Once upon a time all “Nordic” or cross-country skiing took place wherever there was snow. The only tracks were the ones laid down by the first skier of the morning, the only “grooming” took place when skiers sidestepped or herringboned up a hill. One of my first jobs, in fact, was to go out after every snowstorm and lay down tracks on a couple of kilometers of cross-country trails through the woods and sidestep up the steeper portions so paying customers could have an easier time of it. Wish I could still make money doing that . . .

Then came the idea of machine-groomed trails with or without one set of pre-laid tracks. The first cross-country ski “groomer” I ever saw in action was a snowmobile that would now be considered an antique, towing a homemade contraption of chicken wire and 2x4s which smoothed the snow and laid down a set of tracks to kick and glide along in . . .

This simple notion eventually evolved into cross-country ski trails with parallel sets of tracks for “classic” kick-and-glide skis, and, with the advent of skate skiing, to cross-country trails as wide as super highways with two or more tracked lanes and a groomed middle lane wide enough for skate skiers to pass each other.

It’s sort of like the evolution of Alpine skiing, where climbing the hill to earn your turns gave way to rope tows and Poma lifts, then double chairs which eventually evolved into today’s high-speed detachable quads, six-packs and gondolas.

When there’s snow enough, there’s infinite backcountry where the only tracks you see are the ones made by squirrels and the skier in front of you. And there are also plenty of places with wide, perfectly groomed trails. I gave you a list of some of my favorites awhile back.

But are there still any “retro” cross country ski venues that supply all the comforts (like a place to warm up and re-fuel) and still do just enough grooming to allow you to let your skis sing without racing on a superhighway?

The answer is, most definitely, Yes!

This past winter, I went exploring and discovered the Norsk Cross Country Trails at Dexter’s Inn in Sunapee, NH. This is a lovely old inn located close to alpine skiing at Mount Sunapee in Newbury, N.H.

On their website they state very clearly that they groom for “classic” kick-and-glide skiing, not skate style. And the only skis they rent are longer touring skis—none of these newfangled short racing ski models. My Alpina Discovery Backcountry skis were perfect.

It was snowing hard as I drove up. This was only two days after a “hurricane” that had left much of southern New Hampshire without electricity.  The trail  crew had already cleared branches and fallen trees and groomed about eight kilometers of trail. After getting my trail pass ($10) I hit the tracks and really stretched out to warm up, covering all the trails they had groomed through the quiet woodlands. Then I went exploring slowly and carefully (I was skiing alone) on some of the trails that hadn’t been cleared and groomed yet. From all I could see, this is a lovely trail system that could keep you exploring new routes for a couple of days, at least.

Beautiful, quiet woodland trails, pleasing scenery whenever the snow stopped, it was a perfect morning of cross-country skiing. There’s still plenty of snow and some time for you to “go retro” this winter. Life isn’t a spectator sport. Get out and enjoy!

More Retro Options for Old-Fashioned Classic Cross Country Ski Fun
If you use classic touring skis and like the “Retro XC” idea, I can think of two more places right off hand that you might really enjoy.

The Landgrove Inn in Landgrove, Vermont (which is about as off-the-beaten patch as you can get and still be in southern Vermont) is another lovely, quiet country inn with a very nice snowmobile-groomed “classic” trail system (and a terrific dining room!)   Marilyn and I stayed there one February when it was raining too hard to ski and we still enjoyed ourselves, so imaging how much fun it would be with snow!

The other tremendous option are the wilderness camps that the AMC runs in Maine. Medawisla, Little Lyford, Gorman Chairback   and partner West Branch Pond Camps all offer excellent “retro” cross country skiing right around the camps, and you can even ski from camp to camp if you wish (they’ll move your luggage for you!) This is a real adventure, one everyone should try sometime.

I’m sure there are dozens of other “Retro XC” opportunities out there! If you know of others, please send me an email (timjones@easternslopes.com)!