Snow shoes or Cross County skiing? (Stanley: live in, activities, cross country)

[AlleyTD]

I have bad knees - from an OLD ski accident (1st timers bad luck) Needless to say, I don't ski.
I want to enjoy the snow and have debated the two activities - Snow shoes or Cross County skiing What do you think?

Compare the two in terms of ease and fun.

Or should I try snow boarding?

My knee problem is that my right knee can very easily POP (and it hurts) if I twist the wrong way or come down on it too hard.

My favorite snow activity is a hot toddy by a warm fire, but I'm look for a bit of exercise here.

[wurd4wurd]

I'm not sure I can offer valuable advice, but I would think that you might want to check with your primary care physician and see what his/her thoughts are as to whether cross country skiing or snow shoeing would be more appropriate given your knee problems. Your doctor might suggest a few visits to a good physical therapist prior to beginning your new winter sport of choice. There are exercises a physical therapist can show you that can strengthen the muscles on either side of your knee cap in order to help it track better. I can definitely say that I would absolutely, positively recommend staying away from snow boarding since it is very, very physically punishing.

Right about now... the hot toddy by the warm fire sounds pretty key to me~!!

[Torrie]

Hey Alley,
I've actually tried both and have to say I really enjoyed snow shoes the best. Cross Country skiing was fun, but it seemed like a lot more work to me. A lot depends on if you're going up and down hills. When I first tried snow shoes, we had to go up a bit to get on the trail- I didn't enjoy the first 15min, but once I got warmed up I really enjoyed it. I couldn't tell you which one is better for your knee though. I just found skis to be bulky and cumbersome. If you try snow shoe-ing make sure you use the type of shoes that don't kick up the snow behind you. I found the one's that are pointed in the back seem to kick up the snow the most. Also wear snow pants, that way if you do get snow kicking up you won't have a wet behind by the end of your excursion.

[idahomama]

I have a dislocating knee as well and I am able to snowshoe and classic cross country ski as well. Skate skiing does put more strain on the knees. Snowshoeing is really no more straining on the knees that walking. If you can walk, you can snowshoe! If you have never cross country skied before, you may want to take a lesson so that you can be using proper body mechanics from the very beginning. It is harder to correct bad habits that to start fresh with good habits. The only times that I feel more strain on my knee with cross country skiing is when I am cutting my own tracks and not on a groomed trail. But even then I have no problems with dislocating.

We live in Stanley now and we finally got enough snow to cross country ski yesterday! Yippee! We have been snowshoeing for some time. Keep the snow coming!