First tracks on Balsam

The Blue Ridge Parkway, ready for fresh tracks.

BALSAM GAP –– If you want to ski the mountains of Western North Carolina without buying a lift ticket, grab your gear and go as soon as you see the snow coming down.

That’s a lesson I learned last year during my first ski trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway, just two months after I moved to the Appalachians from the winter wilds of Wisconsin’s Northwoods. I wrote about the culture shock and learning curve of that outing for Smoky Mountain News… no need to re-hash.

Yesterday I applied the wisdom extracted from that experience and got first tracks on the Parkway at Balsam. The snow was heavy and wet and barely covering the blades of grass in my Sylva yard when I packed the car with my dog and gear and headed up the Expressway.

The safest bet for parking is on Balsam View Dr., the last right-hand turn before you pass under the Blue Ridge Parkway coming from Sylva. If you try to park in the official BPR turnout, you run the risk of being plowed in by the DOT trucks or, depending on your proximity to the road, harassed by the Highway Patrol. From Balsam View Dr., you can strap on your skis and travel on the train tracks and up the ranger station driveway to get on the parkway.

At Balsam Gap, there were three inches of good snow. I could feel the road surface with my poles, but the skis moved freely. Lena, a pure-bred powder hound, was 100 percent in her element when we started uphill. My ski tracks were the first on that side of the BRP, but one set of footprints pointed the way uphill.

Story continues after video…

Cross-country skiing the Blue Ridge Parkway is a singular pleasure. The same steady gradients and mesmerizing turning radiuses that make the road a miracle of engineering, contribute to an out-of-body ski experience. I was wearing old Kaarhu back-country skis that are heavier than touring skis but have nice metal edges, which come in handy in our hilly environs. Applying the basic principles of diagonal skiing isn’t hard on the Parkway’s steady gradient, and I found myself synching my breath to my pole plants, kicking and gliding uphill.

Just beyond Standing Rock Overlook, Lena’s ears pricked and around the bend came a runner, beard iced and breath billowing. He stopped, popped out an earbud, and managed to share a simple, breathless message.

“It’s perfect. It’s perfect,” he said.

He had gone all the way up to the Pinnacle Ridge Tunnel, which is about 4,600 feet above sea level.

The snow was still coming down and I was drenched in sweat. Lena and I skied another 20 minutes or so to the Waynesville Overlook, where we sat down and considered the view. I wanted to keep climbing, but it was getting late in a one of the shortest days of the year and the temperature was dropping fast, so I turned around.

The downhill run blew my mind. It’s not adventurous or dangerous or technical. In fact, skiing down the Parkway is like being on an airport conveyor belt in some ways. The snow wasn’t fast enough for me to pole down, so I was just kicking and gliding in a steady rhythm, flying down the mountain effortlessly as Lena ran full tilt next to me.

We covered the distance back to Balsam Gap in just over 20 minutes.

Tagged as: Balsam, Blue Ridge Parkway, Jackson County, Skiing, skiing