After a relatively mild Sat, it was a return to the colder weather on Sun. As we arrived at Parc du Mont St Bruno, it was sunny and -13 C. The wind made it feel colder in the parking lot and other exposed areas. But it was quite comfortable once we got skiing. The sun and the shelter form the trees helped a lot.
We all assembled at the designated time of 9:30 am and prepared our skis and found our groups. Well most of us. Scott and Dan arrived early, went out for a loop and were never seen again! But Pam attests to the fact they were there, so they are counted as being among the 13 BTers present that day. The rest of us set out at 9:50 am.
There has not been much fresh snow at St Bruno so there was some question as to how good the conditions would be. But our past experience has been that they have excellent grooming there. Sure enough, the trails were in surprisingly great shape. The descents were a bit fast, but were no problem for most of us.
We skied between 2 and 3 hours, a couple of people even longer. Many commented how nice it was to be back on the trails at St Bruno after not having been here for a couple of years!
Day: January 28, 2015
Jan 24 2015 — 33 Enjoyed Great Snow at Morin Heights Ski Clinic
It seems like most days this January have been colder than the seasonal average. (Is anyone else running out of green wax?) But last Sat we got a respite from the string of cold days, perfectly timed for our annual ski clinic. It was cloudy and the temp steady at about -3 C. Plus, there was a fresh 3-4 cm of snow from the previous night.
Several of us arrived in the morning to enjoy the great conditions. I did the Triangle trail with Mickey and Sue-Anne. It was in excellent shape, well-tracked and lots of snow on the descents. However, at one point I skied over a slight hollow spot and heard a “crack!” that I assumed was an underlying branch. It was only a while later that I realized it was my ski that had cracked open behind my heel. Fortunately, I was able to keep skiing on it until the end of the day, but I was going to have buy a new pair !
At 12:30 pm we all gathered at the trailer by the second parking lot. There were 34 of us registered for the four classes. One had to cancel the day before, and one underestimated how long his pre-clinic ski would take and missed the meeting time. At 1 pm, the remaining 32 of us split into our four sections and spent the next two hours following the guidance of our respective instructors. It sometimes seemed that we are watching and listening more than skiing, but in advanced classic section, we still covered 7 km.
Everybody was very happy with how the lessons turned out. Well almost everybody. In the beginner section, towards the end of the lesson, Duane took a spill and dislocated his shoulder. It took a trip to the St Jerome hospital to get it fixed up. He reported he was feeling much better by the end of the day. He also expressed his gratitude for everyone’s help and concern.
Duane’s injury aside, the ski clinic was once again a great success. Many thanks to Glenn for doing all the organizing and making it happen!