Author: Keith R

As we all know the 2016 winter has been very variable, with many hours spent on Google trying to interpret the ski conditions. Finally a 2016 trail condition guide was introduced.

2016 Nordic ski trail conditions:
Excellent , read “good given the conditions.”
Bonne, read “snow covered for most of the time with a slight chance of a track.”
Passable, read “only on an ATV”

As it turned out at Orford on Saturday the conditions could be termed excellent (2016 def.) Around the chalet it was hard packed and icy, as was No1, however most of the club members found the 2016 definition to be appropriate with everyone finding something to satisfy their needs however weird that may be. More about that later.

As usual the Saturday evening was a most enjoyable social event, starting with a wine and snacks at Arthur and Ghyslaine’s condo then dinner in the hotel.

Saturday night it snowed about 10-15cm, and the temperature rose to near zero. What to do? A few opted to go skating at Magog, assuming the lake would be ploughed for skating. Other went back to Orford where the conditions were excellent (2016 def.) Tracking was in progress although the new soft snow caused a few problems and ski skating was tough. Others with a wary eye on the storm warnings for Sunday evening decided that the weekend was a success already and would venture home.

Now for the The Orford Oscars or should I say Razzies.

There are two nominations in the documentary class for the longest time to drive to Orford without traffic restraints.

Friday Feb 26 NDG to Orford starring Monique I.
A summary of life in NDG in winter. Hours spent getting her car up an icy drive only to be blocked by neighbor’s cars, then having to abandon the journey until after rush hour. End result late arrival at Orford.

Saturday Feb 27 Montreal to Orford , a delightful drive in fine conditions, starring Helene C and Cheryl W
A story of friends enjoying time together, that is until they passed the Duty Free store and approached the US border. Who screwed it up, no one is telling.

I will let the reader choose the winner of the Razzie.

The next award is for adventure, or weird things people do., starring Nancy A
This epic story is about a lone skier at the far end of the parc who had urge to cross a frozen creek to reach a trail. It’s the kind of urge one gets all the time. After testing the ice the skier starts to cross then woosh, she is up to her nether regions in fast flowing water. Quick as a flash she jumps out of the creek, skis an all, a little damp. After ringing out her socks, and failing to reach a Uber taxi, the only alternative was to reach a refuge before her clothes froze solid. At the second attempt she came across a refuge with a lit stove where she could dry out. After an hour and nearly setting her clothes on fire she was able to set off back to the parking lot. Is that not weird or what.

Finally a special mention to the weekend organizer Arthur G, without his comprehensive emails the weekend would not have happened. Ta Arthur.

It was beautiful, blue sky, sunny very little wind, just one itsy bitsy problem it was late afternoon and we were nearly home having spent most of the day in low cloud and mist, I guess the weather report was right just the timing was wrong, and we all know that timing is everything.

Still it was another good outing, attracting 19 to St Hilaire. This number swelled to 23 part way through the day as late comers and straggles joined us on the trail. I think if we made the start midday we still would have late comers, some folk just cannot get out of bed. Do not worry BC , CD, MP and RM your secret is safe with me.

Interestingly when we entered the park there was a sign saying “muddy”, wow I though remembering Egon N disappearing up to his knee a few years back at Gai Luron, this should be fun. Nothing like a bit of mud to get a Brit excited. As it turned out, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being knee deep, the trails were at best a 2 in places, a tad disappointing. This being said, there is an erosion problem on some of the trails, when walkers avoiding the mud bypass the mud patch on either side resulting in an enlarged and deepening of the muddy area, one should gird your loins and plough through, keeping on the trail.

Preaching over and back to the walk, passing Burnt Hill, lovely views, NOT, we plodded onto Pain de Sucre, even more impressive views, NNNOT. Still the rope climb is always fun.

Onto the Green trail and a decision point. One view was to head down and across to the red trail heading down to the Chalet. Another view was to bag another peak whilst we were here, which attracted a smaller group , thus the Rocky Bog Trotting Group was formed with the intent of topping out on Dieppe or Rocky. It was a determined group which bid farewell to their friends, not knowing if they would see them again, before disappearing into the mist above. The main group, I understand did a successful traverse to the red trail, at which point they came across a new beaver dam and actually saw a beaver at work. Then down to the chalet.

Our group the RBTG opted to go for Rocky, where yes we had wonderful views, NNNOOOTTT. Still we did bag a peak added a few kilometers, and claimed bragging rights. Then honor of the club satisfied a descent was made to the chalet, apparently missing the beavers but seeing the geese.

A stop at Timmies on the way home we missed the main group, then an uneventful drive home finishing in that bright sunshine.

So the walk was L’Escapade at Rigaud on the Sunday. L’Escapade set me thinking, a rare event these days, what does it mean and why call a trail in the woods Escapade? So off to Google land I went and I came up with the following definitions. Mirriam Webster
“an exciting, foolish, or dangerous experience or adventure”

Oxford dictionaries
“An act or incident involving excitement, daring or adventure “

But it was the Urban dictionary that caught my eye:
“a carefree adventure in which a group of individuals runs about late at night, preferably scantily dressed. “

So that’s what attracted 22 walkers out a cool blustery morning, sadly not a lot of scantily dressed people there, mind you it would have been a horrific sight if some of our members had tried. However two boxer dogs who were present certainly met all the criteria of the Urban dictionary, a good woof woof for them.

Once we had gathered all the latecomers, or should we say Audi drivers and St Lazare natives , we were able to start the walk. The walk itself along the xcountry ski trail provides pleasant walking along wooded trails, popular with many people who want to get out for exercise on a Sunday morning particularly if they had a large dog, of

which we saw numerous. The high light of the trail is a steep little climb about three quarters of the way round which leads to a viewpoint looking South to the far hills of Owls Head and the Adirondacks. It was a happy group sat in the sun enjoying the view, mind you some seemed to have their tongues hanging out. Eventually it dawned on them that there was a further 3kms back to the parking lot over undulating ground, still soon we were back.

Not a bad outing followed by a takeover of Tim Horton’s by 12 walkers, now that was an escapade..

St Bruno is a pleasant parc  close to Montreal, just over the river, and as such it attracts a multitude of folk. Families, walkers, groups of walkers, runners, refugees from Calgary, circus performers, you know the usual crowd. So it attracted a good turnout of  BTNSC members, rumor had it we were 24 at the start and 25 at the finish. Now that was no Cirque de Soleil illusion but the missing person apparently got lost on the way to parc, so we left the chalet leaving instructions on where we were going. In retrospect it seems incredulous that someone who could not find a huge parc would be able to find a group wandering around aimlessly along wooded trails, but unbelievably it happened.

So there we were wandering around the pleasant trails of the parc in what was a very civilized manner, could that have been an Calgary influence, extremely doubtful they are more famous for Stampedes.

It is amazing that the parc can absorb so many people yet it did not feel crowded, it helped however being able to turn right on the red light, a delight for the crazy Montreal drivers. That and being able to cross a cone free bridge to a view point on the lake, such a luxury. Still it was a bit unnerving seeing in the woods eyes watching us all the time. Only the great white hunter was able to stalk these beast down and photograph the stag the rest of us had to settle for a pretty laidback doe close to the path, still a deer is a deer is a deer.

A good morning’s walk.

Rain showers in the forecast, plus winds, bridge closures and road work cones rather put a damper on our plan to go to St Hilaire so we went to plan “B”, a walk around Cap St Jacques just for the exercise. So it came to pass that a fine group of walkers gathered at Cap St Jacques, indeed a fine group with a selection of off island people turning up. These included a lost soul from St Lambert trying to work out where he had left his bike, a club less golfer from L’ile Bizard and a resident from Ile Perrot who had managed to sort out a way onto the island. A grand total of 11.
Not a lot to decide where to go, just pick up the Rabbit by the ears and away we went We managed to keep  up a steady pace and given that we were sheltered from the wind and it wasn’t raining our morale was high reaching the farm in good time. Concern was expressed in the group about discrimination on the farm with white and non white chickens being segregated, however no one seemed inclined to start a protest. Our thoughts of an early coffee started to disappear as the weather improved and we ventured onto the squirrel. Again progress was good, passing a few beaches but now catching the wind, until we found ourselves trapped in a pen at Havre aux tortues, for a moment it felt that we were going to be deported off the island however the misunderstanding was cleared up, or so I am told and we were free to go. Now with a sense of urgency in our step we knocked off the last few kilometers back to the cars and at last a coffee at Tims.

Val David always has interesting walks, and Oct 18 was no exception. A bright cool day, -2C attracted 3 dogs, Samson, Max and Hyena with 14 human companions. We found out that there was a running race on some of the trails however our leaders Samson, Max and Hyena did not seem a bit interested in the options suggested by the warden as their minds were made up where to go. They were however concerned about controlling 14 non canine bodies in their charge, so they fell back on the trusted canine tool, a lead. A rope was produced and the 14 lined up in pairs and told to hold the rope, “garderie” style as instructed by Hyena. Good try dogs. Off we set, up the steady and steep climb in parts to the Mt Condor Ouest lookout. The trail’s could be a little tricky with ice that had formed under a covering of leaves, still the leaders ensured our safe passage by running up and down the trail between the 14’s legs. A few runners did pass us going up and we found a gatorade stop at the lookout, we also found out the most of the runners had already passed and were offered free Gatorade if we wanted it. It  now became evident the our leaders, Samson, Max and Hyena’s map reading skills were pretty limited, sniffing the map and sniffing the trail did not score very high in the where are we going stakes. So they wisely enrolled the aid of “the scientist” and an” old guy” to sort out the technicalities whilst they assumed the bigger leadership role.  Up and down a few more steep little climbs found us at the Mt King Lookout, a more exposed lookout with a vertical drop below of 30 to 40 metres. Our bold leaders with their nose to the ground completely ignored the no entry sign pinned high up a tree and encouraged us along a narrowing “trail” above the cliff. Everyone seemed to manage to get across, particularly if you had the advantage of 4 legs. Glenn came nearest to disaster slipping on a difficult step, but saved himself,  had he not, now  that would have been the highlight of the report. A refreshment break was taken beneath the crags of Mont King, but it soon became clear that it was cold, which probably accounted for the lack of climbers. The sun had gone in so after a quick bark and fight the leaders opted to go down. Probably a good call as it started briefly snowing come hailing as we walked down the path. We also passed a few Nepalese porters carrying huge loads up the trail, actually they were climbers carrying bouldering pads or sometimes referred to as crash pads, a safety aid. A final walk along the Petit train du Nord and we were back at the Chalet Anne-Pichė. A quick thank you to our leaders Samson, Max and Hyena for the spirited lead, and a check that Helene had her car keys  the group dispersed , some home others for a coffee and muffin in Val David.

The title was snatched from the St Bruno gang by a last minute ski on the 12 April at Far Hills by Scott (never say die) B and his friend Peter J . So that truly is that…

Not at Mont Ste Anne’s or doing the Sutton Derby or recovering from Gold medal performances, then you had to be at Oka. A more typical winters day and fresh snow cajoled a keen group of skiers, oh yes and a snow shoer  to come out to play. Not a mention of entrance fees was heard from anyone just the delight of dispensing with multiple layers of clothing and face masks. Oh isn’t -9C wonderful…The day started with the gallant Glenn K and buddy Vivian  H trying to extricate a car which had not quite made the right angled turn in the Parc.  Ultimately a parc truck had be sought.  Everyone else seemed to arrive without incident as did a multitude of other outdoor types particularly ski school kids. There was a festive mood in the air , especially when the ski school warm up music started up. It would appear that several of our group had been watching too  much “Dancing with the Stars” so there was a high degree of body twitching in tune with music. A trifle embarrassing.
Then we were off, as usual the main group headed for the 3, which was found to be excellent condition although I did hear of one face plant, that right Roy?
A couple of skiers left to ski the secteur  le Calvaire, funny I wonder

Things to do when the morning temperature is -31C

1. Take a photos of the very cold lake and the ski hill, then post it on Facebook.
2. Come down late for breakfast as you know no one will be moving for two hours or until it warms up.
3. Decide -25C is warm
4. Find someone who has some polar grip wax you can borrow.
5. Find enough clothes to go to Tremblant Parc to ski
6. Take a lot of photos of skiers INSIDE the chalet at Tremblant Parc
7. Discover glide doesn’t work at -25C
8. Go snow shoeing.
9. Enjoy the company of deer who did not seem to be rattled by the cold.
10. Go for a walk to Tremblant village and have a coffee, walk back.
11. Go for a swim in the pool.
12. Try and start your car. Secretly relieved that the car needs to be taken to a garage. More delays before getting cold.
13. Go skating
14. Freeze your butt off.
15. Find four lovely ladies to warm you up in bed.

Actually everybody went out in the cold , which does beg the question of the mental state of most of our club members. Still everyone seemed happy at the cinq a sept that evening. Of course free booze will certainly help in this regard. Dinner was very enjoyable, with the added celebration of Egon’s  birthday, the evening  closing with a few drams in the bar, and serious pool or table tennis games.

Things to do when the morning temperature is -5C

1 . Thank the lord that it was not -31C , although an explanation of what happened to the missing -25 C would have been of academic interest
2.  Do all the things you did at -25C but this time enjoying it.
3.  Add downhill skiing to the list
4.  Pack your bags and check out.

Well despite the adverse weather, posh name for bloody cold, the Beaver Tails showed they had spunk and got out and enjoyed the snow. Super thanks to the organisers Helene C and Cheryl  W , and to everyone yes all 48, who went and made it so much fun.

If you really want to see what really happened , go and check out the 198 photos posted from the weekend.