It was the second year in a row that we had our holiday party at Bitoque, the Portuguese BYOB on Notre-Dame, near Atwater.　 Last year we were upstairs in a space shared with other diners.　 But this year, we had a large private room in the basement, complete with sound system and dance floor.

We began gathering at 6 pm.　 Several of us were delayed 30-45 minutes by an accident on Aut 20 near 1st Ave., but we were eventually all seated in time to place our dinner orders.　 The food and conversation were all great.　 We also sang Happy Birthday to founding-president Al — funny how it always seems to be Al’s birthday when we have a party!

As we finished dessert and coffee, the dance music was cranked up and the party got into an even higher gear.　 People danced or talked for another good while.　 Everyone agreed that the party was a huge success!

A thank you to Steve G for bringing his tablet with a playlist to supply music for the dancing.　 A special thanks to Ray D for debugging the sound board and making the music distortion-free!　 And finally a very big thank you to Joanne Bender for organizing the party!　 Her many tasks included collecting all the names and cheques, as well as visiting the restaurant several days beforehand to make sure the room would be good for us.　 Merci, Joanne!

The Stowe Derby (a girls weekend and all) was great!!! . We had perfect, but really perfect, weather!
As a reminder, here is how the event is described on their web site:
The challenge is to race from the top of Mt. Mansfield, Vermont’s highest peak, to the historic village of Stowe… on ONE pair of skis!　 Over the course, participants ski through 20 km of challenging terrain, racing down Mt. Mansfield’s Toll Road and along the entire length of the Stowe Recreation Path before reaching the finish in the village. The course has a total vertical drop of over 2,600 feet.
It had snowed from Saturday afternoon till the wee hours of Sunday morning giving us about 8-10 cm of fresh, dry, light weight snow.　 The weather was -10 C when we got up on Sunday morning with no wind.　 By the time we started the Derby just after the noon hour, it was around -4 C.
It was an amazing experience!　 Fun and friendly people all around, from the downhill skiers to the x-country skiers, new and old participants, to the volunteers and the crowd cheering on the side.
The first 5 km of the Derby was on the Mount Mansfield ski center downhill Toll Rd.　 Fast enough to Continue reading →

For those of you not familiar with the CSM, it covers a 160-km course from Lachute to Montebello on day 1 and then from Montebello to Gatineau on day 2.  Each day is broken up into five sections and most of the 2000 participants do a subset of the course each day.  But others attempt to be a “Coureur des Bois” by covering the entire distance during the two days.  Go here for more details: http://csm-mcs.com/en/the-event/what-is-csm/
Over the years, several members of the club have taken part in the CSM.  This year, the Beaver Tails were represented by three of us: Vivian H, Monique I and me.  It was the first time at the CSM for all us and it was quite a weekend!  Vivian and Monique did two of the five sections on Sat (38 km), but they were by far the two most difficult sections with lots of steep climbs and crazy descents.  On Sun, they did another two sections out of five and covered 25 km, for a weekend total of 63 km.  As for me, I somehow managed to ski the entire 160-km course over the two days and attained Coureur des Bois Bronze status.  That was thanks to weeks of training and thanks to lots of useful advice from the other BTers who had ski the full length in the past.  It was tough and I am still recuperating, but it was a great experience!

Only three photos from the CSM — too busy skiing and then my phone battery died before the finish line.

The club’s annual ski clinic will be on Sat Jan 24 at the Morin Heights Cross Country Ski Centre.  The clinic is conducted by certified x-c ski instructors.  It starts at 1:00 pm and lasts 1 to 1.5 hours.  The club will pay for the lesson, you just have to buy a regular trail ticket.  This year we will have again have four classes.  We will have a class for skate-skiing in addition to the three classes for classic skiing at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels.  There is Continue reading →

After the Christmas thaw and lack of much new snow since then, skiing was not in the cards.  However, walking on the wide paths and roads was fine.  Skating was also an option.  The refrigerated rink was up and running, along with a sizable portion of the natural ice surface on Beaver Lake, opened just that morning for the first time this year.  It was overcast and about -12 C.
We were only eight people who were at the Beaver Lake chalet at 10 am last Sat.  None of us had our skates, so off on foot we went.  We were soon joined by five late-comers, who had phoned us to ask where we were.  The now 13 of us walked up to the main lookout where we took some tourist-style photos.  We then went for a loop around the cross and then back towards Beaver Lake, for about 5 km.  Along the way, we kept running into stragglers both on foot and then a couple of people on ice skates.  From our initial group of eight, we ended up with a count of 19 BTers on the mountain that morning.
Then it was off to “Melrose Place”, aka Monique Isler’s home in NDG. Thirty of us ended up there, with the usual eclectic selection of food dishes.  From noon to about 3 pm, we dined and noshed and feasted!  There was also lots of conversation, especially about the sorry state of the ski season and the impending forecast of rain the next day!  But, no matter, we drowned our sorrows in food. There was some talk that we should return to the mountain to walk off all the eating.  But that was just talk.  Besides, the pre-rain snow storm was getting under way…

Many thanks to Monique for hosting us her all with her usual aplomb!

 

Mont Ste Anne Weekend Feb 20-22

The Mont Ste Anne Weekend is on Feb 20-22. The registration deadline is Jan 19. Several have already signed up to secure one of the 15 rooms we have reserved. The Chateau Mont Ste Anne is a popular destination so we don’t know if we will be able get additional rooms. First come, first served! Refer to the information & sign-up sheet in your membership package or on the website. For more info contact Joanna Cumyn

A first reminder that our annual Ski and Pot Luck is in just two and a half weeks on Sat, Jan 3!　 We will ski (or walk or ice skate) at Mount Royal in the morning starting at 10 am and then go over at noon to Monique Isler’s place on Melrose Ave in NDG for a pot luck lunch.

If you want to participate, please send Monique a message telling her what you plan to bring so that she can make sure we have all the food bases covered.　 Contact Monique　, info in the Directory on Members page.

1They said it couldn’t be done.　 “No way!　 The club members are just not up to it!　 They don’t have what it takes anymore!”　 But later in the evening of the Christmas Party, we proved them wrong.　 Boy, did we ever!
But more on that later.　 First, let’s just start out by saying that the this year’s Christmas Party was a rollicking(*) success!　 All 51 attendees had a great time.

This year’s party was at Bitoque, a Portuguese BYOB restaurant located on Notre Dame, a few blocks west of Atwater.　 The snow from the storm earlier that week was still being cleaned up.　 Notre Dame had been cleared, while parking on the side streets was still a snowy mess, but manageable.　 We began gathering at 6:30 pm, and mingled in the elegant high-ceiling room on the main floor. 　 The waiters were quick to offer us ice buckets for our bottles of white wine, or even for our bottles of Perrier!　 We chatted and discussed some of the interesting art work on the walls.　 The mood was cheerful and lively.

Soon enough, we took our seats and placed our orders.　 There were four choices from our group menu.　 Wondering how popular each dish among our group?　 Wonder no more.　 Here is what we ordered:

22 lamb shanks

17 Portuguese cod

7 chicken breasts

5 vegetarian paella

The reviews of the meals and the dessert were overwhelmingly favorable!

The evening went by quickly as we Continue reading →