Holiday Skiing

Huron Lookout

I've been remiss in my ski posts over the Christmas season but rest assured, I've been out there in spite of some less than ideal conditions. Seems we're caught up in a "thermometric" roller coaster ride with rainy, spring days followed by cold, windy weather... and then back to warm rain... repeat, repeat, repeat. Fortunately we were blessed with plenty of early (Christmas?) snow so the base is holding up nicely. The sun even came out on Christmas day which was a nice treat although it was pretty cool out. As I enjoyed my Christmas ski I think I saw Santa (white beard, red cap and some nice Fischers) skiing on the parkway - perhaps a cool down session after his big night? I didn't get any pictures as I was speeding down Black Lake hill and he was climbing up it. I did think maybe I should stop and chase after him for a photo op but I figured if he can circumnavigate the globe in one night... what chance do I have chasing him UP Black Lake hill.

Today I started on the Parkway and then headed up to Ridge road to do some trail skiing but Demsis hadn't been in the woods with the groomers as yet and the trails are littered with branch debris from yesterdays big wind storm. I didn't ski long in the woods before heading back to the Parkways which were nicely prepped for some fast skiing. Some more snow tonight and a pass with the groomers should get things in good shape for New Years Day skiing. … Unless we get more rain :( Fingers crossed!

Best to all for Holiday season and happy trails in the New Year.

Snowmagedon?

Champlain lookout at sunset
Originally uploaded by kenmores

The weather forecasters called for snowmagedon yesterday. Its winter and its snowing - alert the media? I suppose - being caught between two back to back snow storms puts us in the eye of the snowicane? Actually, snowmagedon went a little south of us so we only ended up with a snowaster (or was it a snowgedy). With all this drama, I went skiing...

I chose the nice tree covered confines of P12 to ski up to the ridge. It gave me a nice sheltered trail and a good big climb at the start to warm up on a cold day. I was also well protected from the snowhawks that might have been circling above me. The trails were in beautiful shape and the skiing was surprisingly fast considering how cold it was. I circled out to Champlain lookout and down around the T before looping back and rolling a little ways up to the Wolf trail before finally dropping back to the car. With all this snow I'm pretty sure that Christmas should be a white one with lots of skiing opportunities. I just hope I have enough food and supplies stocked up to survive "Son of Snowmagedon" (or is it Snowmagedon II) which rolls into town tomorrow.

A perfect day for a ski

Friday night the temperature went down to a blustery -22C (-29C with the windchill). Yesterday the temperature gently rose and I finally braved the cold at 9pm (-15C) for a good ski on the Parkway. Today - temperature still climbing to about -7C - I joined Mike, Bryan and fam. and headed into Healey cabin on a beautiful winter day. Tomorrow it’s supposed to be raining and +9C. As someone who studies building materials these rapid changes in temperature (30 degrees in a few days!) are an excellent chance to see durability of materials in action. As a skier - bleah! Why can’t it be -5C all winter long?


Bryan had organized a family ski outing on his birthday and invited Mike and I to come along. It’s becoming an annual event and this year, along with his Dad, his two daughters joined us. Mike, claiming to be pretty sore from his previous days skiing was tentative but sure enough there he was in the lot as I pulled in. Granted it took him a few painful strides to get into his rhythm but once on the move he was all smiles. And why not - warm temperatures, perfect snow, nicely set track - all the ingredients for a great day of skiing. Mike and I caught up to all three generations of Bryan's family part way along the trail and we joined them for the ski into Healey cabin. Bryan thought the pace might be slow but his daughters are already displaying good Beckie Scott/Sara Renner technique. Bryan better work on his fitness or in a season or two he won’t have a chance to keep up to these two (it’s okay man, Mike ain’t getting any faster ;-) Once at the cabin we had a lunch of chocolate, toasted sandwiches and a variety of fruit... and chocolate, all with a good “floor show” at the busy bird feeder.


After lunch the crew headed back to the car but I continued on along the Pine road out to Lac Phillippe. The snow was beautiful and some more started to fall as I skied along. Shame that wet weather is coming tomorrow to mess all these trails up. Ah well, such is winter. More snow will come again but I’ll enjoy these days while I’ve got them.

Winter Arrives

Framed winter
Originally uploaded by kenmores

kay, it’s an old picture... but I'm sure it's what it looked like yesterday afternoon. I went skiing last night amidst the big storm that dropped 30+ cm of snow on us. I waited until quite late to allow the evening commuters to stumble home and barricade themselves inside their homes. At around 10pm I drove into the night - just me and the army of snow plow contractors out on the roads. I headed up to P7 to ski a few drops of Penguin. I had hoped I'd have first tracks, or at least the previous skiers tracks would be well snowed in but no luck. There was someone else there making some turns as well. We politely waved at each other as we alternated cruising down while the other headed up. Cursing each other for chewing up our snow? Perhaps, but there was still lots of chances to figure eight each others loops. After a few laps of Penguin I headed over to trail 8 and took another couple of laps. Dropping into these steeps with some fresh, dry powder on them is a surreal experience - totally different from skiing them on groomed tracks. The skis float, the turns come around lazily and nothing seems to be in a rush. Always good fun and worth the drive to be sure. Just last weekend I was looking at the wall of skis in my front hall - patiently waiting for their turn on the snow - and wondered why on earth I own so many pairs of skis. I can only wear one pair at a time after all. Last night I plucked the wide boards from the wall and they were just the right thing - glad I still have a pair of them around for nights like this.