My bad...I had included Whitegrass in the list of resorts in the recently posted "Where Did You Slide in 08-09?" poll.
Since I can not amend that poll I am enclosing a separate poll for Cross Country, and I will incorporate the results of this poll into the overall results showing DCSkier activities in the winter that is not quite over.
The Colonel

I tried cross country skiing this year. First time on skies of any type. I found anything with a pitch greater than 0.735% to be down right frightening but I'm working on it.

I hit the pasture by my house and the trails up at Mountain Lake. Here's a link to some pics: Cross Country Skiing at Mountain Lake

I have no idea who Clay and Terri are but I didn't take pictures of my own so theirs will have to do.

Just a reminder that this cross country ski poll exists.
The Colonel

i voted; i know more than 2 people skied at WG this year on the board

ahh nice to see that XC and XCD is being considered to be real skiing by some folks thanks colonel sir!

Responded.

Denis

Voted... just bought myself some new XCD boots to use next year as well, now I just gotta find some skis

I responded. Thought I'd expound a bit on it since cross country seems to be the neglected step child of this forum. First a short tale. When working I often commuted to DC by 'slugging'; waiting at designated pick up points to fill seats in cars so the drivers could use the express lanes. It often led to interesting conversations with strangers. One day a very type A woman was holding forth about her skiing. Someone asked if she skied locally. "Oh, I go west, I would never ski around here." I said that I enjoyed skiing the WV backcountry and that it can be very good. No response. She went on (and on) and eventually asked if anyone knew anything about Jackson Hole. I said yes I'd been there what would she like to know. "You're a cross country skier, you wouldn't know." I said, "I'm a skier". I believe this fell on deaf ears.

In western Canada, the kind of activity shown below is called Ski Touring.

Making tracks at Crowfoot Pass high above the Icefield Highway (between Banff & Jasper), Apr. 2000.


The valley near Icefield Highway. Note glacier in upper right.


I looked it up and was pleased to see the wikipedia definition of ski touring,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ski_touring

Anyhow my tally of cross country, back country, ski touring for 2008-09

Whitegrass 3 days in Oct. One, the Halloween storm, may have been the biggest single snowfall of the season. You'd have to ask Chip

Vermont 4 days, 3 were below zero (one -30) and I did not want to ride lifts in such cold. 1 in Nebraska Notch near Stowe, 2 at Bolton in woods beside lift served terrain but lift was closed and I skinned. 1 fortuitous getting lost in Stowe woods, finding perfect powder in a perfect glade and coming out in the XC trail system where i slogged back a couple miles to the road and shuttle bus.

Colorado 1 memorable day at Rabbit Ears pass on the continental divide in deep gloppy wet snow, about 4 miles total and elevation 9000 - 10000 feet. Why memorable? My oldest grandson (11) came along for his first backcountry experience. It was not an easy day but he never complained and wants to do more - with grandpa.

Utah - 2 days, an easy one on the Solitude groomed trail system (which is a nice was to spend a half day), one tougher skinning into Grizzly Gulch, across the road from Alta.

By any name it is all skiing and all fun.

spoken like a true gentleman! with xc touring you may not get the same amount of vert in a day as downhill, but trips up and down the mountain are way way way more sweet! (altho the gear is alot lighter so you gotta work a little more to make those turns, but that'll just make ya a better skier i suppose)

neglected stepchild ? well, i haven't seen an active pro-xc forum - if you know of one please tell me.

from eastern north carolina, driving to even West Virginia is too far to count on having snow when you can travel. last year i got some skinny stick action in canada and colorado, but this year was a bust. so i did not have a response to the poll, above.

those were some nice pics of snow at mountain lake by the way. neat place, that is.

I set up a pair of waxless skis and used them for about 20 minutes on a neighborhood bike path. Does that count? I also skied up the longest run (lift-served) at Whitetail. Is that xc skiing? I know the runs I made at Blue Knob don't count because I used the lift to get back up.

I don't feel like I did any real XC, but I'm claiming backyard/neighborhood in the poll. The climbing at Whitetail hurt my feet bad, not fully recovered from that yet. I need new boots, I will never put my feet it that pair again.