Unlike Steve Ilg and other ski and snowshoe racers (see story below), I've never trained on bare ground.

I do, however, get an earlier start than most on the real thing. As soon as the first snow sticks high up on the Peaks, I get out the "rock" skis and head up Snowbowl Road.

That's where I was two Sundays ago. About 4 inches was on the ground around Agassiz and Hart Prairie lodges, and even more up top. But with only an hour to ski, I stuck to the lower slopes and had a scratchy but passable run.

More important for my early-season conditioning, while Ilg was doing roadwork far below at 7,000 feet, I got a decent cardiovascular workout at 9,500 feet with views that wouldn't quit.

A MATTER OF ALTITUDE

I mention the altitude mainly because it often determines the location of skiable terrain as the winter progresses. Before Thanksgiving, Snowbowl usually hasn't opened but there is enough snow to set up nordic tracks on its lower slopes — if you go any higher than I did, be sure to master the downhill telemark technique.

The next level — on upper Hart Prairie around 9,000 feet — usually opens after the first big storm of the season. The new Arizona Trail segment that crosses the prairie can be reached from the Snowbowl parking lot by a short, but steep, descent of about a quarter mile. There is absolutely no shame in taking off your skis and walking if you feel yourself losing control. The trail segment heads north to Bismarck Lake and is suitable for novice skiers — once they get down to it.

After the next few storms, the wilderness trail to Veit Springs at about 8,500 feet becomes skiable. The parking area is about halfway up Snowbowl Road, and you need a backcountry access permit from the Forest Service to park legally at the trailhead after Dec. 1. The seasonal permits are free and can be picked up at any national forest office on weekdays or at Hart Prairie Lodge on weekends when Snowbowl is open. Be sure to read and follow the backcountry safety rules that come with the permit.

By the time the new year rolls around, we've usually had enough snow for the Flagstaff Nordic Center, at 8,000 feet, to open. This is my first chance of the winter to do formal ski skating on their groomed trails. Snowmobilers also set skiable tracks into the backcountry from the Kendrick Park Watchable Wildlife Area and from the staging area at Forest Road 794 about a mile south of the Nordic Center.

Below that altitude, nothing is certain on the cross-country ski front in Flagstaff at 7,000 feet. The past two winters have seen me ski-skating across Buffalo Park and even lower Lake Mary well into early March. But some years have had only one or two weeks of skiable snow in town.

After mid-March, the sequence above runs in reverse. By late April, I am usually skiing the Snowbowl slopes after the ski area has closed, and the past two years I have gotten in runs on Memorial Day weekend.

The forecast this winter calls again for a moderate-to-strong El Nino, so I'm counting on some in-town skiing. Until then, I'll see you at 9,500 feet.