Champlain lookout

Champlain lookout
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

This weekend I took some time to enjoy skiing the trails. I headed in to the Park with no real plan and took trails that looked (or I knew) would be appealing. I skied a little of Ridge, all of Burma, some of the racing loops at Fortune and a few other sundry trails. All good fun. Actually I was reminded that - even though March is just around the corner - I haven't really skied too many of the smaller trails this year. There just hasn't been the snow - and in fact the side trails are still a little light in areas so you have to watch out for the odd rock, divot or water hazard here or there. I found the short steep climbs to be really taxing on the lungs but nothing slowing the tempo down can't solve. Left my watch at home and didn't worry about distance or time - a real treat after stressing about being ready for CSM for the first half of the season. The temperature climbed to -2C today with the sun starting to flex its muscle a little bit. Felt warm - nice to enjoy the sun but I expect it will mean an early end to the snow.... still a few weeks left tho'. Time for a few great outings.

Leaders at the waterfall

Leaders at the waterfall
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

Here's one more shot from the Keski skate race. This is the lead pack as they went through the 43k mark. Just in the background you can see Ottawa native Karl Saidla getting "unhitched" from this lead trio. Unfortunately he says it was here that he could no longer keep up to the torid pace and had to settle in to a more sustainable tempo to conserve a 4th place finish (2 minutes back at the finish line). A noble effort indeed and well done not to completely blow up and fall further in the field during the closing kilometers.

Most of my pictures from the weekend have been posted up at XC Ottawas site (in the sidebar) along with a bunch of other great photos from the weekend - feel free to click through and check them out..

Keski start line

Keski start line
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

Today was the big Keskinada race. The "Casino Lac Leamy freestyle" 53 k race is part of the World Loppet series and brings in racers from all over the world. I took a similar route to Saturdays events, skiing and driving (and skiing some more) to take some photos of the racers as they stormed through the park. The weather was not too bad as Keski goes. The day hovered around -11C but there was a bone chilling wind that brought the temp down to -25 (that's MINUS 25 for my readers in Ozz ;-). Some fresh cold, dry snow made the skiing something less then speedy but the top racer covered the course in 2 hrs 30mins which is pretty darn fast.The local team had a strong showing (their link is on my sidebar) and scored a victory in the 29k race and 4th and 3rd place finishs in the mens and womens 53 k races.... Well done.

That marks the end of formal skiing activities for this area....and some of the racers I know will now turn their thoughts to preparing for summer racing - marathons, triathalons, cycling and the like. For me this is the best time to ski. The snow is good, the sun stays up a little longer and the weather usually warms up. Time to take advantage of the trails and some decent fitness and get skiing. Summer will arrive soon enough.

Keski classic lead pack

lead pack
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

Today was the first big day of races on Keskinada weekend. 53 and 29 k classic races with a 16k race later in the afternoon. I went out and chased the leaders around (mostly in my car) taking pictures as the race unfolded. The course had been changed due to it being a low snow year (sound familiar?) to be mostly on the Parkway which is a shame. We got a big dump of snow in the middle of this past week... but I guess it was too late for the organizers to change their mind again. In terms of a competition it was a bit of a non-starter. Phil Shaw - distance specialist and past winner of the event - pulled away at about the 15k mark and never looked back winning by 10 minutes. He is at the back of the pack in the photo taken at roughly 5k - sizing up the competition.

From a weather standpoint it was just about a perfect day, -10C and the wind died down just after the race started. The snow was perfectly groomed. Tomorrow is the skate race. Should be a bit more competitive field. Phil came second in the skate race last year after winning the classic race. He'll be out there again tomorrow looking to take the double.

Johanssen pin

Johanssen pin
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

So that was the ski marathon this year. I had a long hard day on Saturday. Don't think I've ever skied that far in one day before( ~70k). As we rolled through Montebello and into the Chateau grounds (finish line) thoughts of food and dry clothes drifted through my head and carried me across the line such that the last k or so is a bit of a blur. Sunday was much more laid back as I only skied two sections (~30k). It was another perfect day and I took more time to enjoy the trail and the countryside. I was across the line by 12:30 and on my way home (with my medal pictured) by 2pm. An afternoon of lying on the couch and occasionaly eating was a good way to recover from the effort.

Will I go back next year? I'll have to think about it. It consumes a lot of time getting fit and up to speed. Covering the whole distance is a tough excercise. That said - if they have enough snow for the traditional route then I'd be interested to try it again. Perhaps I'll just do a few sections each day instead of forcing myself to cover big distance. Time enough through the summer to let the aches and pains fade from my memory.

CSM trail

CSM trail
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

This was the type of trail I really liked - a stretch through the countryside between woodlots and farmers fields. Unfortunately there weren't too many of these stretches this year. Most of the trail ran through the forest preserve. While it was a beautiful area to ski and an excellent trail (on section 1 and 2), it just seemed to be too much like the Gatineau Park that I ski all the time. When the trail opened up like this you got a sense of passing through the countryside and overland - a unique experience that you can't do everyday. Had the wind been howling in my face it might have been a different story but for the most part it was good weather - like this - so it was a great track to ski.

Another story about the army presence. They did a great job providing support and were very gracious bunch (tax dollars at work? hey, they have to train somewhere!) but I do have one beef with the private who started dinner (lunch?) at his camp just as I was starting the (long) last section of the trail. Seems the menu consisted of Brats and the smell wafting through the pine forest almost knocked us off our skis. It would be a couple of long, hard hours before there was any solid food for me ;-)

A walk in the woods - borrowed from J. Holden
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

A couple of the steeper sections of the trail - particularly as we approached Montebello and the Ottawa river - had really low snow. This required you to take off the skis and walk for a few hundred meters here or there. It was a chance to use different muscle groups so it wasn't too bad. I'm told the CSM trail crews actually "tore up" what little snow there was in these sections in order to force people to walk these stretches. Better to be safe then have a lot of injuries.

I skied all the sections on Saturday (70km) and then decided to avoid these low snow sections the next day so I only did the last 2 stretches for 30k on Sunday. Not sure if I could have done the whole thing anyway on Sunday. I was pretty sore when I woke up in the morning but once I got moving things were okay. Still it was a long second day so I was glad with my decision.

This photo is borrowed from the "musician on skis" (check out her site in the sidebar). I took a number of photos but my small camera managed to "mangle" about half of them. Probably the last time I use it for special events. Had I known what it had done I probably would have tossed it in the river as I took the Rockland ferry back home Sunday night. Ah well, camera shopping soon.

CSM Oasis

Oasis
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

This past weekend was the Ski Marathon. I took part as a tourer and had a great weekend overall. The weather was just about perfect. -15 to start but warming to -6 on both days. We had sun and clouds and sometimes snow.... a little of everything. The new course(set up because of the low snow year) was not really what I had signed up for. The organizers had to scramble to make a 70km loop which had sufficient snow to welcome 2000+ skiers. The usual route goes overland from Lachute to Montebello on day 1 and then on to Buckingham on day 2... but it was not to be this year. Instead they developed a loop north of Montebello in the Kenauk wilderness preserve. We skied clockwise (sort of) on Saturday and counterclockwise on Sunday. There were a few out and back bits and some two way traffic lanes put in to make it a decent distance and allow for the logistics set up of checkpoints. Along with a host of volunteers, the army treats the event as a winter training excercise, providing support, communications, setting their own camps and montioring progress of skiers. In the photo one of the army camps along the trail set up a water station... much welcomed. For the most part it was good snow and well laid out. but it wasn't really the overland through the countryside experience I was hoping for.

Junior racer

junior racer
Originally uploaded by kenmore_photos.

Today was day 1 of the Eastern Canadian XC Championships in Gatineau Park. I went up to see if I could watch the elite racers doing a time trial classic race. Unfortunately the organizers didn't post a schedule on the website for the races so I didn't know what time the elites were racing. In the end I was there for the midget and pee-wee racers which wasn't really what I was looking to see. I skied around a bit and took a few pictures (none were too successful). It was kind of a bleak day while I was there, -7 but quite windy so I decided not to hang out too long.

Instead I went down to Montebello to check out the snow conditions for the CSM next week. The northen parts of the course look to have good snow but as you drop down to the river things get a little thin. I can see why they chose to adjust the course. Many of the spots on the old route have almost no snow at all and where it twins a gravel road (the CSM plows down the snowbank along a few roads to form a ski trail in a few spots) there are no snowbanks at all. We'll see how this new course goes. I could only get to a few spots as the main part of the trail goes into the Kenauk Wilderness reserve.

Unfortunately, the many long training days - trying to get into shape with a limited number of snow days- seem to have left me with a bit of tendonitis in one of my feet. I may not be able to ski long days next weekend. It hurt a lot for three days after my long ski last weekend and is still annoying right now. Strangely it doesn't bother me to skate - I guess the foot flexes differently when skating rather then the classic stride. I'll see how it goes on Saturday next week. Hopefully I can manage a few sections without too much discomfort and still go back for more on Sunday. Doesn't really matter too much. Its a tour so I'm looking forward to skiing some of it and then I'll call it a day when/if the pain gets too great.