Skate-skiing’ is Nordic with grace

Published 4:00 am Wednesday, January 24, 2001

At first, juggling three chain saws while hanging upside down from a moving chairlift would have been easier. At least I know how to hang upside down.

But skate skiing sneaks up on you.

Like anything requiring muscle memory where there’s just a great big void, learning the techniques is a challenging process. It’s fraught with long periods of dorkiness punctuated by moments of pure athletic enlightenment. Followed, of course, by more dorkiness.

Hopefully, the moments of graceful bliss morph into short bursts, then extended periods until you can’t imagine how you could have been such a dweeb.

At least that’s what Roger Daniels told me. Daniels has been skate skiing for several years and, like others experienced in this high-speed offshoot of cross-country skiing, he makes it look easy. It’s a graceful thing to behold, a step-glide-push diagonal stride that has as much in common with ice skating as it does with classic cross-country.

Daniels is a runner who supplements his long-distance training regimen with skate skiing. It’s a good fit, giving him maximum aerobic benefit with minimal pounding.

For beginners, who tend to waste a lot of energy flailing to keep their balance and overcompensating with their poles, an initial session can be exhausting.

Done right, skating allows you to race over flat stretches and cruise up hills. The basic technique is called the ”V-1,” which refers to the shape your skis form while striding (a V) and pushing off with your poles only on your dominant side (my right).

You use both skis to alternately push and glide.

In theory, you put your weight on your dominant ski and push with the poles, then shift your weight to the other side, push off with the dominant ski and glide.

Simple as that. I spent most of the first hour playing a game of solitaire Twister in the snow.

The best place to learn is on a flat, well-groomed surface; the oval adjacent to Mount Bachelor Nordic Center is ideal. If you can’t rope a skate skiing aficionado into showing you the basics, lessons are available at Mount Bachelor for skiers ages 6 and up. Getting started right is invaluable.

Once you get the cadence down pat and your once-awkward shuffling becomes a magical dance of inspired symmetry, you’ll be ready to tackle one of the manicured trails at Mount Bachelor.

There are also trails suitable for skate skiing at Hoodoo and Wanoga Sno-park, and the Tumalo Langlauf Club reportedly grooms a path at the lower elevation Meissner Sno-park when conditions allow.

You need a firm surface to get it right, Daniels explained. During spring, when the snow gets crusty, skate skiers don’t need groomed trails. Skate skiing through deep powder, however, is more trouble than it’s worth, he said.

Although it’s been around hundreds of years, skate skiing surged in popularity in the early 1980s when Vermont native and Olympic cross-country medalist Bill Koch won a Nordic World Cup race using a skate skiing style.

Back on the track at Mount Bachelor, inspiration sneaked up on me.

Toward the end of our session, I dialed in to some unconscious fold in my brain that had been busy listening to Daniels as the rest of me lurched around like a bass on the bank. I made it most of the way around the track, my V-1 engine purring, when Daniels spoiled it all.

”Looking good,” he said, turning to watch.

I hitched, I shimmied, I windmilled. And I piled into the snow. A big dork in search of a little enlightenment.

For more information and maps, visit the Bend/Fort Rock Ranger District in Red Oak Square, 1230 NE Third St. in Bend.

IF YOU GO:

– GETTING THERE: From Bend, drive 22 miles west on Century Drive to Mount Bachelor. The Nordic Center is to the right when you reach the ski-area parking lot.

– DIFFICULTY: Trails are easy to difficult, depending on terrain, length and skiing proficiency.

– ACCESS: Classic cross-country, skate skis, snowshoes.

– PERMITS: Trail passes that give you access to 56 kilometers of manicured trails are $11 a day for adults, $5.25 for children 7-12 and $7 for seniors.

– RENTALS:Cross-country and skate ski packages are available at the center and at several ski shops in Bend.

Jim Witty can be reached at 541-617-7828 or jwitty@bendbulletin.com.