My sister, Bonny, and her son, Reid, joined me in a ski to the Mt Tom Star overlooking Woodstock. At 13, Reid has been skiing for a couple of years at the Bill Koch League at Mountain Top Ski Touring Center and is doing well skate skiing which is the way he went on this trip. He had no trouble keeping up or ahead of Bonny and I on our racing classic skis. Thus outfitted we were all struggling at least slightly with the rough, ungroomed trail as our gear was made for well groomed snow.

I recently learned about sanding the base in the kick zone and this was the first time my kick wax stayed on the entire trip. Bonny and I stopped only once at the start to apply a warmer wax and it worked perfectly. I was surprised that even with the extra drag of kick wax, my glide kept right up with Reid's skate skis. Of course my tips and tails had some glide wax on them while his skate skis hadn't been waxed at all. Reid and I took the long way around the Pogue and then the quick way back to the car which required hopping two snow washouts but we made it just fine and arrived at the same time as Bonny who took the more gradual route. With the fast conditions we all wiped out on occasion, only Bonny complained of bruising. Reid and I were just more experienced at falling.

The day ended with dinner at a Woodstock restaurant and a movie at the Woodstock theater. Nice to visit the hometown.