Carrie Robertson Meyer
Google
I cross country skied at the Durango Nordic Center in early spring so the snow was patchy but since it's right across the street from Purgatory Ski Resort at over 10,000 feet, I'm sure the Nordic Center normally gets great snow because I know Purg does.
From the "Spider" area, which is where the trails all converge, I took the "North Loop," which goes north through the woods. It's nice and quiet except you can hear the cars going by on the highway to the west. The view ahead of you when you're in the words of the snowcapped mountain peaks to the north is beautiful.
Almost all the trails at this nordic center are rated "blue," meaning intermediate, but I found them pretty difficult and ended up falling a few times on the steep downhill sections. After that, I decided to take my skis off and walk down the steepest hills.
I skied for just over 3 hours with one break to eat a snack and take in the serenity and was able to ski all the way to the north end of the park where the "North Star" and "North Pole" are marked with cute little handmade signs. The trails are not all marked though and there are quite a few forks in the trail as you go. As I headed back, I noticed some signs posted that read "Back Home" or "Back to Nordic center," which helped assure me I was in the right track.
The other skiers I saw were all really advanced ski "skaters" out training. There was one other girl I saw on regular "fish scale" type narrow cross country skies like mine and she was doing the Aspen Loop, which is marked as "green" (easy) on the map. It's quite short though and since I wanted to cover more ground I chose the longer blue route.
Next time, I'll bring my snowshoes because the hilly terrain of this park would be ideal for snowshoeing and that's allowed as well.
The price for a senior to ski was $15. I think adults are $20.
