Well, we just got back after some time up near Tahoe.  We were actually staying at a friends cabin on Donner Lake.  We went skiing three days in a row.  The conditions were okay.  The first day I used the regular rental skate skis and I did this loop.  I felt great after the day.  We went back to the cabin and watched the Florida/Oklahoma game on a very small tv.  I was rooting for OK, but to no avail.  The next day I rented some demos.  They were the Fischer carbonlite skate skis.  Claire got a pair to use also. We were both the first people to actually use the skis and they were fast.  This is the loop I did.  At the end of this day I was knackered.  Both days we were with our friends Greg and Sherie.  The snow was a little icy, but we made the best of it.  On the third day we went to Northstar and got some free cross-country tickets.  Claire and I did about an hours worth of striding.  That was our first time there and we both felt like it would be worth checking out again.  It is too bad that there is not a lot of snow out there.