Scary Moose Encounter during a Snowy Ski Morning

My black Labrador, Kai, and I were cross country skiing yesterday on a snowy morning at our cabin.  The snow was dumping from the sky as I skied in 10-12 inches of fresh powder with Kai running along my side.  It was beautiful! 

 

 

Kai was staying close to me and there had been no signs of wildlife, so I left her off lead.  She loves running in the snow and has learned not to attack my skies or poles as they hide and reappear from underneath the snow.  We have so much fun together, especially on weekdays when most cabin owners are in the valley working.

 

As we completed a loop, we were both enjoying ourselves, so I decided to ski for longer.  We headed towards one of my favorite trails and Kai was happy to realize we were not going back to the cabin.  She forged ahead and found a collection of new smells near a pine tree and needed to check them out. 

 

I continued up the road and noticed some moose or deer tracks which had already been covered with new snow, so I figured they weren't fresh.  Kai was behind me, still checking out the new smells,and I noticed a large shadow ahead, in the middle of the road, right where I was heading.  Because of the heavy snowfall I could not immediately tell what it was.  Sometimes curves in the road can make items appear to be in the road when they are actually along the side.  It was only a moment later that I realized we were approaching a large moose, standing tall in the road and looking right at us. 

 

Photo borrowed from marcpicard.com.  It wasn't an appropriate time for me to take a photo.



I immediately knew I needed to grab Kai by her collar because her lead was in my pocket and there was no time to get it.  If Kai, a 2 year old lab, saw the moose before I could get hold of her, we could have a problem.  I backed up until I was alongside Kai; I noticed my skies all of a sudden seemed much longer and more difficult to maneuver.  I reach for Kai's collar and my poles were making that very difficult.  I glanced at the moose and it was still in the same place, only about 40 feet ahead of us.  I was thankful for the heavy snow, as it prevented Kai from immediately noticing the moose.  

 

I needed to turn around so I could head down the mountain and away from the moose.  Kai had seen our friend and was very interested.  I had a death grip on her collar with my left hand and my ski pole was flinging around because the strap was secured around my wrist.  My skies were still headed uphill and maybe a little bit sideways.  I looked again at the moose, hoping it was still in the same position, but no, it had lowered its head and was methodically walking towards us.  My heart rate quickened as I sensed the moose was not going to just let us turn around and leave; we needed to get out now. 

 

I knew moose were not intelligent animals and, if I were ever chased, my plan was to get behind a tree and keep the tree between me and the moose.  Unfortunately, this was not possible with over four feet of snow off the road and with a puppy who would most likely not understand my plan. All I could do was head away from the moose.

photo borrowed from huffington post

As I was stepping my skies while trying to turn around, their tips crossed and I fell on my side, still maintaining my grip on Kai's collar.  She was on my left, watching the moose, as I was trying to straighten my skies so I could stand up.  My skies were not cooperating at all.  I tried to force my leg to make my binding release, but cross country skies are not easy to pop out of.  They are made to be mobile.  I needed to stand, as I glanced back and the moose was still approaching us, getting closer with its head lowered.  I didn't like that one bit.

 

Somehow I muscled myself up and straightened my skies, while both holding Kai's collar and ignoring the wrong direction my poles were heading.  I could start moving in the right direction, down the mountain, while tugging Kai along my side.  She did not want to turn away from the approaching moose.  I calmly told Kai to leave the moose alone, but, to no surprise, my urging landed on deaf, curious puppy ears.  At least she wasn't barking.  I think she could sense there was something I didn't like about our situation.

 

I willed my body to remain upright, as I was leaning down, to my left, with a wriggling sixty-five pound dog attached to my hand who still wanted to go the opposite direction from where we were heading.  I was twenty feet from the road we could turn on and then hope the moose would not follow. 

 

We made it to the turn and each time I looked behind us I was more and more relieved there was no sign of the moose.  I eventually felt safe enough to reach into my pocket, get Kai's lead and clip it to her collar.  It felt good to stand upright and she was happy to be free from my hand.

 

We skied to our cabin and I thought we would be done, but nope, we decided to continue on.  It was a beautiful day and we both wanted to be outside.  We skied another loop of our cabin road, this time I left Kai on lead.  She happily carried the lead in her mouth, which is what we usually do when we ski when more people are around.  We were happy to complete our adventure without another moose encounter.  Had I been wearing my heart rate monitor, it would have been interesting to see how my heart actually responded.  At times it felt like it could have beat its way out of my chest.  All is good and we will ski again, most likely tomorrow!