Author: Tom V

For the first time in four years, we had a day-trip to Parc du Mont Tremblant, featuring our legendary picnic.  It’s a tradition that started over 20 years ago.  But it had been on hiatus the last three years.  For those years, the club had a full weekend up in the Mont Tremblant area and so many of us still skied at the park on those occasions.  But with a big supper waiting for us at the hotel, having a big picnic meal in the afternoon never made sense.

The timing was perfect to spend a day at Tremblant.  The freezing rain we got a few days earlier, and which had rendered most local ski trails hard and icy, had not reached as far north as Tremblant.  Instead, they just got lots of snow, so we knew conditions would be excellent.  After the 2-hour drive, we gathered up at the Centre de Découverte at 10 am.  This chalet opened three years ago, so for some members who had not been to the park in a while, it was a surprise to see the new parking lot location and the spiffy new building.  It was a good bit colder (-15 C) than many of us expected and some scrambled to add an extra layer of clothing.  After buying the ski ticket and waxing skis, we were off at 10:30 am.
Most of us spent the next two hours skiing Continue reading “Mont Tremblant Picnic — 25 BTers Feasted on Great Skiing and Food”

All things considered, we have had a pretty decent ski season so far this winter.  We have had some thaws and bouts of rain, but it has never been enough to wipe out the ski conditions entirely, at least not for more than a couple of days.  Most days we have been able to ski and the trail conditions are often surprisingly good.  Yesterday’s club outing was a case in point.  The ten BTers who were at Parc des Campeurs in Ste Agathe had another very good day of skiing!
It turns out that on Friday night up north they had a good dump of snow.  In Ste Agathe, they got 15 cm.  So all the trails at Parc des Campeurs were open and in great shape.  As we drove north on Sun morning, it began to snow as we left the city.  When we arrived at the ski centre, we found that they had received another four cm of snow and it was still falling lightly.  The temp was -8 C and there was no wind.  They had groomed all the trails on Sat and they decided not to re-groom them on Sun.  This was fine with us as it gave us a thin layer of fresh snow to ski on.
After getting our skis and gear ready, buying our ticket ($14, not bad!), we took the group photo and set out at 10 am.  We broke up into a few groups according to speed.  In my group, we skied on a good variety of the intermediate and difficult trails.  We took Continue reading “Lots of Snow and Good Skiing at Parc des Campeurs”

What a weekend!  We had 30 Beaver Tail members at the hotel, plus five others who were in Ottawa and joined us on the trails and/or for dinner.  (Two people had to drop out due to illness.)  This was the first time time in four years we had spent the weekend in Ottawa and Gatineau Park.  We had been there three other times in recent years, in 2011, 2012 and 2013.  Among those of us who had attended all four times, it was agreed that this year we easily had the best two days of skiing.  Fresh snow, well-groomed trails, and comfortable temperatures made for ideal ski conditions on both Sat and Sun.
Let’s go through highlights.
FRIDAY
A few of us arrived early enough to get in a ski (or fat bike!) outing on Friday at Gatineau Park.  It was -2 C with occasional sun.  Violet wax worked great all day.

During the afternoon, we all checked into the Novotel Hotel in downtown Ottawa, located next to the Byward Market.  It’s the same place we stayed the last three times.  It just seems to have the perfect combination of location and quality for us.  Unfortunately, the warmer weather of the last couple of weeks meant we could not go skating on the nearby Rideau canal that day or the rest of the weekend.

At 6:30 pm, those of us who were interested in going out somewhere nearby for supper gathered in the lobby.  Our weekend organizer, Cheryl, had walked around the neighbourhood that afternoon and had made a reservation for 15 at a nice pizzeria.  When we ended up being 26 in the lobby, she called the restaurant and they were able to set aside more spots.  So we all walked two blocks to The Grand Pizzeria and Bar on George St and found three large adjacent tables waiting for us.  It was something of a minor miracle that such a large group of us were able to find a place to eat so close by!  The food was good, the service was efficient and we were out of there by 9 pm.  Good thing too, because many of us were looking to get to bed early to get ready for the next day.

SATURDAY MORNING

We began gathering for breakfast at 7 am in the hotel’s dining room (nicely redecorated since our last visit).  In between too-frequent visits to the sumptuous breakfast buffet, we took turns studying the large map of the Gatineau trails and discussed where to ski.  The consensus was to depart the hotel at 9 am and meet at one of two locations — P9/P10 for those who wanted a long ski on intermediate trails and and P2 for those who wanted a mix of easy & intermediate trails and also wanted a building where they could wax and use a washroom indoors.  (The P9/P10 locations only have outhouses).

I arrived a bit early at P10.  It is a smaller parking lot and me and four other BTers in two cars got the last three spots.  I texted to the others to instead go to P9, which is 1 km further along the trail and has a larger lot.  Those of us from P10 skied down to meet the others at P9.  There were some delays — Cheryl’s car had been broken into 🙁  — but the P9/P10 group finally met up and began skiing.
The temperature was -4 C and there was a couple of cm of fresh snow.  A cooler violet wax worked well.  Most of us in my group took the parkway up to the number 3 intermediate trail towards the Champlain lookout.  The no. 3 is a pleasantly undulating 4-km long trail through the woods.  We skied by the Champlain lookout and the Western cabin.  We eventually returned on the number 3 trail.  We skied on average between 20-26 km.  After the ski, some people from both the P2 and P9 groups stopped in at the Chelsea Pub.
SATURDAY EVENING
Some of us gathered before dinner for drinks in the swish bar just off the lobby.  (This bar is also new since our last visit.)  At 7 pm Continue reading “Gorgeous Weekend of Skiing at Gatineau”

I know many of you are apprehensive of going to a ski centre and paying for a ski ticket when you are not sure how good the conditions will be.  It did not help that in my update message on Friday, I was not super confident about the skiing based on the forecast of another above 0 C day.  So it was not so surprising there were only two of us at Oka last Sun.
But it was a real shame, because it turned out to be a lovely day of skiing.  Despite the recent thaws, they still have a good base.  There were no bare spots.  Yes, it was a steady +2 C for the time we skied.  But it really was not an issue.  I used universal klister and Glenn K used his waxless “skin” skis.  We keep pace with each other all morning.
All 25 km of their trails were billed as open.  We decided to do the full-length of the number 3 trail, which is 14 km long.  It was in fine condition, except for the eastern-most section in the hills.  The problem on that part was not the weather, but that a Continue reading “Lovely Skiing at Oka For Those Who Dared”

It’s always tough to decide where the club should go skiing when the conditions are poor on the island and the reports from the off-island ski centres are decidedly mixed.  But when I saw that the trails at Gai Luron were all open and groomed (except for the single-track loops), I had a good feeling about it.  I remembered that several times in the past we have gone to Gai Luron and been surprised at how good the trails were when we had similarly poor conditions in the region. So Gai Luron it was.
I arrived a few minutes before the 10 am meeting time.  I wondered if I would be the only one there from the club.  The weather was certainly favourable.  It was sunny, no wind and -9 C, which was warmer than the forecast -12 C.  There was also a cm or so of fresh fluffy snow that had fallen overnight.  It did not look like enough to make a real difference, but with cross-country skiing every little bit helps.  All the trails had been groomed again that morning.  Gai Luron has a high-quality grooming machine

that can grind up the crusty ice to a fine-granular consistency.

It turned out we were 12 BTers, including one fellow Steve who had not been out with the club for 30 years!  We were 11 skiers and one member on snowshoes.  (I forgot to mention in the update message that snow-shoeing would be an excellent option!)  We put on blue wax and set out.  The trails showed little sign of the warm and wet weather we had last Thu.  Some of us had just been there the previous Sun, so we could compare the snow quality.  If one looked closely at the snow, one could see that it was a bit more granular this week.  That made the grip just slightly less better than the week before.  But overall the skiing was about as good, with slightly more comfortable temperatures.  The downhills had plenty of loose snow to snowplow and control your speed.
After we were done, I surveyed the members I saw and they all agreed that Gai Luron the conditions were a lot better that expected.  They had done it again — Gai Luron had delivered excellent skiing — and snowshoeing — on a day when many might have thought it was not worth going out.  Some of us celebrated the après-ski at the casse-croute across the road with their home-made pea soup.

 

Talk about getting the outing off to a good start.  Unbeknownst to us, Mont St Bruno was having an Open House / Portes Ouvertes for this one day.  It was designed to get people looking forward to the upcoming ski season with used ski sales, equipment demos, discounted ski passes, barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers.  But what we really liked was the free admission to the park!

The 20 of us posed for the obligatory group photo and set out shortly after 10 am.  It was 1 C under a mostly cloudy sky.  We usually do this hike in a counter-clockwise direction.  But this time we reversed it and started by going to Lac des Bouleaux, the northernmost of the three main lakes in the park.  We then took an irregular route south and then west to get us walking along the eastern edge of  Lac Seigneurial, the largest of the lakes.  We paused to watch a nearby deer.  A couple of our sharper-eyed hikers, spotted an owl.  The route took us past some interesting homes that were built before the park was established and have been allowed to remain.  This includes the house of Guy Laliberté, the founder of the Cirque du Soleil.
We then followed a trail that we don’t usually take.  It gave us a view of Lac du Moulin, the southernmost lake, and then across the Pont des 3 Arches, a scenic old stone-crafted bridge.  We then stopped in to take a look at the Salon de thé in Le Vieux Moulin, a carefully preserved stone structure.  At this point, five of our group bid us adieu as they paused to partake of the fine selection of hot beverages and baked goods.  The rest of us walked the remaining 2 km back to the chalet.  The stats: 10.3 km covered in 2h 22m.

It was a great group, with lots of conversation while we walked.  So much so, that I felt the need to stop the group on occasion and bring their attention to scenery!  It was also nice to see some new members join us on a hike for the first time and enjoy their experience.

All in all, a truly splendid way to spend a grayish November morning!