Skiing is over for 2007-2008. This winter I upgraded from waxless skis, improved my technique, and explored new trails. The past three winters I spent almost every skiable day working at Fox Island, so I didn't have a chance to ski other places. This year I worked at Fox Island over Christmas break. The rest of the winter, I drove to the closest snow as often as possible. I went to Michigan three times, but was able to stay in Indiana most weekends. I finally made it to Chain O' Lakes and Pokagon. One week I had to drive south to snow. I wasn't able to make it to any races this winter, but I was able to improve my endurance. Last year I usually skied an hour before and after work. This winter--other than Christmas--my skiing was four to six hours a day on weekends. I'm not quite as strong as I was at the end of last winter, but my endurance is much better.

My hill-climbing technique on classic skis is much faster than it was at the start of the season. I now have much more glide for less effort. Since I had never skate-skied before this winter, my skating technique has improved even more than my classic technique. Over my first two days of skating, I became much more efficient. My style still needed a lot of work. A week ago I made a major improvement to my skating. I was doing a loop that was taking me twenty minutes at 90% effort. I tried some changes to my style and my time dropped to fifteen minutes and my effort dropped to 85%. I then spent a few hours waxing my skis, and my time and effort dropped even more. I think that I switched from a V1/V2A hybrid to a better almost-V2A technique. My V2 and V2A style really needs work, but I'm a lot closer now.

Last week was spring break, so I had time to iron many coats of wax into my skis. They should be much faster next winter. I finished with a thick storage coat of wax and put my skis away for the winter.