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End of Season Social March 21

Well it has been a long cold winter and although many members managed to ski most of the time several more had periods of hibernation, some even travelling half way round the world to avoid the cold. Be that as it may, with the start of spring heads popped out of their burrows with one thing in mind, no not going to the washroom but going for a feast. Who would be better to organise a feast but someone with restaurant experience, none other than Roy T. What an inspired choice , Roy came up trumps. The selection of the Pearl restaurant with an all you can eat buffet attracted 40 club members. Good job we had booked as the restaurant was full that night. Everyone was very happy with the food Roy had selected and in sufficient quantities to satisfy even the most starved hibernator , no sure if that is a word. Even the

Bruce in Training for the all you can eat buffet

waiters commented on the quantities eaten at one particular table, no surprise to us as we all knew that Bruce C had been doing some serious training for the event .
I believe Roy T was offered a job by the restaurant as a part time waiter for the way he organised it all.
The evening came to an end, then we had a shock, winter had returned with a vengeance. Freezing cold temperatures and strong winds resulted in ice everywhere, ah well back to the burrows.

Sat Mar 21 — End of Season Party

It doesn’t seem possible this deep-freeze winter will be over in just three weeks from now.　 But we are going to celebrate this memorable ski season come what may!

The BTNSC End of Season (EOS) Party will be on Sat Mar 21 at La Perle at 4230, boul. St-Jean, DDO!　 Drinks will be at 6:30 pm, dinner at 7 pm.

La Perle is a popular West Island spot that has been serving Thai and Szechuan food since 1990.　 The dinner will be an “all-you-can-eat” menu format.　 As soon as dinner begins, there will be an initial round of favourite dishes (pre-selected by our organizer) served to the tables for everyone to share.　 After that, you can order any other dishes to share with your table from the special “Connoisseur’s Feast” menu that features over 65 of their most popular and exotic Thai and Szechuan dishes.　 There will be plenty of vegetarian options.　 Drinks are not included in the price, but they have a liquor licence and they can be ordered separately.

The price is $33 per person (tax & tip included).　 That’s a real deal, available only to BTNSC members!　 (The price is $41 for non-members.)

Reservations and advance payment are required.　 Please e-mail our organizer, Roy Tom to reserve your spot. Roy’s email is in the Club Directory on the Members page or obtain it from btnsc@ymail.com 　 (Please inform him if you are vegetarian.)　 Then send your cheque made out to “BTNSC” to:

Roy Tom
63 Vincent Blouin
Kirkland QC H9J 4B3

The deadline to register for the EOS Party is Sun, Mar 15.　 Don’t delay!

Feb 8 — Eight at Parc des Campeurs (Ste Agathe)

It was cold last Sun and that kept down the number of members who turned out at Parc des Campeurs in Ste Agathe.　 But it is a favorite destination for many members, and eight people still showed up.　 The conditions were good and the cold temps were not much of an issue except when going downhill and the wind was in the face.　 Most of the group went out for 3 hours and did 14 km.

Jan 25 — 13 Skiers at Mont St Bruno

After a relatively mild Sat, it was a return to the colder weather on Sun.　 As we arrived at Parc du Mont St Bruno, it was sunny and -13 C.　 The wind made it feel colder in the parking lot and other exposed areas.　 But it was quite comfortable once we got skiing.　 The sun and the shelter form the trees helped a lot.
We all assembled at the designated time of 9:30 am and prepared our skis and found our groups.　 Well most of us.　 Scott and Dan arrived early, went out for a loop and were never seen again!　 But Pam attests to the fact they were there, so they are counted as being among the 13 BTers present that day.　 The rest of us set out at 9:50 am.
There has not been much fresh snow at St Bruno so there was some question as to how good the conditions would be.　 But our past experience has been that they have excellent grooming there.　 Sure enough, the trails were in surprisingly great shape.　 The descents were a bit fast, but were no problem for most of us.
We skied between 2 and 3 hours, a couple of people even longer.　 Many commented how nice it was to be back on the trails at St Bruno after not having been here for a couple of years!

2014 11 02 Val David “a moderate hike”

First day of Eastern Standard Time and a welcome reward of an extra hour in bed. Not only that but it was a bright sunny day if a trifle cool, and so 24 club members arrived at Val David to enjoy the day. It took a little time to gather together twenty people to get a club discount, the hard part was finding twenty people with the correct change as you have to make a bulk purchase.

A team formed to lead the walk with a welcome new route. Joann C had the map, Christine D searched for the trail, Rick B acted as the father figure and Ken B as the sweeper. And so we were off , the gates opened and the greyhounds sped into the distance towards Mont Césaire. Now the greyhounds did not know that the hare that they were chasing was a wily old hare and soon led them astray. Still after sniffing around a little and retracing Continue reading “2014 11 02 Val David “a moderate hike””

Apples and Cheese

What’s the going rate to bribe 23 club members and two cyclist to go to Oka for a walk. $20, $10 a loonie, no, one apple and an inch cube of Oka cheese. That’s what they received along with a multitude of other folk all out to enjoy the sun and the apple and cheese. Once again the weather at Oka was brilliant, although the way some people dressed you would have thought it was already winter. Bucking the trend to follow the Sentier du Calvaire de Oka to achieve our apple and cube of cheese we walked anti clockwise passed the Le Summet and on to the cheese. Not a long walk but some steady climbs to get the heart pounding. A most enjoyable day, and considering the number of people at Oka that day a feeling that was shared by many.

Welcome back!

Summer is over.　 Sure, the weather is still hot and humid this week, but like most of you, I consider Labour Day to mark

Don’t worry — we are still a long way from hitting the ski trails!　 But as is our custom, we will have a long and slow ramp-up to the ski season with activities that will keep us outdoors during that long gap from when it gets too cool (or dark) to ride our bikes and when the snow finally arrives.　 Your Beaver Tails club will have a schedule of Wednesday evening outings and Sunday hikes.

Orford Weekend Feb 21 -23

TGIF even though it’s pouring with rain, who cares we are off to Orford. Everybody arrived safely despite heavy rain or blowing snow , some even survived supper at St Hubert, just kidding.
Saturday dawned with sunny weather although a tad warm. Orford park was just a spit and a cough up the road from the hotel so we were soon there. The Orford Loppet gave the park a European atmosphere with all the those super fit young and old skiers everywhere, clearly pumped up with the Sochi effect. Our gang were less dynamic but equally enthusiastic with reasonably long distances skied. The waxing was difficult, much to the glee of the few who were gloating about their wax less skis. Eventually most people seemed to meet up on the number 1 on their way back to the parking lot. Saturday evening was relaxing with a Cinq a Sept before supper. It was even more fun because we were drinking Mickey Z’s donated wine, I knew if we waited long enough we would find a use for Mickey. Thanks. After supper, many crashed out but a few tried their hand a table tennis or pool, with varying degrees of success.
Sunday dawned liked Saturday, so we were all anxious to get out , not so, it was the Hockey final and breakfast was eaten watching the game. Thank god we won or we would have all finished up with indigestion. Then we were off. Our club if nothing else is versatile, so people went skiing, classic and skate, walking the compacted snow shoe trails using crampons, some I believe went skating at Magog, Ghyslaine D skied in the loppet.
Two really good days, congrats to Ghyslaine D won medalled in both her races, thanks to Mickey Z for the booze, your friends Mickey will always help you out. Huge thanks to Arthur G our master organiser, and finally thanks to everyone that went on the weekend for being such good company and making the weekend a great success.
Lots of photos from the weekend on the Photos page.

Oka Dec 29

Looked like an icy start to the day with a light freezing drizzle, this was re enforced at 8am by seeing a car which had just demolished a lamp standard and another car in a snow bank. Stopping at junctions was in itself a challenge, but by 9am the road situation had improved so off we went to Oka. We were not alone, a good group of skiers had ventured out ( Note to the bean counter, of the order of 16) The group split up doing different trails with a varied degree of success, it would appear conditions were variable with descents a little icy. The skate skiers seemed to have the most success or the classic skiers on the flatter trails. Still everyone was glad to get out, and even gladder to sit in front of the fire in the chalet afterwards.
The word for the day:
“Perfect”: defined by the dictionary as “having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.
“Perfect” as used by one of our skiers to describe the conditions: “having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be, plus icy descents.”
I wonder what words will be used to describe really good conditions, OMG maybe.

Saturday Nov 30 P’tite Train du Nord

Well it was the last day of November, but it was our first day of skiing for the club. Conditions were reasonable to good at Mont Rolland, sufficiently attractive to encourage 13 club members to go out. I counted Ghyslaine D in this total although she was doing her training thing. Most people were sensible in the distance that they did on this first outing but I heard there were a few sore legs on Sunday. Not sure if anybody went out on the Sunday, a less attractive day weather wise, but if if any body did let Tom V or me know.