I just started a new blog dedicated to Michigan XC Skiing. We’ll see if folks like using it!
It’s a place where people can showcase everything related to Just Plain Skiing in the Snow! It’ll also be mostly about Michigan, downstate MI at that, but, really, anywhere there’s snow will find a friendly voice. It can also be an HQ for our BC Ski Series.
It’ll naturally emphasize Trails and Just Plain Snow, coz that’s what most of snow-country is all about, but we love Grooming, too. And also BC Earn-Yer-Turns with Uptrack.
Gear, technique, events, culture: this blog will cover it all.
MiXCSki is a BIG TENT!
I was thinking at first that we should maybe call ourselves Trail Skiing, coz that’s what we mostly do. But really we’re just XC Skiing. We’re the big tent. Let the other folks explain why they only want to stick to groomed courses and fragile expensive ski gear that needs toxic waxes. (That stuff is fun but it’s only like 10% of the ski picture.)
Did ya know that there isn’t much promotion of XC Ski in general anywhere in the USA? There’s a little on groomed racing, one seasonal mag, one regional mag, a couple catalogs, and a few shops. …In our whole country! Snow fun is so much bigger than that!
And NOBODY promotes the new Allrounder skis being made which are so fun anywhere there’s snow.
And the only free-heel earned-turns being promoted are in the big-air dude mountains, which are only a tiny fraction of the hilly snow-country out there. (There’s like one media source for BC skiing: see if you see any mellow hardwood glades in there.)
We go for the big bite of just plain fun in snow. Picnics and parties. Low overhead. Local action. We include the more exotic stuff as icing on the cake.
Most of the skiing that’s promoted is Roadie-style: groomed course lycra racing mode. But there’s a Mt-bike type of skiing out there, too, for fun anywhere there’s snow: you only need slightly wider more rugged gear and you’re good to go!
Did ya know that ski companies don’t put any $ into marketing in the USA because they assume we’re all obese and we all hate winter? Sure, that’s the majority of our sad car-locked population but that still leaves lots of folks who DO like to play outside in the winter! The problem is that we’re on our own. So let’s get sharing what we know!
Yeah, most of it so far is lifted from here. But maybe a standardized Google-based blog will be more searchable and findable and better used than this OYB site. It should work groovy on anybody’s cellphone, for instance. (So does OYB.)
It also has a Forum!
We already share info on Facebook, but not everyone uses FB. But in case you do, we have several places there that people can use: OYB, the Lansing Ski Party, and the SEMIFuHo’s.
