For those who don’t know what Crust Cruising is, think of a vast ocean of snow that has transformed into the perfect surface for nordic skiing at high speed. The warm, high angle of the sun melts the snow, much to the delight of those longing for Spring. But then the cold nights refreeze the morphed crystals into a hard ice-like surface.
As the sun begins this cycle all over again, you wait for the perfect time just before the surface begins to melt. Click on some XC or skate skis and get ready to skim the surface for as far as the eye can see.
The sparkling ice crystals greeting your every stride pop in an acid trip like light show. The sun reflects up giving your face an even tan from above and below. Within minutes you cover miles of terrain, lost in the magnificence of an alpine utopia.
If it were only possible to transport this in time to any season. Nothing can beat the combination of sensory enlightenment, physical recreation, and spiritual renewal with the Creator God than cruising on this frozen lake of water.
Each year the window of opportunity is small. I remember some years where only one day seemed to offer just the right conditions. But this year the number of days have been bountiful. A balance of sunny melting days with new snow thrown in the mix to go through the process all over again has made for many great days.
But the end is in sight. Today the earth began to rapidly drink in the snowpack. Dark patches of ground peek through. For a snow lover, they are like cancerous tumors that grow until all the smooth, snow white flesh is overrun and snuffed out.
Death of the snow. Thankfully it leads to the life of spring, a resurrection of the living green carpet that will reemerge as it drinks in the liquid snow and energy from the sun above. Soon skimming along the once frozen surface will be a memory. But this year, a long lasting one.
