Paul Derda Center

Broomfield, Colorado’s exemplary Paul Derda Recreation Center is starting Nordic Walking classes on Thursday, May 3.  I haven’t been able to find any info about the classes on-line, and I haven’t had a chance to phone either. I don’t know who is teaching them either. But the Daily Camera did indicate that the classes start at 8:30 a.m. and cost $32-$48 for an unspecified number of sessions. Those rates might be resident/non-resident fees or depend on whether or not poles are included. The rec center is at 13201 Lowell Boulevard, Broomfield. For more information or to register, call 303-460-6900.

Beginners needing tips on how to start Nordic Walking and experienced Nordic Walkers wanting a quick refresher ought to check out a YouTube video feature Marko Kanteneva, a Nordic Walking pioneer who continues to promote Original Nordic Walking to differentiate it (however so slightly) from other brands. The vidoe shows him Nordic Walking at regular speed and in slow motion, includes illustrations of muscles engaged during Nordic Walking and shows uphill and downhill technique as well as walking on the flat.

Malin Svensson, owner of Nordic Body in the LA. area and a multiply certified international fitness coach with a special concentration on Nordic Walking, is offering s a free teleseminar called “8 Simple Steps to Lose Weight, Look Great and Feel Sexy!” on Tuesday, April 10 at 5:30 p.m. PDT. Using online communications, she asks people:

• Did your New Year’s resolution to lose weight only last 2 weeks?
• Have you tried everything there is to look great but without results?
• Are you too stressed and too busy to get started with a fitness routine?
• Have you given up on feeling sexy or maybe  even forgotten how it feels?
• Do you feel alone and helpless in trying to get the body you want and deserve?

Continuing, she adds, “If you have answered ”yes” to any of the questions above, then you need to be on this complimentary teleseminar. I don’t know what topics she plans to cover, but whether or not Nordic Walking will directly be part of it, her orientation definitely is toward fitness walking with specially designed poles. To participate, you must register online before 4 p.m. PDT on the 10th.

My first peripheral introduction to Nordic Walking came in Switzerland in 2004, and my first introduction in the US was when Lindy Speiser, then with LEKI USA, was marketing this new-to-America, easy-to-learn, easy-on-the-budget outdoor fitness activity using specially designed poles developed in Europe. She was living in Buffalo, and even in the land of long, harsh winters, she practiced what she promoted and was an enthusiastic Nordic Walker.

Lindy eventually left LEKI, moved to Florida, got married (but didn’t have to re-monogram when she changed her last name to Smith) and launched a business called Nordic Walking with Lindy (or Walk With Linday or similar) and has been introducing newbies from teens to seniors to Nordic Walking and to offer classes that are as much about Nordic Walking’s social aspects as about skill building. Instead of working broadly across the US, she is still promoting it microcosmically in and around Fort Myers.

Today is Lindy’s birthday. Send greetings and thanks her way (walkwithlindy@gmail.com) for beginning to push Nordic Walking into the US consciousness. It’s got a long way to go before it reaches the popularity it enjoys in Europe, but directly or indirectly, all Nordic Walkers owe a debt of gratitude to Lindy.

Artist Simon Beck snowshoes on the frozen lakes of Savoie, France, tramping intricate patterns in the snow. This is not a casual endeavor, but an effort to which he commits 5 to 9 hours a day as he creates large, outdoor and yet epehmeral pieces that typically are the size of three soccer fields. I was alerted to Beck’s work by LaDonna Zall of Powell, Wyoming, who led me to My Modern Met  and a blog post called “Man Walks All Day to Create Spectacular Snow Patterns.”

A beautiful mandala-like pattern on a frozen French lake.

The geometric forms range in mathematical patterns and shapes that create stunning, sometimes 3D, designs when viewed from higher levels. Some look like white quilts. Others like mandalas, and still others like kaleidoscopes.

Simon Beck with one his his masterworks. He believes they are most interesting from above.

How long these magnificent geometric forms survive is completely dependent on the weather. Beck designs and redesigns the patterns as new snow falls, sometimes unable to finish a piece due to significant overnight accumulations. Interestingly enough, he said, ‘The main reason for making them was because I can no longer run properly due to problems with my feet, so plodding about on level snow is the least painful way of getting exercise. Gradually, the reason has become photographing them, and I am considering buying a better camera.” Spectacular art for the sake of exercise!

World Cup & Olympic medalist promotes Nordic Walking to help her ski like this -- at least a little..

Skiing’s World Cup season is winding down, and US Ski Team star Lindsey Vonn has already locked up the 2012 downhill, Super G and overall titles. Her home base is Vail, but she has a second home in Austria, and there, she and other top ski racers made a promotional video called “Lindsay Vonn Cross-Trains with LEKI Nordic Walking Poles,” extolling the virtues or Nordic Walking for summer cross-training,, cardio training, recovery and rehab from injuries. Vonn also points out that Nordic Walking gives her a chance to do get our of the gym to do something outdoors with friends who “are not athletes like me.”

Vonn, Marlies Schild and Benni Reich, all Alpine skiing stars, and cross-country racer Peter Schlickenreider have a boatload of Olympic, World Championship, World Cup and assorted lesser medals. They are all LEKI-sponsored athletes, but the the video they were in shows Nordic Walking fitting into the world of these ultra-fit elite racers.  There’s no way that anyone could mistake thee or mefor  these ultra-elite ski racers on snow, but it is quite amazing how similar their Nordic Walking outing looks to virtually any fit man or woman with a reasonable command of Nordic Walking Technique. Take a look and tell us what you think:

Lindsay Vonn Cross-Trains With LEKI Nordic Walking Poles

It starting snowing sometime on Thursday evening. It kept snowing all day Friday. And all Friday night. And much of Saturday. By the time it stopped, 22 1/2 inches had accumulated on our back deck — a local record. Someplace identified only as “four miles north of Blackhawk” reportedly snared four feet of snow. That’s would be an impressive single-storm accumulation even for the Sierra Nevada.

Our back deck. That snow-capped thing is our outdoor dining table.

The front of our house. Those bushes are about 2 1/2 feet high, and the snow load approached that on Saturday.

Sunday dawned with a glorious clear blue sky, sunshine, no wind and surprisingly balmy temperatures. The residual snow melted quickly off shoveled sidewalks and plowed streets, but elsewhere, settled a bit without really melting. In short, ideal snowshoeing conditions very close to home. My husband, our friend dave and I headed to the trailhead for both the Flatirons Vista (North and South) and Prairie Vista (North and South). The parking area was full, and cars even lined the road. No surprise that everyone was out somewhere on such a fine winter day.

We headed out, following previous snowshoers’ tracks. We made a loop, drinking in the views and enjoying the snow underfoot and sun overhead. In the course of our loop, we saw lots of people — only one hiker and two skiers. All the others were snowshoers, often with their dogs. Perhaaps we were on actually on trail, perhaps we were snowshoeing overload in areas we would never tread if we could actually see where we were walking. Here are a few images of our snowshoe walk. So local. So lovely.

It seemed as if every snowshoer came equipped with a dog and every dog came equipped with a snowshoer.

Track from all the snowshoers (and canine companions) who preceded us.

Leaving poles in the snow and ambling out for a better photo view -- but in truth, there were no bad views.

Boulder Open Space still reflects traditional ranching use. It's all better than yet another subdivision, isn't it?

Yours Truly snowshoeing at the far end of the loop route we followed.

I am writing this on Monday evening, and snow has begun falling softly again.

While in the Middle East recently, I half expected to see some Nordic Walkers on the broad recreational path along Tel Aviv’s scenic Mediterranean shoreline or in Eilat where the paved path skirting the Red Sea is referred to as “the boardwalk.” I didn’t spot any Nordic Walkers either place when I happened to be looking, but I did see Nordic Walkers on the Israeli side of the border with Jordan. Among a group of travelers waiting at the Yitzhak Rabin Border Crossing was a group of eastern European visitors (probably Russians). Among them were twowomen  standing around with Nordic Walking poles, waiting for visas to be processed.

TWo women (one with a white outfit and the other with a black coat) have Nordic Walking poles. Only three of their four poles show in this picture.

I was on the lookout for her in Petra, the day-trip destination of just about everyone crossing into Jordan at that time, but I never saw their group again.

The snow is lying deep in the central Colorado mountains, which makes them paradisaical for snowshoers. Snowshoeing opportunities abound. Check out these opportunities in the Gunnison-Crested Butte area:

Gourmet Dining on Snowshoes

Use snowshoes (or Nordic skis) for an easy trip to a delicious brunch or dinner at the yurt prepared by personal chef Tim Egelhoff.  Brunch at the Nordic Center’s Magic Meadows Yurt is available February 5 and March 18 from 10:30 a.m .to 12:30 p.m. The cost is $25 for adults, $10 for kids under age 12 (ski passes and rentals are extra).  Moonlight Yurt Dinner Tours are scheduled for February 7, 14, 19 and March 8 and 17.  Doors open at 6 p.m. and dinner is served at 6:30 p.m. The cost is $65 for adults and $30 for children under age 12 (includes a trail pass and equipment rental but not gratuity or alcohol).  Reserve online or call 970-349-1707 for reservations.

Photography Workshops

Art and snowshoeing do mix, and local professional photographers Xavier Fane and Raynor Czerwinski are out to prove just that with six new photography
workshops offered from January through March.  Learn how to photograph winter in a number of ways, accessing subject matter on snowshoes or Nordic skis.  Workshops cost $55 each and include a Nordic pass but not
equipment. More information and registration is available online. Here are the dates:

• February 19 – Catching the Action (Fane) & Photographing the Earth Shadow (Czerwinski)
• March 18 – Playing With the Stars (Fane) & Winter Landscape
Photography (Czerwinski)

Guided Tours for All Levels

Crested Butte Mountain Resort’s Moonlight Snowshoe Tours (February 7, March 8 and April 6) offer the joy of snowshoeing moonlit mountain trails after being transported to the start by snowcat. Guided daytime snowshoe tours on ski area trails are offered daily at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. with snowshoes, poles, water, a light snack and a lift ride included in the cost for the two-mile outing.  There are also daily tours of of Snodgrass Mountain from 1 a.m. to  4 p.m.  The cost for all tours is $75 per person, including transportation.  For
information and reservations, go online or call 970-349-4554.

Backcountry Tours

The Crested Butte Nordic Center introduces backcountry snowshoe tours during the on Tuesdays and Fridays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.  The cost is $65 per person and will take participants to the beautiful Gothic, Washington Gulch or Slate River areas.  Information is available online ot by calling 970- 349-1707 for
reservations.  Crested Butte Mountain Guides also offers backcountry
snowshoeing adventures.