Skate Ski (Royal Gorge) 2:45:00 [3] 23.3 km (7:05 / km)
Morning over to Palisades Peak until the grooming gave out, and then down around Kidd Lake. With Carol and Greg, and Ruthie, all skating in pretty heavy soft-packed snow.
Then after lunch Ruthie did some classic around the Summit Station trails and Greg and I headed down over to Van Norden. A little firmer, but chopped up with dog tracks and pedestrian travel.
Used Greg's LF6 for the colder snow today, but found it slower than I'd like because of the soft surface. Maybe 90% was V1 and that got tiring. Hammered hard up a couple short steep pitches and got to the top feeling I had someone's fingers wrapped around my neck squeezing off the air.