Beaver Tails Nordic Ski Club

I know many of you are apprehensive of going to a ski centre and paying for a ski ticket when you are not sure how good the conditions will be.  It did not help that in my update message on Friday, I was not super confident about the skiing based on the forecast of another above 0 C day.  So it was not so surprising there were only two of us at Oka last Sun.
But it was a real shame, because it turned out to be a lovely day of skiing.  Despite the recent thaws, they still have a good base.  There were no bare spots.  Yes, it was a steady +2 C for the time we skied.  But it really was not an issue.  I used universal klister and Glenn K used his waxless “skin” skis.  We keep pace with each other all morning.
All 25 km of their trails were billed as open.  We decided to do the full-length of the number 3 trail, which is 14 km long.  It was in fine condition, except for the eastern-most section in the hills.  The problem on that part was not the weather, but that a rogue snowmobile *and* ATV had been on the trail the night before and had made a mash of it.  Still, we were determined to do the entire trail and we skied through it, being extra careful on the downhills.  We got through it fine.  But I heard they later closed that part of the trail.
Aside from that bit of adventure, the skiing was very pleasant.  The sun was out a lot and the trails were very scenic.  And we were not the only ones who decided Oka was the place to be that day.  The parking lot had a lot of cars in it when we left at 12:30 pm.  Including one car with a very funky paint job (check the photos!).
It was nice to get back to Oka, where I had not skied for a couple of years.  It’s a great place to ski — I hope many of you will have the opportunity to get out there this season!