Author: Tom V

Report by David Inglis
As the world record holder in the x-country one meter (!) event, I was invited to the Olympic winter games now in progress in Sochi. With my Canadian flag wrapped around my shoulders and a suitcase full of poutine (a gift for Russian President Vladimir Putin… putin/poutine… same pronunciation, no?), my gold medal was a simple 43-hour flight away, via Patagonia. I did not get there. My problem? My alarm did not ring. I was also supposed to receive a wake-up call from my coach from the Jamaican bobsled team (it’s a long story) but he was too busy tending to his um, medicinal plants. So I missed my flight and my chance to win my gold medal.
My silver medal option was to join the Beaver Tails for the February 9^th destination at L’Esterel, a ski centre we had not been to in some 8 years. For many years this was a popular destination but the hotel/ski centre went bankrupt, closed, was sold, bought, then built into a huge hotel, minus the ski centre. The new ski centre is located on the grounds of the old ski shack, across Lac Dupuis. With a year-old log chalet that has that new wood smell, warm washrooms, adjacent waxing hut and $13 ski pass, the new L’Esterel is a x-country ski haven. Within 15 or so minutes after we arrived, a busload of skiers from another club (Ville Marie) arrived. Kudos to our club for our 8:00 am “Dorval departure,” being the first to arrive has its benefits. Check out the photo of the grooming machine, a sleek sand dune like buggy on caterpillar treads. I think Continue reading “L’Estérel Feb 9”

Report by Dave Inglis

To ski or not to ski? That always is the question that plagues our beautiful activity of x-country skiing in reference to unpredictable weather. Early January was horrible with too much rain and subsequent icy trail conditions. Then we were swamped by the (insert vogue expression here) “polar vortex.” The Sunday, February 2nd Beaver Tails destination was Parc des Campeurs in Saint Agathe, enjoyed by 13 members. Some days, the weather is perfect.
However, the weather on Saturday night into Sunday forecasted 10 cm of snow with a rain mix. I am not a fan of driving anywhere to ski in bad road conditions with my white knuckles gripped on the steering wheel, so drinking an extra beer or two Saturday night while watching Star Trek became a pleasant activity, thinking I would not join the Beaver Tails for the ski.
Enter guilt. Imagine waking up Sunday thinking the conditions are unfavourable for skiing only to discover they are perfect. I must ski! Panicked, I ate a quick breakfast, gulped coffee, gathered ski equipment, clothing, checked outdoor temperature, gulped more coffee… gawd I hate rushed mornings! I always assemble my ski stuff the night before but I had to prepare quick. No time for my EPO, a blood transfusion, or pop a testosterone pill, and um, oh sorry… I am reading too many books on drug use in Tour de France cycling. For my secret skiing “go juice,” I mixed my 600 ml bottle with one strawberry flavoured Ensure and chocolate milk, rocket fuel guaranteed. Coffee now cold, I had to wax my skis in a hurry.
Waxing with fluctuating near zero temperatures can be a hit or miss endeavour. The morning temperature was three degrees below. I decided on using blue extra (0°C/-7°C), applied in four layers as usual. I do not like nor use softer gooey waxes for above zero temperatures because I use waxless skis. I brought them just in case of warm conditions. Like the Boy Scout, I am always prepared.
Five minutes to 8 am, rush rush… snow off car, load car… and off I went a to enjoy a day of skiing. Life lesson here: better to kick my butt out the door and go than regret not going. The traffic on highways 13 and 15 were minimal and cruising at 100 kms/hr, I arrived just over one hour. The ski destination is a convenient few kilometers off the highway. Like psychics, Beaver Tails have this uncanny habit of Continue reading “Ste Agathe Feb 2”

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 this 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 “St Bruno Jan 26”

For me, the club’s ski weekend at Mont Tremblant proved to be a good transition from my five weeks of summer fun in Australia back to the cold reality of regular life in Montreal.　 I arrived home on Thursday at 11 pm after more than 24 straight hours of flying and changing planes.　 The next afternoon I quickly packed anew and set off for Tremblant.　 Fortunately, the forecast was for highs of -3 to -5 C — the next polar vortex was not scheduled to arrive until Tuesday!

Checked in on Friday evening.　 The accommodations were as comfortable and well-appointed as promised.　 Located 1.5 km from the hustle and bustle of the downhill ski resort, the Hotel du Lac buildings are situated on a hillside overlooking Lac Tremblant and facing the ski hill across the lake.　 The units were fully equipped condos, right down to the kitchen wares and washer and dryer.　 Most of the 35 or so people up for the weekend had already gone out to dinner, many in the resort village.

On Sat morning, my jet lag kicked in and I slept late.　 By the time I stumbled down to breakfast, most people had eaten and were in the throes of animated discussion of what to do that day.　 I did not pay any heed to this debate — having not been on skis yet this year, I had very limited Continue reading “Tremblant Weekend — Fire and Ice (and Snow)”

On Sunday morning, ten intrepid Beaver Tailers opted to forgo the opportunity (brought by the end of DST) to sleep an extra hour.  Instead, we hopped into our chilly cars at 8 am Standard Time and made the 130 km drive to Parc du Mont-Tremblant. We assembled in the deserted parking lot of the Poste d’accueil du Diable, located next to the unmanned toll gate at the entrance of the park.  It was sunny but -3 C, so we donned our gloves and hats, as well as one or two extra layers. Our plan was to cover 13 km and return by 3 pm.  Surely five hours would be plenty of time…

Our hike leader on this day was Glenn K — he was the only one among us who had hiked the trail before (last year).  We set out at 10:10 AM and walked 500 m along the road back towards the park boundary to the clearly-indicated trail head for the Sentier du Centenaire.

It is really a quiet time of year at the park, with few visitors and employees.  The service centres were closed at both the poste d’accueil where we were parked, as well as at the one 10 km further up the road at Lac Monore.  (We know this because one of us arrived early and overshot the meeting point.)  However, the indoor washrooms at the poste d’accueil had a separate entrance and so they were accessible.

With no park employees to be found, did we get to access the trails for free?  No such luck.  A few meters from the start of the trail we encountered a “self serve” pay station with envelopes containing numbered receipts.  The sign instructed us to place $6.50 per person, as well as one-half of a numbered receipt, in the envelopes and then deposit the envelopes in the metal box.  We were directed to hang on to the other half of the receipt in case a park employee asked to see it.  Like that was going to happen…

The trail began to ascend right away and kept ascending for the next 3 km.  The slope was steep but was not otherwise too difficult.  We could see evidence that the Friday wind storm had passed through the park — here and there trees had been toppled, sometimes right across our path.  We took our time on the climb, stopping frequently to shed layers and regroup.  (Our leader, Glenn, was diligent in keeping the group together.)  Our efforts were soon rewarded.  There were spectacular viewpoints along the way, as well as at the top.

 

After three km of climbing, we finally began going more downhill.  We did have to watch our footing.  There was no snow on the ground, but the below freezing temperatures, especially at this higher elevation, had left occasional coatings of ice on the rocks and tree roots.  But we were all Continue reading “Sun Nov 3 — Tremblant’s Sentier du Centenaire”

It seems a lot of people had parties to go to the evening before.  Whatever the reason, we were only a group of ten who turned out on a brisk (8 C) and mostly sunny morning at Mont St Hilaire.  But it was worth the effort to come out — the autumn colours were in abundance and it was great hiking weather.  Many other people thought so also, as the parking lot was filling up quickly when we arrived.

The proposed meeting time of 9:45 a.m. was overly optimistic.  With a few construction detours on the island to deal with, it took us a little while to all arrive and get together.  Ken gallantly volunteered to trek from the Pavillon d’accueil back down to the parking lot to check for stragglers.  Somehow that 200 metre walk up the hill from the parking lot feels like one of the toughest climbs of the day!  Finally we were assembled, we had our group photo taken, and we set off at 10:30 am.

Our hike leader on this day was Steve Bubnich.  He briefed us on the 11 km route we would cover and began assuredly guiding us along our traditional route on the western edge of the mountain.  Out first stop was the lookout at Burned Hill.  With a stiff and cool westerly breeze, we did not linger long.  We continued to the Pain de Sucre lookout.  This is probably the best known lookout, with a large rocky summit that has imbedded ropes to help people climb to the top.  It has the best view towards Montreal and it was worth enduring the wind for a couple of minutes to take in the autumn-hued vista.  The trail leading to and from the lookout was the most crowded part of the day.

Once we got back down to the main trail, Steve led us north towards the Dieppe summit.  The trail became much less crowded — for most people visiting the park, walking to the Pain de Sucre is enough for one day.  But not for us Beaver Tails, of course — we were just getting warmed up!  So off to Dieppe we went.  Two km later we reached Dieppe and clambered along Continue reading “Sun Oct 20 — A Splendid Autumn Hike at Mont St Hilaire”

When is it too warm to ski?  As soon as the temperature goes above 0 C, the enthusiasm to ski quickly begins to wane among many members!  They think of poorly groomed trails, lack of grip, and sticky, messy waxes that get scraped off quickly.  All of these things can be true — I have had my share of frustrating outings over the years.  But quite often the reverse is true.  Spring skiing can offer a a very pleasant day of mild weather and surprisingly good ski conditions.  So are we too prone to being warm weather wimps?  This past weekend was a case in point.

With the temperatures above freezing for several days and forecast to go up as high as 8 C on Sat and Sun, we opted to not set a “formal” destination for Sun in an update e-mail.  But when I checked the snow reports for the ski centres in town and up north on Sat afternoon, I discovered that they were all still FULLY OPEN.  Despite the warm weather, there was a lot of snow on the ground that was not going away, especially since we had not had any rain to speak of.  We had to try to ski somewhere!  So on Sat afternoon I put a post on the forum proposing to ski at Cap St Jacques (CSJ) on Sun at 10:30 am DST (i.e., 9:30 am if you forgot to change your clock).  We picked nearby CSJ to encourage as many people as possible to overcome their warm weather worries and give it a try.  A couple of members posted replies that they would attend — they both reported having had excellent ski outings that afternoon.

In the end, nine BTers turned out at CSJ on Sun morning.  Several of them only made the decision to come out after they woke up.  As we got ready, the temp was only just getting above 0 C.  I had cautioned in my forum post that we would likely need to use waxless skis or klister wax.  Continue reading “Last Sun Mar 10 at CSJ — Warm Weather Wimps?”

The Parc des Campeurs ski centre at Ste Agathe evokes a lot of strong reactions among our members.  Many see it as a place where most of the trails are just a bit too challenging and out of the their comfort zone.  But many others extol its virtues and consider skiing there one of the highlights of the ski season.  But even those people who love it say that, with its narrow trails going up and down through the woods, you would not want to go there when the conditions are not ideal.

Fortunately, conditions *were* ideal at Ste Agathe last Sun.  All 48 km of their trails were open, something we had not seen in a few years.  Sure, it was a bit cold to start, and we delayed our arrival by an hour to give the temperature a chance to rise a few more degrees.  But shortly after the 13 of us got going at about 10:30 am, under sunny skies, no wind, and with a temperature of -18 C, we warmed up just fine and the cold was not an issue.

 

We broke up into two main groups: the faster group had seven skiers and the not-quite-as-fast group had four skiers.  Two other skiers opted to pursue solo trajectories at their own pace.  The group of seven started on the green Stonehaven trail, Continue reading “Last Sun — 13 BTers Enjoyed a Sunny Ski at Ste Agathe”