiasm. Kris Dexter of Flagstaff loves the freedom and independence: "On crosscountry skis you can explore wilderness places you'd simply never get to any other way. My husband Lee and I camp out in remote forest glens where wild animal and bird tracks are the only marks in the virgin snow."

Kris's favorite winter camping spots are on the southwest side of the San Francisco Peaks, where, late November through midApril, snow-slippery cinder cones allow her to make breathtaking descents onto the Coconino Plateau. Less experienced skiers prefer gentle hills and rolling meadows found throughout Arizona's high country.

In the northern part of the state there are spectacular cross-country tours at the Grand Canyon, where opalescent panoramas sparkle under heavy mantles of white. Sculptured red rocks wear lighter snow covers in Oak Creek Canyon, near Sedona, while thicker snowfalls blanket the heights of Mount Lemmon, Mount Graham, and the Chiricahuas, far to the south.

"It's all a matter of taste," smiles Rick Hill, who skis whenever he thinks he might encounter a new experience. "I've even heard of cross-country nuts skiing through the parks of Phoenix and Tucson after a freak storm's left a fleeting little bit of white stuff on the grass." And with that, he takes off across a sparkly meadow in Greer to demonstrate the easy, graceful stride basic to all level-land cross-country skiing.

"Plant your poles alternately as you move your feet," he calls. "Just like you move your arms when you're walking down the street, right foot and left arm swing together; then the opposite; relax, and you'll find yourself doing it without thinking."

Rick's compact athletic body speeds across the meadow, poles and skis moving in cheerful, balanced rhythm. Our little family follows, awkwardly at first, but soon with a sort of primitive coordination that makes us realize all those how-to books we've been reading are actually right -level-land cross-country really is similar to walking, only faster and smoother.

The shoe-like lightweight boots transform the ordinary city-street gait into an energetic ski-stride. Unlike thick-soled downhill boots that are fully bound to the ski, flexible cross-country footgear attaches only at the front. The heel can be lifted to provide a powerful push with the toe. The skier leans forward slightly, centering his weight, and planting poles firmly for balance and momentum. The movements are Almost instinctively natural. Even the nonathlete will probably feel comfortable on cross-country skis within a few hours. Until the last few decades learning wasn't always so easy. Extra-long cross-country skis were heavy, clumsy, and difficult for a beginner to manage. Today, fiberglass and other light materials have changed that, and every season brings innovations in equipment. No-wax skis with fish-scale bottoms allow the skier to climb hills without sliding backward-and still glide smoothly on the straightaway or make a sporty downhill run.

Serious cross-country racers usually pass up easy-to-maintain waxless skis, preferring to spend endless hours waxing by the fireside, discussing the virtues of domestic and imported waxes with fancy

names like Blue Klister. The trick is to apply wax that's exactly right for current snow conditions.

Larry Coats, who races in cross-country events all over Arizona, says a good variety of waxes is especially important when you're skiing in constantly changing snow conditions like those at Grand Canyon. He remembers skiing with friends along the North Rim under a morning sun that flared off the frozen snow in silvery planes of light. But by noon they were cutting through new white powder as a surprise haze of snowflakes danced out of intruding clouds. When they stopped to rewax their skis and begin the descent into the immense canyon the snow became wet-ter and thicker; toward day's end they had to replace their long skis with light snowshoes.

Larry says darkness overtook the party in camp at Roaring Springs. And: "The clouds suddenly lifted, sweeping away our fatigue, releasing the evening's quiet beauty like a flood. We lay there in our sleeping bags, lazy and contented, watching the procession of the constellations wheel across the sky."

Kris Dexter also delights in star-bright camp-outs, but for sleeping she prefers to escape the winter air by digging a cave in a snowbank. "We dry out our socks near candlelight, then snuggle into our down bags early," she explains. "It's so comfy you can dream you're in one of those nursery-book rabbit dens-all you lack are little curtains and paintings on the walls."

Rick Hill admits mountain air can get frosty, especially just before dawn, but then Venus drops below the horizon, and the huge rising sun touches the snow with pink and yellow and gold. Rick says after a few hours of skiing his breath no longer steams from his nostrils, and he finds himself happily shedding his sweater when he stops for lunch at noon.

Warm sunshine and cold snow make a winning combination, but cross-country enthusiasts agree it's more than just the Arizona climate that makes this sport so exhilarating. Snowy areas here are usually located in uplands. Skiing terrain consists of gentle slopes, bubbling streams, and snow-hushed forests. To negotiate this ever-changing land skiers learn to combine traditional cross-country techniques with downhill, or Alpine, skiing methods.

In the shade of a hilly pine grove, Rick continues our lesson: "Cross-country, or Nordic-style skiing, as it's sometimes called, is exactly what those names imply-a time-honored Scandinavian method of getting from one point to another. So if there's a hill between you and your grandma's

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