Last Sunday, four of us Bilkent teachers boarded a bus to the 2nd Annual Anatolian Cross Country Ski Marathon, although "marathon" should be used loosely, as it was a 5k race. And our bus arrived late, so we totally missed the race, but enjoyed skiing on our own a couple loops on the track.
Afterwards, we enjoyed mulled wine, BBQ chicken sandwiches, music, and bonfires as the snow floated down on our outside party.
The track was near Kartalkaya, the closest ski resort, and home of pine tree forests, a welcome relief from the high desert scrubland.
This whole event including transport, food, alcohol, and rental equipment was free. From my understanding, the Estonian Embassy wants to up the profile of crosscountry skiing as a recreational sport in Turkey, so the local mountaineering clubs as well as the embassy donated everything.
The bus ride took 3 hours, and we were only there for 3 hours before we had to turn around and head back another 3 hours, so more than anything it felt like going for a bus ride to a pretty Winter Wonderland. But it sure did feel good to be back on x/c skis again. I love it as much as teleskiing. But, ssssh, don't tell the tele-wankers. How my friend, Tim, found out about his event, I have no idea.
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