Meadow Skate Skiing
One of the things that makes Tahoe truly special is that we have a real diversity of seasons, and even a wide variation in conditions within a season. This leads to amazing Tahoe experiences that might pop up only every now and then, and we have to carpe diem quickly to enjoy them while we can.
Some of these grab em while you can conditions include those perfect blue bird powder days for downhill skiers, the just after a good rain on dirt for mountain bikers, and those crisp fall days when the leaves are at their peak of color for leaf peepers. For cross-country skiers, a unique offering is spring skate skiing on the crusted over meadows of places like Antone Meadows.
Cross Country skiing is primarily divided into two disciplines: Classic skiing, which is skiing straight ahead either in a track or in the woods, and skate skiing where the skier uses a motion similar to roller blading or ice skating. Usually skate skiing is limited to the firm corduroy left by a grooming machine, but at just the right time of year, during just the right winter, the meadows open up for skating. Which happened this week at Tahoe Cross Country Ski Area.
Antone Meadows is a large meadow area of beaver ponds and wetlands. In the summer, it is impassable for those who don’t want to get very wet. And in the middle of the winter, folks ski along on the neighboring cross-country trails and stay out of the meadows. This leaves the meadow quietly covered in a smooth blanket of white, just waiting for the right conditions to achieve perfection. Once the snow pack has accumulated and settled, and there have been a number of cold nights with warm days, the meadow sets up hard so that a ski doesn’t break the surface, and you can skate ski all over the meadow, winding your way among the frozen creek beds and over snow bridges.
Be sure and get there early in the morning before the meadow gets too soft, and quickly, as the cross-country ski season is winding down. Don’t worry, next up is awesome hiking and mountain biking.