Ski season is here

Wait, What?! January 19th and I’m only declaring a start to the ski season…. Been that kind of a year. Still, better late than never. We finally got a good storm to track over Ottawa and drop a few decent inches of snow. Before that there was some snow which was pretty thin but skiable. Beggars can’t be choosers though so I got quite a few k’s on the Parkway flats and occasionally ventured off the beaten path – only to find an odd rock or tree still exposed and looking to eat my skis.
Even the base of the feeder hadn't been buried in snow

After last week’s storm the inevitable High pressure cell came in and dropped the temperature 20 degrees in a matter of moments. Cold was the order of last weekend’s skis and lots of layers were a necessity. Still it was great to be out in the snow and skiing some actual trails. Topped it off on Monday with the long loop near Wakefield which cuts across a wide variety of trail types. While I saw very few skiers (not surprising on a cold Monday) Those I did pass had wide grins (possibly frozen) on their faces as the new snow had been freshly groomed just for us. Hard to beat hard packed (yet still snowy) bomber tracks. A few pictures to demonstrate my point.
Easy skiing along the Kennedy road
Skirting the shores of Lac Phillippe
Perhaps a little time for an evening slide in the Meech Creek valley