Day: January 30, 2014

St Bruno Jan 26

Tom V

After a relatively mild (-8 C) and snowy day on Saturday at Morin Heights for the ski clinic, Sunday morning saw an abrupt return to the deep freeze (aka polar vortex).　 As promised by the weather forecast, it was sunny and -20 C at 8 am and it was not going to warm up much during the day.　 And, oh yes, there was a stiff wind that made for a wind chill of -33.　 With this2014-01-26-St-Bruno-TV-02-1 forecast in mind, your benevolent club president generously delayed the start time at Mont St Bruno by one hour, to 9:45 am.

As I drove along Aut 30, I suddenly realized that I had made one error in the directions.　 With the extension of Aut 30 last year, the exit numbers had all been changed.　 The exit for the park was now exit 80 instead of exit 121.　 I hoped that nobody would be messed up by this oversight!　 For once, there were no traffic delays and I sailed along the highway to the park, arriving early.　 I took up Continue reading →

Ski Clinic Jan 25

Tom V

On Sat Jan 25 at 1 pm we held our annual ski clinic at Morin Heights.　 The weather turned out to be just great.　 We had a one-day respite from the latest polar vortex — the temperature was already -8 C at 10 am when some of us arrived for an early ski.　 It was also snowing a good bit, although that made for a slower drive up north, even for those of us who had left town at 9 am.　 As a result, those of us who had planned to meet at 10 am finally set out to ski at 10:50 am.　 We only had time to venture out part of the way on trail 2 and then turn back on the 37, but we still skied 9 km before the clinic.
2014-01-25-Ski-Clinic-GK-11-sWe gathered in the trailer at the upper parking lot, with Glenn K taking attendance. The start of the lessons was delayed by 30 minutes–three of the instructors were traveling together and had locked their keys in the car on the way!　 We then broke up into the four groups: beginner, intermediate, advanced and skating.　 The lesson went for about 90 minutes and as usual, we all learned or improved something about our skiing.　 The feedback was that three of the four instructors were great.　 But a great day was had by all!　 And then, since it was late afternoon and the snow was still falling, a slow drive home was had by all.　 But I’m sure everyone felt it had been worth it!

With 24 clinic attendees and a couple of other members just there to ski, it was one of our best turnouts of people skiing so far this season.　 A big thank you to our organizer, Glenn K, for another great clinic!