X-country Skiing Today

At home we cross-country ski mostly on snow-scooter tracks but here in Vemdalen there is a whole network of prepared tracks, ranging from the 1,5 km illuminated track to a 10 km track through the forest. Jan and I went out for a quick ski before lunch and then after lunch I went out on my own, aiming to do that longest track.  It twisted and turned up (and up, and up) through the forest until it got fairly close to the treeline.  All that uphill made me fairly sweaty, and tired me out, so in the end I did the 7,5 km track instead.
It was snowing very slightly and the combination of new snow in the trees and hoar frost everywhere else muted the outlines of the trees and bushes.  Where I took this picture I just stood, looked around, and listened. The forest was absolutely still and deeply quiet.  The diffuse light took away most shadows and the shapes of anything on the ground were softened by the snow cover. It was a very beautiful few minutes standing there in silence.