Another beautiful weekend on the CSM trails. Things didn’t go exactly as planned but then I hadn’t really planned to ski in the event this year anyway so it was all good. This past fall a buddy of mine proclaimed that this was the year he would partake in the CSM… so I signed up too. Only later did he come up with a host of “valid” excuses and bailed out (Boooooo!). Never mind it’s always a good ski so I stayed the course. As I mentioned in my previous post, the trails had to be changed this year as once again we had limited snowfall over the last couple of months. The first couple of sections looked to be really thin so I expected it to be a bit of a mess to ski but I concocted a plan for Saturday. I would arrive late of the official start time (maybe 15 or 20 minutes) and let the big mass of skiers work their way up the trail. This would mean they would spread out a bit and make it easier for me to ski “through” the field all the while dodging the tricky snow-free bits. Sounded like a good idea but alas the new highway extension through Buckingham got me to Montebello much faster than I anticipated and I arrived just as the pack departed. Rather than sit in my car and wait I decided to bite the bullet and head off from the back of the pack. Proved to be not too bad in terms of crowds but the first two (short) sections were pretty light in the snow department and – with a 1000+ skiers in front of me - meant the downhills were pretty much scraped down to ice (and rocks, and roots and logs!). Made for tough waxing as the icy chutes ripped the wax off my skis faster than a bully steals a little kid’s lunch money. 
Thin snow as we head out of Montebello
Once into the Kenauk preserve, north of Montebello, the snow was good, the grooming excellent and the wax stayed in place a little better. The trails opened up (in terms of crowds) as well and I was able to ski my own pace and enjoy the day. Weather was a mixed bag with some light snow falling, then some sunny skies and then more grey skies… all while the temperature rose to -5C. At the north end of the circular route things again got a little rough but the trail crew wisely deviated us for a few km across Lac a la Croix which had some nice snow coverage and even had a groomed skating lane to mix things up. Despite the good conditions by the time I got to the 4th section I decided to pull the plug. To my surprise I had arrived almost an hour before the cutoff time to start the last leg of the day (another 20k section) but instead I opted to climb on the bus to save the legs for tomorrow.
Skiing amongst tall pines
Heading across Lac a la Croix
Sunday I woke up feeling a little off (more so than just tired from the ~60k ski day before). Couldn’t put my finger on it but decided to opt for cherry picking a couple of good snow sections rather than go for big miles. As it turns out the skiing was again beautiful with fresh grooming. The weather was a carbon copy of the previous day with the temperatures rising to -5C, some light snow early and then a beautiful sunny day. One stretch of lovely grooming however had been well trodden on by a pair of moose (a mother and child?) whom I suspect hadn’t paid an entry fee! An indication as to how solid the snowpack was was made evident by the moose tracks only sinking an inch or two into the groomed trail. To their credit, they had only messed up one of the sets tracks so I think I’ll let it slide. Besides, there was no sign of the moose anyway so I couldn’t give them a piece of my mind… ;-)
Moose tracks - Mother and Child?
As I rolled across the finish line the first Gold Coureur du Bois arrived. I had given them almost a three hour head start but they did ski 80k (with full packs) to my 30k so quite an impressive ski. Felt a little odd to be done so early but it quickly became clear that the real “odd” feeling I had was a cold settling into my lungs. As a result it was perhaps a shrewd move to ski a shorter distance on Sunday. All in all a nice weekend. Well salvaged by the organizing crew to find and groom up some fresh trails when it became clear we would have little snow on the regular route. A few more pictures can be found here.
Lots of rewaxing along the trail this year... but lots of smiles too.
Next up is the Gloppet this weekend though it hardly seems like that can be right. I keep looking at the weather forecast and expecting a massive (downward) spike in the temperature plot for Sunday… but it looks like it will be almost pleasant. I’ll have to work hard to shed this cold so I can get out on the trails and follow the race this year.
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