Nancy A report on the Canadian Ski Tour
At the last minute I decided to take the metro and bus downtown to catch the World Cup (how many chances does one get to see it in one’s own backyard?).  I arrived late, but caught the end of the women’s race, where the Norwegians definitely dominated, even having to finish straight into the wind.  They announced it was the coldest these athletes have had to do a world cup race in 2 years or so.

With 2 hours to kill, I explored the site and found it well organized.   McDonald’s had a free truck serving hot chocolate and Mocha with whipped cream and other coffees, Gruyere gave out free cheese samples, Redpath gave out free shortbread cookies.  In the middle, there were 3 metal barrels with fires going and long sticks with marshmallows for people to roast them.

Long before the start, the men were out trying out the course.  I was quite impressed with how easy they skied with the perfect style and kick back.  Some had their wax technicians skiing with them and then switching skis to try another set of waxed ones to get the right wax.
Before the start there were the volunteers going along the whole course to make sure it was all OK and then 6 going back and forth over the start line on their skis to ensure it was all smooth.

The racers lined up in their pole positions with a Norwegian dominance in the front 2 rows of 6, but our Canadian Alex was included.  Once they were off, I raced up to stand by short steep hill.  The 1st time they came around, it was a bunch up with them going up in twos and some passing and the others bunched at the bottom waiting to have space to start climbing.   Alex arrived 5th at the hill.  The 2nd time around, Alex was 6th and someone passed him on the hill.  By now the Russian was in 1st place, followed closely by 2 Norwegians.  The 3 had pulled away from the pack.  Each time they came around Alex had slipped one farther back.  On the last, lap the Russian had lost his lead…and we all raced to see the finish with the 2 Norwegians taking 1st and 2nd.

It was great to actually be there (too bad I didn’t know the players though).

Now that I am on a roll, I am thinking of driving to Ottawa to see the Canadian Men’s Curling championship this weekend or next.  🙂

Report by Glenn K

Since I had to use a booster pack to start my car I decided to re-visit Bois-de-Liesse today.  Conditions (as in the trails) are slightly better than Tuesday.  However I would still rate them  as poor.  The tracks have been set, but the surface is so hard they are not terrible pronounced in many spots.  Moreover, off track is like being on ice (or plastic):  no stopping or turning to speak of.   If you lose your balance (never happened to me J  ), it’s like falling on asphalt.  May try Oka tomorrow.  They did state that all trails would be fully tracked today.  As for the temp, well……   My nose was a bit red for a couple of hours, and since I was trying to cover my face, I had to rest my glasses on the end of my nose and look above them.  Fortunately my eye sight is not that bad.  Without significant snow, it’s going to be more of the same.
NOTE: from Keith
Members are encouraged to write their ski reports on the forum, do not be shy

 

We have been out the last two Wednesday evenings at Lachine, with mixed results weather wise. Th e first Wednesday Sept 4 was beautiful, a wrm sunny evening as you can see by going to the Photo page, however our second evening Sept 11 did not fare as well. Although thunderstorms were threatening all day we were able to set off walking in the dry, sadly as we approached the end of the penisular and with great light shows from storms to the South, it started to rain. Now never say Beaver Tails are wimps, however we do have common sense so a retreat was sounded and we were lucky enough too reach our cars wirhout getting too wet. So lets see what next week brings.

 

In the end, no Beaver Tails skied on Wednesday night, but maybe we should have!
In the update message I sent at noon on Wed, I said I was optimistic about skiing at Mount Royal that evening.  The forecast was for snow to cover the layer of freezing rain that fell overnight.   I even got a first-hand report from Jessica B that she saw skiers on the trails at 11 am.  But then instead of snow during the afternoon, we got a steady freezing drizzle to add to the layer of ice we already got from the freezing rain overnight.  When I called the park their recording said that the trails were untracked and icy.  In the face of the drizzle, even Mickey passed on his usual Wed afternoon ski.  I sent a message via Continue reading →

From Roy T
I went by Bois de Liesse to check the trails and even though they were tracked,  they were quickly being filled with new snow.  They told me that they will  track the trails one more time this afternoon.

From Jessica B

I just got back from Gai Luron – they have a FOOT of snow on the trees – it’s awesome!!!!  I used blue extra, and it was perfect. I was the first one there this morning, as I didn’t realize they don’t open until 9am on weekdays – oops! – they let me go anyway 🙂 They will open the “boucles” A & B later today. Yipee!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone interested in some exercise. Mont Royal has been suggested or maybe skiing on a golf course. Reply on Forum or Comment below.

Wed we had 11 people out at Lachine, plus a couple of others on their bikes who stopped by to say hi.  It was pleasantly warm (shorts weather!) as we walked to the peninsula of Parc René-Lévesque.  Most of us walked about 6.5 km and were back by 8:30 pm.

 

Last Wed we had 10 enthusiastic walkers out at our inaugural
Lachine outing of the Beaver Tails season.  They came by car, on foot, by
bicycle and even by motorcycle!  (See the photos on the website
Starting under a nice sunset, we walked our usual route.  We first went
east to the first lock of the Lachine Canal.  We crossed over the lock and
walked west towards Parc René Lévesque, where we did one loop of the
peninsula.  We covered 6.5 km and we were back by 8:30 pm.

Call that a bike , Glenn. Looks like Patty won that one. More pictures on Photo Gallery