An Evening in the Park

Monday night Mike and Bryan had decided we were long overdue to pack in dinner to one of the huts and enjoy an evening ski. I probably ski more at night than I do during the day so the night ski wasn’t anything special but I haven’t stopped into the huts during my night skis for more than a quick chance to warm up. It’s been a few years since I packed in dinner so that was certainly going to be nice. I had Monday off so I packed up my dinner, stove and a few other accessories and headed up around 2:00 to get in a nice ski before meeting up with Bryan and Mike. Conditions were fast after the weekends brief thaw but the grooming rigs had been around the main trails munching up the ice and making it skiable. The backcountry trails on the otherhand will have to wait until we get some more snow as they were glassy and hard. The guys ditched work a little early and we soon hooked up on the Fortune parkway as the sun started to sink. After a quick pit (pint?) stop at Shilly Shally we rolled over to Huron lookout to take in the sunset but an incoming front system made the sunset somewhat disappointing.

From there it was a short hop back to Huron lodge to set up dinner. To my surprise we had it to ourselves for most of the evening. No worries, the fire needed a little stoking and we spread out a good feast with a baguette and a nice cheese to start, chili, panini, soup and even some chocolate with a few more pints to wash it all down. After a quality feed we all settled down for a bit of a rest to watch the fire. Finally another crew joined us in the hut (they for a birthday celebration) and we decided we had probably rested enough and it was time to get skiing and earn some of the calories. Along the trail there were some good opportunities for some moonlight shots as a full moon peeked its head out from behind some rolling clouds. Add to my list for gear to carry next time is a tripod to set up the camera as my long exposure shots didn’t do it justice. But there will be a full moon again I’m sure so I’ll get another chance… as there will most likely be another dinner in the park as this worked out well.