Penny, our Vizsla, is my canine companion who hangs with me - or not, depending on what other possibilities might attract her attention, on outings both in the truck and in the woods.  We've had adventures with moose, coy dogs, porcupines -- you name it.  She's not the greatest help in my birding efforts.

I've cranked up my interest in birding in preparation for our Southwest Trip, purchasing some new guidebooks,  Birdseye (a neat birding iPhone app,) and some new binoculars (so that Mary and I can each have a pair.) Today, while downtown, I stopped near our ball field to let the dog get some exercise.  I noted two waterfowl swimming on the North Branch of the Winooski and grabbed my binoculars.  Penny was off exploring smells and tracks and I got a chance to study the pretty birds as they dove and fished in the frigid waters.  Then the Vizsla was there and very interested.  Even though she's supposedly a pointer, with birds she's a chaser and down the snowbank to the stream she went, barking like crazy.  The birds just paddled, seemingly knowing that she was not coming in the water.  I watched them some more, made mental notes of their markings, and soon they got sick of the dog and just drifted downstream.  Penny decided it was too dicey to follow and deigned to come back up toward the truck and soon we were on our way home.

I wrote up my notes, checked my bird books, and found that they were a couple of female hooded mergansers (Lophodytes cucullatus.)  Fairly common but new to me and another addition to my life list.  

When we have to keep Penny on a short leash, the challenges of bird observation are going to be very interesting.  Binoculars in one hand, leash in the other -- picture it.  Stay tuned.

photo by  mikebaird

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This is the time of year when most paddlers in the northern U.S. transition to another sport -- often cross country skiing -- but some diehards paddle when they can find open water.  It can be a dangerous activity and all paddling organizations have tips for cold weather paddling.  Here's what Tom Warner, an experience marathon canoe racer, recently said on the PaddlersConnection email group:

Be aware that the cold water and cold air temperatures (not to mention wind chill) greatly reduce the survival time in the water or even out of the water after a dump. Please follow these precautions:
 
1. take a dry bag...not a plastic garbage bag... but a real dry bag with folding and sealed opening..have a complete set of clothes..socks, gloves and ski hat. Strip down and replace all wet clothes.
 
2. Do not paddle alone or too close to another boat... if you both go over...there's not one to help.
 
3. Do not wander far from shore...or from a path to your car. If you must paddle in the winter in NE, do loops around a safe retreat. 
 
4. Forget the boat and paddles..get to shore.  Let others get your boat and gear.
 
If you look at the few boating deaths in canoeing, they are all due to people not getting immediately out of the water upon flipping.

The first thing you need to know about cold water paddling clothing is this: NO COTTON.  Cotton clothing has no place in outdoor cold weather activities: it retains absolutely no insulating qualities whatsoever when wet and if it becomes so, will actually serve to disperse your body heat outward away from your body.  Remember, just because it is cold does not mean you won’t work up a sweat during active boating. You don’t have to fall in to get wet.

Instead, wear layers of synthetic materials. Some examples of these are polypropylene, pile, and fleece. Layers help trap heat and fend off water. Remember "wick, warmth, and weather" as you arrange your layers ­ light wicking fabrics first, then warm insulating sweaters or fleeces, and finally an waterproof outer layer to protect you from the elements.  Synthetic materials retain a large percentage of their insulating qualities even when soaked. And if they become so, you can actually whip them around over your head and shake the water out of them. Synthetic material also “wicks” moisture away from your skin. 

Here’s what Peter Heed recommends in Canoe Racing:

"A good bet for most paddlers in cold weather is to layer with polypropylene and wool. (Wool retains a large proportion of its insulating value after getting wet.) Wool hiking pants and a wool hiking shirt over polypro provide you with a small but significant margin of safety after taking a dunk in cold water. This clothing also enables you to retain some heat once on shore.
Often in a training run in early spring, you’ll start shedding your hat, gloves, and outerwear as you heat up. Make sure that you have some sort of dry bag with you so that you can stow the gear and have it ready as soon as you finish the session.
Gloves are needed in cold weather but since you’re going to get your hands wet, many fine skiing and hiking gloves are useless. One of the best solutions is a pair of thin wool gloves — they will tend to stay warm even when they are wet.
In real winter-type weather, I take a complete change of clothes  — wool pants and shirt, gloves, and hat — and put them in a watertight tote bag which I lock on a thwart. I leave the bag in the van so that it’s ready the next trip. It’s saved me several times  — I get to the bank, strip and get on the dry clothes fast. When it was 35°, it felt great! Besides, you may give some poor startled onlooker a good thrill!"

There are a couple of numbers that can provide some guidance: 100 and 125.   If the combination of the water temperature and the air temperature is greater that one of these, depending on what your are wearing for clothes. If you are dressed in non cotton; in other words you are wearing no cotton including your underwear, you may use the 100 rule. If you are wearing any cotton at all you need to adhere to the 125 rule.


What happens in cold water?
Cold water removes heat from the body 25 times faster than cold air. About 50% of that heat loss occurs through the head. Physical activity such as swimming, or other struggling in the water increases heat loss. Survival time can be reduced to minutes. Strong swimmers have died before swimming 100 yards in cold water. In water under 40 degrees F, victims have died before swimming 100 feet.

Five Tips For Winter Paddling

1. Always wear your PFD.
2. Cold weather paddling can be dangerous, particularly for a novice.  Stay no more than 20-25 feet from shore when paddling in early season.  Go out with a group.  There’s safety in numbers.
3. Let someone know where you are going (that doesn’t mean “Hey dear, I’m going paddling.”)
4.  Dress for the water temperature (No one ever goes out boating saying “I’m going to tip over today”)
5. Remember, there are only two types of paddlers -- those who have swum and those who will swim!

photos from Wavelength Magazine  

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We've had some very cold weather and not much snow -- and conditions should be good for nordic skating on some of the New England sites.  Here's what one website says about the sport:

Wild about Winter
I wish I had a river so long, I would teach my feet to fly ...
I wish I had a river I could skate away on. -- Joni Mitchell

"There's magic in a broad expanse of natural ice. It invites you to put on your skates and start exploring. You glide along effortlessly at superhuman speeds. Ice skating has to be the most efficient form of human transportation ever invented.

In northern Europe, especially Holland and Sweden, recreational lake and canal skating are national obsessions. But in the USA, hockey and figure skating are the obsessions. Everyone goes to the rink, and outdoor skating is a well-kept secret. This site is your introduction to the sport of cross-country ice skating in the United States and Canada.

Every winter, here in northern New England, ice forms on the small lakes and ponds in November or December. By January, the big lakes and most rivers are frozen too. The ice grows thicker and stronger through the winter, sometimes reaching a depth of three feet. Snowmobiles, ATVs and pickup trucks roar across the ice, and villages of ice fishing shacks appear overnight. Then, beginning in mid-March, the warm sunshine triggers the slow melting process that climaxes with "ice-out" in April.

If the ice is strong enough to support a fully-loaded dump truck, why don't more people skate outdoors? Because the ice is often buried under a blanket of snow.  But when a hard freeze comes in on the heels of a midwinter rain, the lakes and rivers are transformed into a skater's paradise. Sometimes the smooth ice only lasts a day or two, sometimes it lasts for weeks." 

 

One of the popular spots for nordic skating in Vermont is Lake Morey.  In the next two months, they will host a number of skating workshops.  Here's how they describe them:

Experience the centuries-old art of Scandinavian-style cross country ice skating across a frozen lake. Learn how to select the right equipment for you, and how to skate safely and efficiently (without getting tired) across all types of ice surfaces - hard and soft, smooth and rough, snow-covered and snow-free. Learn the basics of ice safety, including how to use a nordic skating pole to test the strength of the ice. By the end of the workshop you will have the necessary skills to skate on groomed ice and participate in"wild skating" tours. Workshop fee $30. Register online or call (802) 649-3939.

 

 Is this your winter to try nordic skating?  Bring your cross-country boots, get fitted, take a workshop, and see why this sport is getting so popular.

 photo from nordicskating.org

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This morning, seeing the snow pack in the woods and wishing for new powder, I was reminded of the many hours I’ve spent skiing on the Tug Hill Plateau.  There are times when I wish, for skiing purposes, that I had moved from Vermont back to upstate New York. While they have not had their usual dumping of snow yet, there'll be a lot before long from Lake Ontario, the generator of the Tug Hill snow.

The snow-making prowess of Tug Hill is well-known to XC skiers, snowmobilers, drivers who run the gauntlet on I-81 from Syracuse to Watertown, and of course, to the hardy souls who live there.  All it takes is a westerly wind, an unfrozen Lake Ontario, and the gentle uplift of the plateau and prodigious dumps of snow are possible.  For example, several years ago, the National Weather Service reported that the Town of Parish had received 100 inches (more than 2.5 meters) of snow over a seven day span, while the village of Redfield received 141 inches (more than 3.5 meter) of snow over a ten day span.  It’s not uncommon to be skiing or driving under blue skies and suddenly run into a whiteout.
Much of the land on Tug Hill is public forest.  Local volunteer groups, funds permitting, groom and set tracks but many of the trails are multi-use. I broke into XC ski racing here, several decades ago, at an event called the “Try-It”, which aptly describes the “come on up and try the snow” atmosphere of Tug Hill skiing and ski racing.  This years freestyle race is January 16, 2010.  The premier ski race each year is the Winona Forest Tourathon, a true citizens race using traditional technique.  This year's event, in 12.5k, 25k, & 37.5k lengths, is scheduled for March 6th. (Registration is limited to 175 skiers for safety so register early.)  The terrain at Tug Hill is relatively easy with no hair-raising vertical drops.  And you’ll always find snow -- lots of it.  (Note:  One option for groomed trails and good skiing is the Osceola Tug Hill Ski Center.)

Accommodations are rather limited but there are several lodges and motels.  Salmon fishing is also popular so they may be filled with salmon anglers.  Watertown and Syracuse have many options and relatively close by.  

Like most skiing done away from ski centers, you never quite know what you’ll find for  trail grooming or track setting (it’s all volunteer) until you get there.  It’s smart to bring several pairs of skis, if you skate and ski traditional, and not worry that the the trails are not manicured.  You very well may meet snowmobilers on the wide trails, or get passed, as I have, by teams of sled dogs training for their upcoming races.  What you will find at Tug Hill is solitude, interesting but gentle terrain for skiing, and lots of snow.  Why not Try-It?

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I recently joined a new CrossFit facility here in Montpelier called The Confluence.  I’ve had the introductory lessons and having returned to Vermont after a family trip, am launching back into it.  I’ve been watching the Workout Of The Day (W.O.D.) on their website and frankly, was getting a little turned off by the routines.  Looking at a Knees To Elbows (KTE) and Handstand Pushup assignment the other day, I thought, “No way can I do those.”  When I went online and saw YouTube videos of buffed thirty-somethings doing them with ease, I was even more convinced.  I’d completely forgot about scaling and how important that is to most CrossFit participants -- particularly folks like me in their late 60’s.

 

I talked about this today with Nick, the fitness trainer, and he explained how they scaled the routines.  The KTE’s could be done with the knees just brought up to the horizontal plane, with the thought that later on, they could worry about touching the elbows.  Some participants could do them fully -- others scaled them.  He went on to explain that no one at the workouts did a full handstand pushup (everyone is learning as we go) but rather knelt on a box and did a pushup from there.  

 

He put together a little routine for me called a AMRAP (As Many Rounds As Possible) consisting of 10 squats, 5 KTE’s, 10 Box Jumps, and 5 Pushups.  I had ten minutes to do as many as possible.  Here’s how we scaled them:  

• Squats - as low as you can comfortably go
• KTE’s -- don’t worry about the elbows, bring the knees up to horizontal
• Box Jumps -- do stepups, rather than jumps
• Pushups -- OK to do them from the knees.

 

It’s important to find out what works for you, and not get put off by the “gung ho” routines on the web.  The principles are the same, whether you do them all flat out or scale them.   
 

Nick and I talked about CrossFit for seniors, for physically unfit folks, for non-athletes -- and the importance of scaling exercises to fit an individual’s fitness level and goals.  It’s a subject I’m very interested in -- stay tuned.

 

 Photo by  ColbyOtero 

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I’m cruising down the ski trail behind by my dog Penny -- the rope between us is taut and her ears and my ski poles are flying in the breeze.  The Karhu’s sing as they skim along the snow --the Vizsla and the skier partners in an effortless Vermont skijouring run.  That’s the image I keep visualizing.

But then, a red squirrel crosses the path and with a lurch, we’re headed out through the pines at breakneck speed.  Or, Penny stops abruptly to investigate a fresh deer poop and we collide in a tangle of harness and ski poles.  That’s the scenario my spouse, kids, and anyone who knows Penny visualizes.

Yet, skijouring is a sport that has intrigued me for years.   I am a decent XC skier and have a strong energetic Vizsla who is always ready to run so it seems, on the surface, like a good mix.  A good mix for disaster.  Penny’s training is not exactly ready for prime-time.

Skijouring involves one or more dogs hitched to a cross-country skier by a rope.  The skier wears a belt harness and the whole rig can be purchased for about $200-275 US.  Skiers use either diagonal stride or in the cases of races, skate technique.  You very well may have to help out the dog on the uphills and slow down to avoid overrunning on the downhills.  Many of the commands for sled dog racing are used and you are advised to train on foot before snow falls.  Most any medium-sized to large dog can be used if they like to run.  They respond to voice commands (that’s a problem for us) and should be socialized with other dogs (another problem).  Here are some training techniques and commands.

We were watching a special on Vermont Public Television recently where a reporter tried it out and actually competed in a low-key race up north.  It looked like fun but the dog she “borrowed” was well-trained and patient.  When she fell, he waited quietly instead of, like my dog, coming over to lick you and get tangled up in ski gear.

So, I guess I need to practice my gees and haws with my red dog.  I know she’d love it - she loves running alongside the bicycle with a Springer attachment.  So for now, I will just visualize skijouring with Penny.  Now, if I could just get her to visualize pulling in a straight line, responding to verbal commands, we’d be all set.  Perhaps this winter.

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