It seems like most days this January have been colder than the seasonal average.　 (Is anyone else running out of green wax?)　 But last Sat we got a respite from the string of cold days, perfectly timed for our annual ski clinic.　 It was cloudy and the temp steady at about -3 C.　 Plus, there was a fresh 3-4 cm of snow from the previous night.
Several of us arrived in the morning to enjoy the great conditions.　 I did the Triangle trail with Mickey and Sue-Anne.　 It was in excellent shape, well-tracked and lots of snow on the descents.　 However, at one point I skied over a slight hollow spot and heard a “crack!” that I assumed was an underlying branch.　 It was only a while later that I realized it was my ski that had cracked open behind my heel.　 Fortunately, I was able to keep skiing on it until the end of the day, but I was going to have buy a new pair　!
At 12:30 pm we all gathered at the trailer by the second parking lot.　 There were 34 of us registered for the four classes.　 One had to cancel the day before, and one underestimated how long his pre-clinic ski would take and missed the meeting time.　 At 1 pm, the remaining 32 of us split into our four sections and spent the next two hours following the guidance of our respective instructors.　 It sometimes seemed that we are watching and listening more than skiing, but in advanced classic section, we still covered 7 km.
Everybody was very happy with how the lessons turned out.　 Well almost everybody.　 In the beginner section, towards the end of the lesson, Duane took a spill and dislocated his shoulder.　 It took a trip to the St Jerome hospital to get it fixed up.　 He reported he was feeling much better by the end of the day.　 He also expressed his gratitude for everyone’s help and concern.
Duane’s injury aside, the ski clinic was once again a great success.　 Many thanks to Glenn for doing all the organizing and making it happen!

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.

I don’t usually go out of my way to look up the price of the ski tickets of the places we are going to.  Prices of ski tickets very between centers, and if one place is a bit higher, well at least we only go there once a season.  But for whatever reason I did it for Oka.  Most of us were taken aback at the prospect of paying $23.50 to go to Oka, one of our traditional stand-by destinations.  Oka is part of the Sépaq network of national (i.e., provincial) parks and they have been hiking their prices each year.  I used their web site to compute the price, since it is a combination of the park access and a ski pass.  But it turns out they also have a a daily “forfait” combining the two.  So when we got to the park we charged “only” $22.  That’s still on the high side and even the ticket booth attendants conceded that it’s getting expensive!

Despite the premium rates, 14 BTers made the trip to Oka.  It was -10 C and overcast as we prepared to set out shortly after 9:30 am.  The trail conditions were very good.  We broke up into two main groups with 10 of us looking to do the full length of hilly trail 3 (15 km) and the four others doing shorter and flatter trails.  Trail 3 gets harder the farther out you go on it, and its rating changes accordingly.  It starts as a beginner trail, becomes an intermediate trail, and is finally an expert trail.  It’s that last part where one has to go up and down a succession of fairly steep hills.  It was a workout to climb up the hills since it was the first time this season we were encountering non-flat trails.  The descents were a bit slick and fast, but there was still Continue reading →

Cap St Jacques has really been the home base for the club so far this season!  This has been one of those years where the regional distribution and amounts of snow fall have favoured the nearby flat trails of CSJ.  It was open for skiing in December before most other ski centers north of the city.  We have never been there as often and in such great numbers as this year.  Last Sat was another example of this when 23 of us showed up for a splendid morning of skiing at 10 am. It was Continue reading →

Brilliant winter conditions, blue skies, plenty of fresh snow, not too cold. Only one small problem it was Dec 26, Buxton, Peak District, UK. not Montreal. Given I was there a few weks ago I should have stayed.
What to do on a zero snow day in Motreal, with the turkey sitting heavily on ones waist line and boxes of chocolate tempting one to eat more. Maybe buy a air ticket and go back to snowy UK or go for a walk, tough call, however the bank manager recommended the walk, perhaps recommended was too soft a word but I got the message.
So a walk it was at CSJ, and very enjoyable it turned out to be.Leaving the wet and icy trails we vent along the road to the farm, as did most of the other people who were walking. Did not see many skiers, odd that, however we did see quite a variety of animals and birds, no turkeys though, at the farm. Next off to the Château Gohier, where to our delight we found it open, serving hot chocolate and with very comfy seat around a fire, Lots of credit to the scouts who operate the cafe, I think they were as pleased to see us we were to see them, quiet day on the cafe front.
Reluctantly we prized ourselves out of the comfy seats for tha last few kilometres to the parking lot. and the drive home, via Timmies. A perfect day.

So far this year our skiing has been limited to going to two places, Cap St Jacques (CSJ) and the P’tit Train du Nord (PTdN).　 The weekend of Dec 6-7 we skied two days at PTdN and then on Dec 13-14 we skied both days at CSJ.　 This past weekend it was a tough call.　 We decided to make the official destination CSJ for Sat and PTdN for Sun.

Last Sat there were 12 of us at 10 am to go skiing.　 it was sunny and -7 C.　 The trails had been groomed that morning.　 The conditions were not as good as the previous weekend, but the consensus was they were still pretty good!　 We had a good ski of about 10 km (+/- 2 km).　 A couple of other members arrived late and reported they enjoyed a good outing on foot on the walking trails. Another 2 members arrived to ski as we were leaving, so there were 16 BTers that I know of at CSJ on Sat.

The official destination for Sun was the PTdN because we felt sure their conditions would be even better.　 And we were right.　 It was -12 C and snowing lightly on the freshly groomed trails at 10 am.　 The 8 of us who were there all set out north from Mont Rolland.　 During our ski, the sun came out for a spell, making for an even lovelier setting. 　 We all skied at least 10 km, including Tuuli, who was skiing for the first time in years!　 It was a great day at the PTdN.　 Meanwhile, it turned out that 12 members decided to go for a quicker and shorter at CSJ that morning.　 So we had at least 20 BTers out skiing on Sun!

All in all, it was a third December weekend in a row of great skiing.　 A great start to our ski season!

Continue reading →

2014 12 07  Ski Season Kicked Off at PTdN

We did not get much snow in town last week, but up north they got just enough to open 10 km of the P’tit Train du Nord.  The only other place reporting any trails opened was at Mont Tremblant XC (aka Domaine St Bernard) where they had 20 km open.  But for this first ski of the season, the PTdN is just fine, so we made that our destination for both Sat and Sun.  As usual, we met at Mont Rolland, at the halfway point of the 10 km stretch of opened trail.

Sat was cloudy and -3 C at 10 am for the 7 of us who turned out.  There had been a chance of freezing drizzle in the weather forecast, but there was no precipitation of any kind.  Most of us opted for the 5 km of trail going north from Mont Rolland.  What a pleasure to be out on skis again!  Special violet wax worked great.  We went to the end of the 5 km and then turned back, so a nice 10 km.  As always, the beauty of sharing an out Continue reading →

After lots of hikes this fall outside the city, some with rocky trails and strenuous climbs to lookouts, we decided to keep it close and simple last Sunday, with a hike at Cap St Jacques. Is it too close, too familiar and too flat to be considered a “real” hike? Regardless, it proved to be a popular enough choice for the 25 people who gathered in the parking lot at 9:30 am, under a cloudy sky and with a temp of 0 C. Many of them likely had low expectations. How exciting, or even enjoyable, could a hike at CSJ be?

Before the hike, the requisite group photo. Two of our crack photographers set up their cameras on a car trunk and used the self-timers to get a couple of great shots with all 25 of us in it. That does not often happen!

We set out at 9:40 am. While shorts-clad Bruce set out for a lengthy run, the rest of us followed the winter-version of the Red Rabbit trail. This is the ski trail marked as 10.9 km on the trail map. This route is a popular mid-week ski run for many members during the winter. The trails were clear and easy to walk — the snow we had received a week and half earlier had disappeared during last week’s warm spell.

About halfway along, we ran into club member Marc, who was out for a late-season bike ride on the asphalt trails of the park. He received a warm reception from several of the other female members!  (See the “Picture of the Week” on the Info page.)

We noted that some interesting trail maintenance had been done during the summer and fall. On one section, a solid boardwalk had been built over a low-lying section of ground. Hmm, not bad. But the most interesting find was a new feature at the “Havre aux Tortues” on the western side of the park. This somewhat bizarre looking structure was so recently completed you could still smell the freshly cut lumber. Apparently, it is designed to serve as an observation point so people can watch the many turtles that come ashore there without disturbing them. There were no turtles there this day, must be out of season.

A bit further along, we came upon evidence of fervent activity on the part of our namesake creature, the mighty beaver. Indeed, they had been chewing through some substantial trees. Some had already been felled, while others were most of the way there. Being nocturnal, they were also nowhere to seen when we passed by.

The hike unfolded at a comfortable pace for everyone. With the well-marked and familiar trail, we were each able to go at our own speed, which meant we spread out a bit. We regrouped a couple of times, and then we all arrived back at the parking lot within 10 minutes of each other. The final tally was 11 km in 2 hr 20 min. Everyone enjoyed their outing. The final consensus? It may only have been CSJ, but it was a great Sunday morning hike!

Six people and one dog showed up, including me and Karen, and five of us hiked. The others who hiked were Steve G, Judy K and David H. There was no precipitation, but it was very overcast and somewhat foggy. We actually saw some blue sky on the drive up, but not during the hike.

The chalet was open so we had to pay, but on the other hand we got washrooms. We started about 10:30 am.

There were several cm of very wet snow on the ground, which made for slow going and slippery conditions on the hills.  We cut the hike a bit short from the usual 10 km route.  We hiked 7.8 km in just over 2 hr 37 min.  According to my Strava app, we climbed a total of 193 m and burned 615 calories (or at least I did since my weight is in the app).

We all enjoyed the hike, even though there were some wet boots at the end!