Friend of the trail and bespoke artisan jeweler, Sandra Dee Owens, has been setting annual goals for the last few years as a positive way to mark another trip around the sun. One thing that had been on her radar for years was skiing the entire length of the Catamount Trail, but taking an entire month off to tackle the whole thing just wasn’t in the cards. Life has a way of getting in the way sometimes, and the idea of skiing all 300+ miles in one go just sounded grueling.
Last season the lack of snow didn’t stop her from completing Sections 1-4. However, at the end of the 4th section, ice on the trail conspired to knock Sandra off her skis and onto her teeth pushing one of the front ones inward… OUCH$@! Fortunately, a few days soaking it in rum in Guadeloupe brought her halfway back to normal!
Lessons Learned
- I can ‘train’ for a journey by flinging myself at it…it just hurts more.
- The nibble and sip style of hydration/calories fits my ‘squirrel’ nature well.
- I love skiing with trail chiefs and friends because there is such dedication to the trail and I get to say thank you in person and enjoy skiing it with them. As a 5th generation Vermonter whose children and grandees are 6 and 7th, I am so grateful for this gem of a trail and those who maintain it.
- I like beaver ponds best in winter..they are hauntingly quiet, as if it is the day after a big party and they are in their teepees sleeping it off.
- I love my knee pads.
- The shuttle rides are an important time of information sharing…it is much easier to listen here than on the trail skiing behind someone with the wind carrying their voices off into the trees.
- I will keep my wax glide on mild temp days in a convenient pocket. Vermont is blessed with endless open streams to cross and the sun changes everything.
- Every trail section is a unique footprint through the wilderness. Magical moments seem timed to coincide with tiredness (read whining).
- It is surprisingly tiring to ski all day on a wilderness trail. So very different from a day of skiing.
- I do a dance inside my head when I see my truck at the end of a section.
- My goal for this journey is to relish the experience. To stride the length of this beloved land on skis on snow.
