A Day of Firsts

Today was a big day; not so much for science but definitely for me. I took my first shower, did my first round of laundry (both of which were very much needed and felt amazing), and tried something new; for the first time in my life, I cross-country skied. Being a newbie at it and all, I don't have my own pair of skis but I decided to borrow some from a friend in my research group to bring up here. Turns out it was a good move.

When it comes to skis, I'm used to having both my feet firmly locked to the two boards, so, as you can probably imagine, the whole loose-heel design of the cross-country skis was a bit awkward for me. Zoe, who was on the University of Denver's ski team and who coaches kids in NH how to cross-country ski, watched me as I made my first steps (glides?) on the skis. She said I was a natural, though I think she was just being nice; I'm pretty sure those who regularly hit the XC skis don't wobble as much as I did. The wobbles definitely resulted in a handful of solid falls which was frustrating and usually fairly painful. But I did not give up! I was determined to both get some exercise today and to really give a solid try to cross-country skiing so I kept on. Fortunately, after a bit, the falls became less and less frequent and were thus separated by longer periods of actual skiing. I really enjoy that part, the actual skiing. I didn't find it all that hard which was encouraging though my arms were sore. I find this odd; I would expect such an activity would work the lower limbs more rather than the upper but I was mistaken. Taking off the skis revealed some sore quads but nothing outrageous. It's very possible I'm not skiing correctly and am using the poles a bit too vigorously too much but I was definitely surprised to be held back by sore biceps; several stops were made, not to rest my legs or lungs, but to rest my arms. I was also a bit surprised I wasn't having more difficulty breathing. Being moderately out of shape and at 11000ft, I was definitely prepared to be sucking wind. But no. Not that I'm disappointed, but I am surprised. This ease of breathing may have been because I wasn't going so fast or maybe it's that I'm actually wicked good shape. I'm going with the latter.

I skied out on the skiway, where the C-130 lands, while Zach (fellow SAT camper) ran. The skiway's the prime location for these types of activities as its a 3-mile strip of groomed snow. I forgot my watch so I didn't have a real feel for how long we were out there. Turns out it was a lot longer than I thought; Zach had just over 45 minutes on his watch! He did take off about 5 minutes before I got moving but still, that means that I was skiing for ~40 minutes. Not too bad for my first day back to exercise in a week and a half. Sunday I may try running but watching Zach, who's run a marathon and is training for an Ironman at the end of August, struggle with both breathing and the occasional deep drift, I'm thinking it may not be as "effortless" as skiing.

Unfortunately, I didn't snap any pictures of me on the skis, which I feel badly about; what a post without a visual?! To compensate for the lack of action shots, I'll leave you all with some scenic ones:

Pretty clouds. Looking Southwest.

A fog bow. Its similar in principle to a rainbow (light striking water droplets in the the atmosphere and getting refracted) except without the color. I'm not 100% sure why this bow is colorless, though I'm guessing it has to do with the angle of the sun not being ideal.

Foggy night. I took this a little after 3AM when I was on my way back from the 3AM sample last week. This is close to the lowest the sun gets up here.

While today was a big day for me, tomorrow's a HUGE day for science; we're starting another 48-hr surface snow sample, have to recalibration the mist chamber (~4 hours), and are running tests for leaks on the mist chamber (~2 hours). Definitely a busy busy busy Saturday. Hopefully I'll have a moment to talk about it!