Author: Keith R

Saturday a few of us walked in Bois De Liesse and this time we actually kept to the walking trails which turned out to be quite pleasant, but where to go Sunday morning. Well strange as it may sound, I have lived on the West Island for over twenty years and I had never been on the trails at Bois de Ile Bizard so I talked our little gang to give it a try. The first problem was where to park , I identified a parking lot, emailed a map to people and Continue reading “Bois de Ile Bizard March 27”

Warning Rainfall Alert for the Montreal area
 

“I check the forecast incessantly, but failed to see the rain warning! ” So said Joanna, so she and Glenn pressed on and completed the 10km loop at Cap St Jacques.
“Believe it or not, it was still snowing when we got there, but it quickly turned to rain, very wet rain… nothing like skiing on what felt like teflon skis.”
Glenn looks absolutely thrilled by the whole thing, as did the drowned rat

To say the least Sunday was chaotic. The weather was playing tricks on club planning, yes I know it is hard to believe but we do plan, well Tom does. The conditions at Far Hills were unclear on Saturday so we warned members that it may be fast. At this point all plans went out the window.

First , several club members had committed to the Viking Loppet, where existing and old club members did extremely well. Tom, Maria and Jessica all won medals, as did previous club member Tony Gagliardi in the 20km ski event. Of course one of Tom’s main rivals  Dennis M could not ski due to a leg injury, reminds one of the Kerrigan  / Harding  ice skating scandal, no Tom would not get involved in such a thing, or would he… We also had medal winners in their class in the 5 km snow shoe event. Well done Linda M, and old member Arlene Vickery and old friend Sandy Laviolette. Check out photos on web page.

Secondly, a group had a good ski at Cap St Jacques on Saturday and Continue reading “Sunday Feb 27 What happened ?”

Mid February and a time when all young lovers and husbands think of something special for their sweeties and what is more special than Gwen and Richards picnic in the Parc. Of course it would be a big lunch bag let down if the sweetie had something more romantic in mind, still the picnic is kind of special. Tremblant parc, secteur de la Diable was in wonderful condition, so much so many had ambitious plans and broke loose from their shackles before the allotted time causing confusion and consternation in the ranks. Now when I was a lad everybody was on the Poisson, but not any longer, it has to be the Mallard, or L’Ouse, with Poisson now a distant third. Anyhow back to the Mallard, with the Ninja hares let loose the hounds were soon baying to be in pursuit and they were off, Thomas the Tank engine and Mickey the Quick raced off eventually passing all but one of the Mallard team. Strange I thought the idea was for the hounds to catch the hares and kill them, we are definitely becoming a soft society, where is the fun in that! And the one that got away, Loopy of course, intend on satisfying her uncontrollable desire for more loops. Well what about the rest, they all seemed to have very enjoyable skis, Poison was conquered by Linda S and party, L’Ours was picked off by Linda H and gang, too many Linda’s in this club. Sadly one of Linda’s gang had a disastrous day when her thumbs went completely out of control having discovered her phone had been left behind at home. Hope you are feeling better now JC. Another group enjoyed the pleasures of Bois Franc, especially the outhouse at Refuge de la Hutte, also at this point Nancy appear skiing across Lac Boivin from out of nowhere. Strange….

Eventually everyone was back at the parking lot loading up supplies to ferry to the Refuge de la Renardiére. It is amazing but the trail to the hut always seems 1 km further than you thought, but eventually we were there. Gwen and Richards  wonderful spread was laid out and eventually we filled the cabin with 38 , yes 38 club members and two American visitors  from Chicago. They probably thought Canadians are crazy, who else would hold a picnic in mid February miles from anywhere, but they were too polite to say so. Just look at the photos on the photo gallery to enjoy the atmosphere of the event and of course the humidity. Gwen and Richard , we are so grateful to you guys for all the hard work you put in to make this event so successful, oh yes Gwen we forgive the fancy boots. Finally people cleared up and skied back to their cars.

Definitely not a picnic

I do not think I mentioned it had been snowing most of the day, so as we left between 3.30pm and 4.00pm the roads were pretty well covered and as soon as we joined the highway at the ski centre Mont Blanc it was clear it wouldn’t be a picnic. Traffic was heavy and slow moving, one or two spin offs but mainly just slippy roads. It took most people over 4 hours to get home unless of course you lived in Vankleek Hill. However nothing will erase from our memories the superb skiing and wonderful picnic.

A fun day at Les Cedres, beautiful snow. Not sure if our normal two late comers were actually there but we did receive this photo of this guy who keeps following us.

More photos in the Gallery

Well 4 people said on the Forum they were going to Oka, but as it turned out 4 times that number actually turned up, equals 16 for anyone who has forgotten their times tables. Three of the group were late comers, now there is a clue who they were and in fact were only seen on the survellance cameras and by a sharp eyed member of the main group. Needless to say the day was fantastic, sun, blue skis, new snow and temperatures starting around -3C and reaching 2C when we finished. Most people tested their legs on the number 3 with our usual start on 4. The day finished by eating too many fries at what used to be Chez Girard

 

Well to be honest there was a fair degree of soul searching earlier in the week at the Timmies Beaver Tails Nerve Centre about going to Montagne Coupée.  Of course if you do not believe you have a soul then soul searching is kind of futile, but I digress.  Mr Optimism was gung-ho after seeing a report the centre was fully open and some of us were curious to see the changes they had made at the centre, so putting on Continue reading “January 30 22 Skiers at Montagne Coupée”