The annual 2003 West Yellowstone Fall Camp in West Yellowstone, Montana ended last weekend. The ski conditions were the best I have seen at that time of year in more than a decade — maybe the best ever. Between 800 and 1000 skiers visited the town from November 20 — December1 – and some are still there enjoying some great skiing. Approximately 150 took part in the three or five day ski clinic, several hundred elite racers did a sprint and a classic race while the remaining 6-700 hundred made their own “private†individual or family camp.
There are not many places left on earth where you can put your skis on right outside the hotel entrance and ski on the road the 300 yards or so to the trail-head. Roughly 30 kilometer of gently rolling ski courses were “buffed out†for both skating and classic.
My two kids (age 7 and 12) got a kick out of “going shopping†on skis in the town’s streets — they think that’s how it was when I grew up in Norway. As with Santa Claus and The Tooth Fairy — I’ll let them continue to believe in that for as long as they want.
 in the morning. The park is closed to car traffic in the winter but the roads are plowed for park rangers living at Old Faithful — the famous geyser. Plowed park roads makes for great skating and endless workout possibilities. Back and forth to Old Faithful is as an example 100 kilometer, so doing “long distance†workouts is no problem.<br />
The first part of skiing into the park is mostly among trees but it gets exciting and scenic when you start skiing along the river.</p>
<p>Gordon’s group encountered both elk and buffalos and at one point they had to step to the side of the road and let a herd of buffalos walk by them on a pole-length distance.</p>
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