The day is good when your first assignment is to skin up the hill to attend yoga.
An early morning backcountry tour is an invigorating way to start the day. And when you schuss back to the car, take a few minutes to prop your foot on your bumper to stretch out muscle tension. If you’re like me, this doesn’t happen. By the time you’re at the car, your mind is already down the road prioritizing the day’s to-do list. The solution: temptation bundling. When willpower isn’t enough, combine two activities, one you avoid with one you love. For me, this means sandwiching yoga between skin and ski.
Aspenite Charlotte Roennau makes it easy by hosting an early morning yoga class at the Cliffhouse restaurant atop Buttermilk Mountain. Skinning from the parking lot takes about 40 minutes. When we arrived at the Cliffhouse, the sun was beating down on the clean cement deck. After the alpine air gets a bit warmer this month, it will be a dreamy spot for salutations. For now, the class is held in the back dining room with views of the dazzling Elk mountains and Pyramid Peak. Charlotte provides new yoga blocks and mats. After 40 minutes of gentle poses, my legs were loose and free of lactic acid. My body felt happy. Skiing down the mountain on this sparkling bluebird morning was an exhilarating end to my morning workout. A good day has begun.
Ski better with yoga.
Recap of blog posts from 3/09/15 — 3/13/2015:
Cooke City Experience – Beartooth Powder Guides and Patagonia
G3 ION is TIGHT — Testing Toe Springs in Tech Bindings
Dynafit Beast 14 Ski Binding — Review
New Patagonia Backcountry Touring Clothing Line
If you read this far, here is a tidbit. Exactly 30 years ago the .com domain burst into creation. The very first .com domain name (symbolics) was registered March, 15, 1985. Thirteen years later (an epoch in internet time), Lou registered WildSnow.com on August 28, 1998. Those were the foundational days of the internet bubble. Several backcountry skiing sites beat us to the punch. Some went whole hog into the web, others didn’t do much with their domain names till years later. From the start we bought into it lock, stock, barrel, and keyboard (little known history, before there was a public “internet” and hissing modems signified much wasted time, Lou started out as a forum sysop on a BBS called Compuserve.) Now all Lou’s books are out of print except Wild Snow, but he writes something like 600,000 words a year. Twelve keyboards later…
WildSnow Girl, Lisa Dawson, is the luckiest girl in the world. Also known as Mrs. WildSnow.com, she tests whatever gear she wants. She gives the WildSnow family of websites the feminine voice.
6 comments
Fabulous photos, as usual with this site.
Bravo Lisa……..my wife, who can contort some serious yoga positions, got me into it 4 years ago. That plus ab ripper has been transformational to my alpine and randonee fitness. Now it’s a simple strain versus 5 days on my back when I pull something.
Lisa
On walking out of a yoga session my muscles and joints can feel pretty loose and a bit floppy. Could it be too floppy for the ski back down or can that be viewed as a positive?
From what I know about physiology (no credentials but quite a bit of study) it is entirely possible to make joints too flexible for athletics such as skiing, by doing excessive stretching and strained postures. This especially true of knees and core. If yoga is done with goals of how far a particular joint can be bent that’s the wrong idea. For example, you back/spine has a natural S curve that creates an amazing shock absorption suspension system for your torso and head, I’ve heard some yoga practitioners talking about the goal of “flattening your lower back.” Just wrong. For example, according to physical therapists I’ve seen for my back, the plow posture has no conceivable benefit for your back and neck other than excessive compression of your spine disks. Likewise “rounding” your spine in downward dog has not conceivable benefit I can see. Cobra asana is better and recommended though not to the point of pain or excess. Stretching for the sake of stretching can feel good and produce endorphins, but like anything one has to take care if it’s done to excess.
http://greatist.com/fitness/common-yoga-injuries-prevention-treatment
Lou
I prefer to keep my muscles in a state of cat-like readiness, ready to pounce at any time.
Thanks to yoga for a continued ski life. I would never be able to take my skins off and put them back on my skis while wearing them if not for yoga. My back was in such bad shape, and now it’s not nearly as bad.
Cool to ski uphill for a yoga session at lift. Sounds nice. But the problem, at least with my local yoga efforts, is I was typically the sole “token male” in a class of many women. Not a bad thing but wished more men would shake the “macho” and come to yoga. I could roll for hours on sun salutations.
“Excessive” flexibility is fine as long as you also work on strength and building muscle.
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