Beaver Tails Nordic Ski Club

It was decided at the pot luck lunch the day before to cancel our original destination of Gai Luron due to poor conditions and instead go to Mont Rolland and ski at the Parc Linéaire le P’tit Train du Nord (PTdN).  What’s more, we also delayed the scheduled Dorval departure time by one hour to 9 am, a decision which I found disturbingly popular.  Hmmph.
Anyway, as expected, the flat terrain of the PTdN and its more northerly location had indeed helped it during the past week and the snow on the trail was in great shape.  Finally, we had a Sunday where we could all really ski.  There was clearly a pent-up demand, with no less than 34 Beaver Tail skiers assembling at Mont Rolland at 10 am.  The skies were cloudy and the temp was around -10 C.  Based on the forecast the night before, many of us had expected it to be colder and had already put on green wax.  But there seemed to be a delayed cold front moving in and it did not warm up all that much, so the green wax worked fine (at least it did for me).
The P’tit Train du Nord runs south-north for 40 km from Saint-Jerome (km 0) to Val David (km 40).  Our starting point of Mont Rolland is at km 25.  We all headed north towards Val David since it was known that the snow and scenery would be better there.  The linear nature of the park removes all decisions regarding which way to go, save one, when to turn back.  The easiest way to do this is to decide how long one wants to ski and then turn back after half the time.  Another nice thing about heading north is that there is a slight, but steady, climb in that direction, so when you turn back the ski back takes less work!
Most people stayed out for about two hours, which was plenty for the many skiers who have not had much chance to get out on the ski trails this season.  Just as we got back, the sun finally came out.  After their ski, many perused the equipment and clothing at the well-stocked shop of Espresso Sports.  For those people looking for a source of high-end (although often quite pricey) ski gear since the closing of the Norway Nordic ski shop, this is a good one.  Some skiers also stopped in for home-made soup and sandwiches at the adjacent café in the old Gare.  But there were not a lot of free spots, and many others opted to make a traditional Tim Hortons stop on the way home.
It was great to finally have a decent day of skiing.  Check the photos on website.  Let’s hope the season can now continue without interruption until at least March!