Winter Crosstraining: Snowshoeing

Snowshoeing is far and away our favorite way to spend a winter day. It's a fantastic crosstraining workout. You can even run in snowshoes if you're coordinated (and the snow isn't too deep).

An impulse buy I made two winters ago, our snowshoes have paid great dividends in fun.
Though we haven't been able to snowshoe in DC since Snowmageddon 2010, we found a winter paradise just a few hours drive from us. While we get an average of just 16 inches of snow per year, Canaan Valley is blessed with an average of nearly 180 inches per year!

Frost line.

It's paramount to dress properly for this sport. Saturday was sunny and quite cold with some wind. I wore two baselayers, my windstopper and a shell, glove liners and mittens. Sunday was much warmer, cloudy and still and I peeled off layers as I went. 

Don't forget to refuel after burning all those calories. You can warm up with a variety of delicious hot soups at Whitegrass Cafe. We particularly enjoyed the Chorizo, White Bean and Kale Soup and Brazilian Fish Stew.

You can do some serious climbs here. A few hours of snowshoeing netted us 1,264 ft of elevation gain.

We hustled down wide, groomed thoroughfares; we tramped through fresh powder in the woods, ducking beneath snow-laden boughs; we took in expansive views from the aptly named Bald Knob.

Whitegrass has 45 trails - over 50 km miles

When there's snow, it's a magical place indeed.

View of the Pipeline from Bald Knob

Have you ever been snowshoeing? Cross country skiing? What is your favorite way to cross train in winter?