“I’m John Wayne,” he bellowed. “Look at me. I’m a stud.”

The 70-year-old instructor was impersonating the Duke in order to make two points.

First, cross-country skiing is supposed to be fun, and he planned on having fun, whether we did or not.

Second, Mike Spino and I, the male portion of Harbour’s three-person class, were skiing the way manly men like John Wayne walk – with stiff hips.

“Most men have this problem, and this is why women tend to ski better at first,” Harbour said, noting that Spino’s wife, Amy, was indeed skiing considerably better than us. “Ski like you are wearing your Honolulu sugar bottoms.”

Mike, a 43-year-old Seattle resident, and I exchanged confused looks. What could long swim trunks have to do with it?

Harbour smiled then offered a translation: Keep your hips loose.

We followed Harbour’s advice, trading John Wayne for Richard Simmons, and in a matter of minutes we were keeping up with Amy.

The next hour zipped by as Harbour gleefully got us feeling comfortable on the skinny skis. Surprisingly, none of us fell, none of us got frustrated and we all ended the lesson in front of Sun Mountain Lodge anxious to take on some of the resort’s 60 kilometers of trails.

“Cross-country skiing is easy to learn,” Harbour said. “The difficulty is learning to do it well.”

The only way to improve is practice, and the best place to practice, Harbour says, is the Methow Valley in north-central Washington.

SKINNY SKI MECCA

Harbour learned to cross-country ski 25 years ago when he was a teacher at Richland High. After 10 years of vacations in the Methow Valley, Harbour and his wife became so smitten with the area they moved there. Jim has been giving ski lessons ever since.

While few have the nerve to make the move the Harbours did, many share their passion.

“I think the Methow Valley is one of the most beautiful places in the Northwest,” said Grace Shaddox, 23, who moved from Hawaii to work at Sun Mountain Lodge.

The Methow Valley is one of the nation’s premier cross-country destinations because of its scenic terrain and abundance of trails.

The valley has nearly 200 kilometers of trails, most maintained by the Methow Valley Sports Trail Association, celebrating its 30th anniversary this winter.

The association started as a nonprofit organization just as cross-country skiers were starting to discover the valley.

Not long after Sun Mountain Lodge opened in 1968, owner Jack Barron was looking for a way to fill rooms in the winter.

In 1974, Barron arranged for a busload of cross-country skiers from Seattle to visit for a weekend. The skiers loved what they saw, and the valley suddenly had a new tourist attraction.

One of Barron’s next moves was to hire pro ski instructor Don Portman to run a skiing program.

“The area barely had trails when I got here,” said Portman, who now owns the Methow Valley Ski School.

Portman helped lay out a trail system on the 3,000 acres around the lodge. He also worked in the rental shop, taught lessons and groomed trails.

As Sun Mountain Lodge quickly saw success as a cross-country destination, others in the valley started developing trail systems. In the winter of 1977-78, they banned together to form the MVSTA.

SENSE OF FREEDOM

Today, the organization has 170 kilometers of trails in four areas between Mazama and Winthrop. The trails are groomed both for skate skiing and with tracks for classic cross-country. All four trail systems can be accessed for a $20 trail pass.

“Most of the skiers come from the Puget Sound area,” Portman said. “It’s a great place to get away to if you are a skier or if you want to learn.”

After a quick lesson on the training lanes in front of the lodge, most people are ready to tour some of the easier trails.

Such was the case with the Spinos and me. While the Spinos headed off on their own, I followed Harbour’s advice and skied 7.5-kilometer loop on the Sunnyside and Little Wolf trails.

While low cloud cover shrouded the famous view of the rolling green and white hills beyond Patterson Lake, I quickly realized why Harbour loved this sport and this valley so much.

As I followed the trail through the trees, the only sounds I heard were those of my own breathing and my skis sliding in the tracks.

Except, of course, for those moments when I stiffened up and stumbled. That’s when I heard Harbour’s voice in my head doing his John Wayne impersonation.

“Cross-country skiing is a great sport,” Harbour said. “I love the diversity and the texture of the sport. But most of all I love the freedom.”

Craig Hill: 253-597-8497

Blogs.thenewstribune.com/adventure

Don Portman can tell the difference between locals and tourists by the way they pronounce “Methow Valley.”

“It’s like Puyallup,” said Portman, trails manager at Sun Mountain Lodge. “It’s one of those places most people are going to pronounce wrong unless they are familiar with the area.”

Outside of the valley, most say “Meth-ow.” But locals say the correct pronunciation is “Met-how.”

However, both might be wrong. According to the 1985 book “Place Names of Washington” by Robert Hitchman, the name Methow evolved from fur trader David Thompson’s mispronunciation of Smeetheow, an American Indian term meaning sun.

Craig Hill, The News Tribune

Trail pass: $20 for adults and $15 for teenagers 13-17. Half-day passes are $15. Kids 12 and younger ski free for all of the above trail systems except Loup Loup. Loup Loup Ski Bowl is $10 per person.

Group lessons: $22 at Methow Valley Ski School and Rentals; methownet.com/skischool/index.html

Where to rent: Methow Valley Ski School and Rentals has adult Nordic packages for $19, children’s for $15 and snowshoes for $19 per day; methownet.com/skischool/index.html.

Alpine skiing: Loup Loup Ski Area is a modest downhill ski area located on Highway 20 between Twisp and Okanogan.

Where to eat: The Duck Brand in Winthrop serves huge portions of Mexican food and is a local dinner favorite.

Where to stay: Sun Mountain Lodge (sunmountainlodge.com), Mazama Country Inn (mazamacountryinn.com), Freestone Inn in Mazama (Freestoneinn.com) and Methow Valley Inn in Twisp (methowvalleyinn.com).

Getting there: Remember Highway 20 is closed between Diablo and Mazama in the winter, so you’ll have to approach the Methow Valley through Wenatchee via either Stevens or Snoqualmie passes.

Information: mvsta.com

Trail System Kilometers

Sun Mountain 60

Methow Community Trail 30

Mazama 30

Rendezvous 50

Loup Loup 22

Go to mvsta.com for trail maps.