Skiers think they’re so cool.
They have the jackets adorned with lift tickets, they spend weekends at winter resorts and they hurtle down slopes, laughing in the face of danger. Whatevs.
Of course, I was just talking about downhill skiers. Now, cross-country skiers — they really are cool. They’re the ones not getting gouged every step of the way, they have the opportunity to really appreciate the natural beauty around them and, if the conditions are right, their winter wonderlands await right outside their front doors.
OK, I’ll grant that the laughing-in-the-face-of-danger thing is pretty cool, but there’s a lot more to like about Alpine skiing’s far-less-publicized cousin than you may think.
It will probably come as news to many that there’s anything at all enjoyable about cross-country skiing. The only time a lot of people think about the sport is every four years, during the Winter Games, when it’s easy to shudder at the sight of an activity so taxing that it makes Olympic athletes collapse in a heap.