A quick roadtrip

With this past week off I had kinda wanted to get away for a few days and do some skiing in new places. Sadly the weather kept acting up on days I had picked to “travel” so a longer road trip wasn’t in the cards. Add to that the already stated “weather” dropped some of the best snow of the season here in town and I wanted to get in on some of that so I wasn’t too motivated to leave town. Still, seemed a shame not to get some time away so I loaded up the car and drove down to Lake Placid on Wednesday. The drive down was pretty nice when I started – sunny and clear roads but as I got to Saranac Lake the snow started to fall and by the time got to the South Meadow road (my ski destination) it was belting down with snow. Grabbed a pack and my wide boards and headed out for what I thought would be a little tour. Didn’t even grab a camera as I figured I’d be back in less than an hour and there wouldn’t be much to see. Four hours later I had toured through some great trails – most of which are “skiing only” (across bogs and up stream beds) so I haven’t been able to walk on them in the summer. The snow pounded down while I skied so the powder conditions were great. I would estimate 10-12 inches fell in the four hours I was out and about. The only drawback was that the plow had been by while I was out and I had to shovel my car out upon my return… not too big a deal and well worth the price of admission for a day in the fresh snow.

Snowy, windy Lake Placid
Thursday dawned clear and cooold! At -25F it seemed to be ridiculous to head outside but there was not a breath of wind so in fact it was quite nice. That said I drove around getting a few errands done (and letting it warm up) before heading up to the Garden trailhead to get a hike in. Chose to climb Big Slide mountain which has some stunning views of the Great Range. A couple of groups had signed in ahead of me so I didn’t even have to break trail. Breaking trail proved not to be much of a problem as it turns out Wednesdays storm was very localized. Here in the eastern high peaks there was only about 1 inch of fresh snow down so trail breaking wasn’t a big deal. The trail climbs steeply from the get go so in no time I was removing several layers even though it was about -12C at this point. Shortly after that I crested the first ridges and the views opened up. Brilliant blue skies and a warm sun greeted me and the next few tricky scrambles up the ridge line were easy enough in the softening snow. Even the final climb up to the summit – which is a doozy – wasn’t too bad and the snowshoes were more than up for the challenge. I had met both groups that had signed in ahead of me about halfway up the trail and on the summit met another guy who was camping in the valley. He had come up with his buddies but stayed on the summit alone for about 3 hours basking in the sun on this windless day. Can’t say I blame him and I too spent about 45 minutes which – for winter – is a long time.

The winding trail from one "Brother" to the next. "Giant" dominates the background
Finally time to head down, I learned the joys of the butt slide. The last 1/3 of a mile to the summit is pretty steep and a little sketchy (about 400 vertical feet). It took me – with a picture stop halfway – about 12 minutes to trudge up making sure to firmly plant the snowshoes lest I backslide down the trail. On my way up I noted some beautiful vistas off behind me and decided I should stop on the way down and take a few photos. That plan was dashed as the return trip down – 1/3 of a mile and all – took about 30s on a riotously fun luge ride (sans luge)down. Zoooooooom! Those pictures will have to wait for another day.

The classic "slide face" photo on Big Slide. Should have taken a few more shots on the way up
The walk out was pretty nice. For the first time on this peak (this being my third or fourth trip) I chose to walk back along the same ridgeline as I had come in on rather than make a loop and drop down into the valley. That proved to be a good choice. Lots of good views to be had on the return trip and better light in the fading afternoon sun. Another good hike in the books on what proved to be a perfect day in spite of its frigid start.

Last of the views on the way down

Probabilities

The probability that every major snow storm would gently sidle past us this winter seemed unlikely. Yet, as we moved into March, it seemed like that would be the case this year as we’ve had only small dustings of snow. Quite a few small dustings leaving enough to ski mind you, but never big “whomping” gobs of snow. Sadly, Monday had an ugly forecast – to a skier – with a storm moving inexorably towards us with +13C and rain called for. I was seriously beginning to wonder if the season was coming to an early close, but as Monday drew nearer the forecast started to change. A little cooler, maybe some freezing rain instead of rain (not much better)… and then a little cooler still. Late Sunday night Bryan dropped me a text knowing I was off and suggested we do “something” on Monday. "What?" I asked. "Dunno, what’s the weather gonna be like". We held off till Monday morning and – with rain at his house in Barrhaven we weren’t sure what to make of it. Take a shot? Why not, the probability that it rains all day should be slim. His kids were off for a “snow day” – which seemed odd since it was raining - but he left them at home as we had no idea what we were up against. No point the whole family should “perish” in this outing ;) Skis? Bring ‘em. Snowshoes? Put ‘em in the car. Canoe… could be useful. Raingear…without a doubt!


Healey Hut before the storm

Healey Hut during the storm
But then the odds started to play into my favour. As I crossed the river in town the rain turned to snow…then a lot of snow… then whacks of snow. Series of texts with Bryan (how does he do that while driving? What’s that – he does it at the red lights? Hmmm…) and we met up at P15 to snowshoe up to Healey hut. I had skied by the hut the day before but the snowshoe trail is quite different so it should be good. Wedged the cars in a snowbank in the unplowed parking lot, strapped on the “shoes” and in a raging snowstorm pushed across the fields for the tree line. The hike up to Healey hut was slow going in deep unbroken snow but once inside the hut we got a good fire going. Relaxed over lunch, watched the snow pound down outside and counted dozens (and dozens) of Blue Jays at the feeder – a real fight for the food outside! - and then strolled back to the cars as the snow let up. Twenty cms of snow in all. A good storm. But then again, Bryan – a StatsCan employee (poster boy for the division if I believe the newspaper pictures ;) - should have been able to tell me the probability was good that a big storm would hit us before March arrived.


Bryan breaking out of the bush as the snowstorm rages
Tuesday I took the wide boards up to P7 and skied the backcountry trails in the fresh powder. Storm clouds had moved on leaving bluebird skies and a blanket of white behind. Didn’t get an early enough start and most of the trails had already been broken out but there was still some fresh snow to be had here and there… and even the “slightly used” snow was still a treat. Skied some of the classic trails and took a few of the big drops in very forgiving snow. The focus of the day was to return on the “Highland Fling” – a classic trail with a couple of monster drops. While it may not seem like a Ukrainian boy should know anything about the Highland Fling… after too many years to count…I’m finally getting the hang of it and no longer is it a desperate, “hang on for dear life”, blast down a sinewy chute. The trail builders of years past knew what they were doing and finally some of that is becoming apparent to me. Where was the “Yoda” of the wide boards when I needed him. Ah well, think I’ve got it figured now. It only took a few hundred tries. The probability was good I’d get it eventually.

Fresh snow in the quiet woods

Thermal roller coaster

Clearly we are headed towards spring with a rollercoaster in the temperature department. Spring like days of +11C followed by cold blustery days at -15C. Fresh snow turned to rock hard ice… and then a little more fresh snow. Overnight the temperatures drop while during the day the sun is starting to show some strength.


Fresh snow and sunny skies
We had about a week of very nice weather early in February with a few nice (small) dumps of snow and that made the backcountry skiing a real treat. I did a mini-tour of Lac Meech on a particularly unusual day. At one moment it would be dark clouds and snowing only to change to blue skies 5 minutes later…. And then back again to snow 5 minutes after that. Made for some tricky wax selection for my skis but I managed okay and the fresh powder snow made for great skiing so I wasn’t too concerned about it.


Groomers being kept busy
This past weekend was Loppet time and once again they had tricky weather conditions to deal with. A couple of days of unseasonably warm weather just before race weekend meant the groomers would be hard at work to prepare race tracks. Of course by race day the thermometer had swung 20 degrees down the scale (coupled with some strong breezes) to provide for chilly racing. The courses this year had to be modified again but only a couple of the sections had to be abandoned due to loss of snow on the hills. Hard work on the grooming made for fast tracks and it wasn’t a parkway race which was nice to see. I headed out on Sunday morning to chase the skate race as has been my custom. Unfortunately I discovered (though I expected as much) my secret shortcut had not been groomed and was an icy mess. This meant my well planned route to jump ahead of the races was dashed and some fast thinking was required. Came up with a new plan pretty quickly though which – while it meant a little more standing around (and less skiing on my part) – seemed to work out well in the end. The skiing I did manage was on really nice tracks which the groomers had clearly worked hard to churn up from the flash frozen ice. Good job on their part. The hard packed surface meant a fast race as well with a pack of 5 storming the finish line in a little over 2 hours. I took a small collection of photos – HERE


Leaders cruising through 10k
A day after the races I took a student we have working with us out for a ski in the park. Conditions were again pretty cool (at -12C) but the main trails had been very well groomed so we had a good ski out to Western cabin and back. My student is from Lyon, France and he was quite pleased to announce that he had never done anything outside in such cold weather before - a real adventure for him. Didn’t have the heart to tell him that – at -12C – it wasn’t even really that cold for an Ottawa winter.

Armand meets the groomer
Conditions continue to warm up during the days but the skiing is still great. We had another big storm swing just south of us but the snow here is reasonable. Sadly, without a little more snow, I expect it will disappear fairly quickly as we move through March. Ah well, fingers crossed for a late season storm which is always potentially out there.


Falling Flakes

SNOW!

Finally we got a good quantity of snow to fall. Helped to fix up the ski trails in the Gatineaus quite nicely. It wasn’t a massive amount of snow (5 or 6 inches) but enough to cover (most of) the rocks and roots and allow the big groomers to get out and work the snow. The season is truly slipping by quickly so it was about time we got a decent quantity of the white stuff.



Fresh Corduroy
With the snow falling last Wednesday into the evening I ditched work on Thursday morning and headed out to check out the fresh snow. Clearly wasn’t alone in cutting work as the parking lots were jammed with cars as I finished my ski at lunchtime. Fresh groomed trails greeted me at the parking lot and they were not surprisingly a little soft (tough to pack that much snow in one pass) but still wonderful to ski. Turned off onto a few backcountry trails and got the pleasure of breaking trail on a few of the gems. After skiing the powder to the Ramparts and touring Burma road I headed across the small pond on Pipe dream and got a little shock. As anyone well versed in ice mechanics should know, the fresh (heavy) snow on the pond loads/stresses the ice and effectively pumps water up through the cracks and seams onto the surface. Protected by the insulated snow, the water forms a nice slush layer lying between the ice below and the snow on top. It will freeze up in several days but in the short term it eagerly awaits skiers to venture past. I was the lucky "victim" and the slush latched onto my skis with vigor forcing me to stop and scrape the icy mess twice before successfully escaping the ponds surface and getting back into the woods. Such are the hazards of being “first” I suppose but well worth the trouble for the chance to ski the fresh snow.



Looks crisp and clean but there is a menace lurking beneath!



Frozen slush has encased my skis! The glide was somewhat reduced at this point.
Skied Saturday with Pete on a rare visit. He was so impressed with the storm he came up from his place in Alexandria to get some actual on snow skiing in the park. To his credit he gets out on the local ski trails (such as they are) at home but the big hills of the park are always a bit of a shock to the system. His technique was as always quite good but the cardio of a climb like Black Lake takes some getting used to. We skied up from Mackenzie King’s estate to the Huron lodge and then did a short detour down Ridge before skiing back to the lot. It was actually a beautiful day with sunny skies and warm temperatures when we started but the clouds rolled in about midway through our ski. As we stopped at Huron for a break a family of deer came by to get a snack at the bird feeder. Apparently they are regular visitors to the hut and have grown to accept (albeit tentatively) the presence of skiers who presumably gawk and stare as the deer wander in for some eats. On this day I had made the rookie mistake of bringing my camera without a memory card so I got no pictures from Saturdays ski. Instead my camera acted merely as ballast on this trip but lucky for me I met a fan of the blog as we all marveled at the deer and he forwarded me a couple of shots he took – Many thanks Don!


A deer "splitting the traffic" and making the short dash to the bird feeder
(photo courtesy D. Wiggans)

Finally Sunday I decided to head away from the crowds and drove up to the farthest reaches of the park along the Eardley Escarpment road. Skied the lonely trail past the Lac Richard yurt and then up to the Pontiac lookouts. No grooming out here other than the previous skiers efforts. They had all done a fine job though so the skiing was a treat. Also pleased to see that the local snowshoers had carefully walked beside the ski trail up here thus preserving the tracks. The snowshoers closer to town could learn much from these folks. Not a beautiful sunny day so I included a shot from a more sunny trip to the Pontiac lookouts . Even without the sun it was a beautiful ski and I only saw 5 other people all day. Took a slight detour off trail to a favourite spring time glade where some nice turns can be had in the warm March sunshine. As expected the snow level was a little low yet so I’ll have to hope for a few more storms before the warmer weather sets in and the “corn” starts to develop.


On a sunny day the last climb to the Pontiac lookout holds a lot of promise
More snow this week (snowing as we speak at "press time") so the skiing is finally looking good. Shame it took the first half of the season to get here but time to get some while the getting is good I suppose.


Taylor lake

The ski season so far… such as it is.

Not too many blog posts of late. The ski season, such as it has been, continues to tick along. The amount of snow this year has been nothing to write home about but I’ve managed some good skiing from time to time. New Years Day’s big melt all but washed the snow away but little by little we’ve been regaining ground. For the most part there’s now pretty good coverage and I can ski in the evenings after work without fear of naturally stone grinding my skis. I have managed to ummm….“devalue” a couple pairs of skis this year though they were done during daylight hours so I guess that’s my own fault. Rocks don’t seem to have any conscience at all hacking away at my bases so I’ve no one else to point to when I inspect the chips and (brand new) extra grooves. I think I’ve managed to salvage one pair though with some careful work on the bench at home but I may be shopping for skis at the closeout sales this spring.


Warm atmosphere at Keogan lodge most nights
Evening skis have been pretty good of late. Except for a brief cold snap the weather has been pretty comfortable. Most nights I seem to get caught up in the evening “dinner crowd” traffic on the trails as people race into, and then later race out of, the parks huts with a full pack of dining goodies on their backs. Not a big problem really except most of these people tend to wear headlamps and I usually (barring a new moon) opt against. “Why’s that a problem Kenmore?” Well, as I ski past little platoons of diners they all tend to look directly into my face thus temporarily blinding me. The irises of my eyes are naturally wide, WIDE open to take in the low light (which I might add is plenty of light to ski by!) and then - BLAMMO! Someone hits me in the face with a million candle power headlamp and the world just… sorta… disappears into a wall of white. As yet I haven’t skied off a trail or into a tree…or another skier for that matter so I guess there are bigger problems to worry about. To be fair I’d rather see others enjoying an evening ski so I guess I’ll learn to live with it and practice skiing with my eyes shut so I can cope when the “night goes out” (so to speak).


Just don't point your light in my eyes!!
Went for a ski today (during the daylight hours – go figure) after a nice little snowfall last night. Picked the backcountry trails in Gatineau Park and was quite pleased with my choice. Managed to oversleep so I didn’t get first tracks on anything. Not a big deal as it was only 4 or 5cm of snow. I'll set extra alarms if we ever get a big dump of snow! Still it was nice to visit a few of the classic Gatineau trails. Still the odd rock here or there but the ski tracks give you some clues, as you approach obstacles. Previous skiers have veered to the right or left to dodge some impending block of base scouring granite so following suit is well advised. More snow would be appreciated but for now the skiing continues to be fine.


Fresh snow on "Alexanders Road"
Managed one short day trip up to Forest Lea near Pembroke. I’d stumbled on it a few summers ago and had always meant to go back during the winter. Nice little network of trails up there. Not huge by any stretch – just one 10km loop with several short cut trails to make for some smaller loops. Still the trails had a really nice feel with lots of rolling Canadian Shield terrain in and out of woodlots and cut blocks. Bit of a long drive to go regularly but worth the trip to visit once in a while. Planning to go visit a few other ski centers sometime soon so keep watching for upcoming posts on ski trips to come.... Oh, and send snow if you have any connections.


Forest Lea Ski area main lodge - worth a visit

In search of winter

Winter left us on January 1st and my pleas for a big snowstorm have – as yet – gone unanswered. I think I’ve mentioned it more than once on this blog but – whenever you are looking for winter… there is always one place to go. Whiteface! I truly believe you could go in July and find some shred of winter on its icy slopes. This year’s annual rollerski race up the toll road in October missed - by one day - becoming a normal ski race to the sky with a foot of snow dropping overnight. And my past trip to Whiteface’s snowy summit was more akin to a trip to the pole.


Winter is just around the corner in the Wilmington Notch
With brown grass showing on the ground in town and parkways of glare icy in the park I packed up my gear and headed to Lake Placid on Monday. The drive down didn’t inspire much as I passed through Saranac Lake and Lake Placid which only showed a light dusting of snow in the woods. Heavy clouds engulfed Whiteface and the Wilmington notch but I popped back into snow free terrain as I drove into Wilmington itself. Up to the ARSC parking lot and still only a dusting of snow…. But still the black clouds loomed up on the mountain itself. Loaded up and started up the Marble mountain trail. The first mile is along an old rope tow treadway from the long abandoned “Paleface” ski area. Its grade is straight, consistent and contained only small patches of ice to slow my progress. As I got to the top the ice patches grew bigger but still had a few dry rocks to navigate over the ice. I passed a group from Montreal putting on “les pointes” just blow the summit but I was still making good progress with bare boots so opted to continue.


Winter on Table mountain - and the snow hides the glare ice
Above the Marble mt. summit I could see the dark clouds looming above and pressed on for the next climb up Table mountain. Again the climbing was pretty easy going but sections of ice were getting bigger and more difficult to negotiate. Still, for some reason unclear to me, I pressed on bare booting as I always seemed to be able to find a bare rock here or a branch there to navigate an icy slope. Finally, on the summit of Table mountain I was in the clouds and winter greeted me. Icy winds whipped the trees and a steady (albeit light) snow was falling. The snow served its purpose of hiding the icy spots so I finally stopped and put on the spikes. Don’t know why I had waited so long as – with the spikes in place the walking became more akin to a stroll along a summer side walk. Ice, hidden or otherwise, became a non-issue. Took the herdpath over to Esther (a sub summit of Whiteface) and made good progress although the temperature and windchill took a decidedly wintery turn. The herdpath is narrow and while there wasn’t much snow, each tree I pushed past left me coated in hoarfrost. Summited Esther in good form though and took some photos and had some eats. No views today but still a pleasant place to sit for a spell.

Wintery col on the way to Esther - no trouble crossing the bogs today
At this point I decided not to carry on to Whiteface. I had a dinner appointment back home and the winds were really whipping over the trees here so I knew that the exposed summit of Whiteface wouldn’t be too pleasant. Instead I turned back down the trail and greeted a good number of groups (all Quebecois) coming up behind me. Kept the spikes on until almost back down to the base of Marble mountain and the icy patches were trivial to navigate. Finally took them off when the trail was all but ice free and – with 100m or so to the car – found a good patch of ice to take my first and only grand “feet over head” wipe out of the day. Nothing damaged thankfully and, after carefully checking to see that nobody was around to see it (okay, dignity intact), made my way up to the car to end the day. A nice hike today and good to find winter is alive and well… somewhere.


Can you guess the prevailling wind direction through the trees?

Dear Weather

Happy New Years from a soggy Capital
After our brief introduction a few posts ago I thought I would direct a note to you personally to wish you all the best for the upcoming year. I for one am a big fan and certainly looking forward to seeing what you have in store for us in your bag of tricks in the upcoming year. This time of year must be pretty busy for you what with trying to work out the whole “White Christmas” thing for those that have it coming. Looks, for the most part, like you got good coverage this year. You really nailed southern Ontario before Christmas and slopped a pile more snow on our east coast friends. I’m always impressed by a good Nor-easter! They’ll be shoveling for weeks!!

Round these parts we had a pretty good start to the winter. Nothing spectacular but good coverage and I’ve gotten out on the skis in Gatineau Park most days over the last couple of weeks. Certainly don’t want to complain but seems we were caught between some of your early season storms and amassed very little base. Now that we’ve got a little warmer weather what little snow we had is melting away. Don’t have to tell you of course that it’s too early for a spring thaw! At any rate if you have a little free time over the next few days could you possibly whip an “Alberta Clipper” at us… or maybe a “Colorado Low”. Doesn’t have to be a monster but just something to tide us over while you cook up something good for February. Well, I guess that’s all for now. Hope you and Mrs. Weather had a nice holiday season and managed to get a little time to relax before getting back to the grindstone. Thanks in advance.

Regards
Kenmore

P.S. A reminder of one of your masterpieces. Skiers still sing songs about this dump of snow!!

Christmas ski

Enough coverage along the Pine road
Out once again for my annual Christmas ski. Didn't get the big dump of snow which I asked Santa for, but he's a busy man this time of year so I'll let this one slide. Skied out of P16 along the Pine road. Conditions were still pretty nice though - hard track and decent coverage. A few exposed rocks on some of the steep descents but that's predictable so easy to spot and slalom around. Chose to classic ski and the grooming for the first part was predictably poor with shallow and/or washed out tracks from all the traffic that part of the trail gets(need fresh snow!). Beyond the hut the grooming improved substantially and I was able to whiz along with little effort. Took some time to enjoy the view at Lac Phillippe before turning around for home. Saw a few other people out enjoying a Christmas ski as well but for the most part it was pretty quiet. Perhaps folks were lower down in the park getting a quick ski in while the bird gently roasted.


Ski patrols out on Christmas

Winter Solstice ski…almost

For years now I’ve debated doing an overnight at one of the cabins in the Gatineau park. Seemed like a good idea and this year Bryan suggested the same so we picked a date, booked Lusk cabin (half price on weekdays!) and sent out a flurry of emails to entice a few more willing bodies – if only to help shoulder the load on the ski in. Most people had their share of excuses and to be fair – a week before Christmas – they were mostly pretty valid but Dave signed on so we had a trio to head in. Another flurry of emails got the logistics set up and on Sunday afternoon we met up for the trek in. Temperatures were most excellent at just a few degrees below zero. Snow level was a little low but enough that we wouldn’t be walking up a gravel track. Things were looking up.

Time for a pit stop at Renaud
Dave arrived with shiny new rental skis so I enquired – “you actually skied before?” With Clarksonesque aplomb he replied “No, but how hard could it be.” Perfect! Perhaps not the time to learn with a 30lb pack on your back. The spectacular wipeout he managed in the parking lot didn’t instill a lot of confidence. Actually, truth be told he managed really well. The ski in is mostly flat or uphill so there was minimal chance to strike high speed balletic poses while hurtling towards tree trunks. A few tips from the peanut gallery and his technique was more than sufficient to get him up the trail. A brief pit stop at Renaud shelter energized us for the long climb up to the cabin and the long climb…well even with the heavy packs it wasn’t as bad as I suspected. Cracked the door of the cabin around 4pm and had a few scant minutes of daylight before darkness enveloped our little shelter by the lake. Second longest night of the year (by a second or two) so we had plenty of darkness before the morning came.

Arriving at the hut

The cabin itself is pretty well set up. Half dozen bunks, a supply of kitchen gear, a couple of tables (with benches and chair) and a smokin’ hot woodstove. So hot in fact that we spent most of the evening with the windows of the cabin wide open. Took a little bit of back and forth to balance the heat from the stove and cool from the night air but eventually we got the cabin temperature somewhat less than tropical. A quality meal was put on with contributions from all and a relaxing evening listening to music, debating important issues and occasionally stepping outside to listen to the silence of our location. We were a night early for the full eclipse of the moon but it was pretty heavily clouded over anyway so it would have been a non-issue regardless.

Ensconced in the cabin - time to get some dinner cooking

Monday morning was (perhaps rudely) broken a few times by “work alarms” which of course we didn’t need to partake of. Breakfast and a few emails by some (no names) to confirm that indeed they were “too sick” to make it to their desk today… before the easy ski out. Well, easy for most. Took Dave a few goes to get the hang of sliding downhill but fortunately no damage was down on the early attempts so all went well. Another stop to Renaud found the woodstove dead cold so we spent half an hour getting it going. Just started to warm up when we decided it was time to head back to the car so to the next folks who arrived at Renaud to a toasty warm cabin.... your welcome! Trails were decidedly quiet on this Monday morning but we did meet a few people out and about.

Nice morning to chop a little wood

So a big success for our overnight trek into the wilds of the park. Dave might even come back so his lack of ski skill wasn’t a big deterrent. The packs weren’t nearly as heavy as I expected, the food was first rate, the sleep was most comfortable and stepping outside your door to clip into the skis is always a treat. Time to book another trip in soon.

Come back soon... and bring more cornbread!

Fresh snow

Nice to finally get out on some real snow after the last couple of weeks of somewhat marginal ski conditions. Add to that that I can ski out of more than just P10 (probably skied more from P10 in the last 2 weeks than I will the rest of the winter)and the season is finally starting to ramp up. Last weekend’s rain/freezing rain event was not good to be sure but we’ve had a few decent snowfalls since and the base is now deep enough that good skiing can be had on the parkways and even the main arterial trails are reasonably covered. The snow is so good that I’ve finally put the rock skis away and brought out the good boards. Hopefully the rockers will remain in the basement until springtime.

Quiet summer entry gate at Lac Phillippe
Skied last night out of P19 on a rare evening ski up at Lac Phillippe. Man, it’s a whole lot darker at night up there than in the main part of the park. Of course it’s a whole lot further away from the city so there’s a lot less ambient light to be had. Still, with a headlamp the skiing was fine. Add a little moonlight and you’d have a recipe for a great night ski. Met quite a few more people on the trails than I expected. Several small groups still making their way into the huts for the night and a few folks like me out for an evening ski. I guess on weeknights people still work during the day and then head up to take advantage of the half price fees for a hut stay during the week. Snow conditions were really good. The main trails had all been groomed for classic and skate. The side trails had just had an initial rolling. Perhaps still a little too thin to be doing a full groom on them just yet but there’s more snow coming down tonight so the park should be in good shape by Christmas.

Snowy ski rack

Getting closer...

Still waiting for a little more base to build up. Apparently the skiing has been reasonable on the Fortune Parkway (inspite of the torrential rains we got last Monday) but from the pictures I saw it looked a little thin. Maybe it was okay but I figured, fresh snow falling as we speak, that soon enough there would be some better skiing to be had.

Just a dusting here and a few "water hazards" along the way
Today I took off for Lac Phillippe (skiis in car just in case) but found very little skiable snow. Instead I went for a loop around snowshoe trail 74 (didn't need the "shoes" today either). Interesting to check out this trail – one that was new to me. It takes an unusal cut through the ridge between Lacs Renaud/Taylor and trail 55. I’ve looked up there countless times(from the surrounding trails) but never ventured over… gonna have to go back to check it out again and explore a little more in there at some point.

Tall signs... until a meter of snow hits the deck
Made a quick pit stop into Renaud cabin and found the fire blazing – sweet! Thought maybe it would be too early to luck into warm woodstoves but clearly other folks are out and about even without the snow down. From there it was a quick jaunt back to the car and every step the snowfall increased. Looked almost skiable when I got back so a few more cm’s and we’ll be in business.

Down and dusted but still a little thin

First tracks of the season

Looks sketchy to ski....but it was a delight!
I hadn't really expected Fridays snowfall to account for much so Saturady morning I went up to the park to go for a run on Ridge road. There was indeed some snow down but not enough it seemed to matter when it came to skiing so I headed off towards Keogan without much thought. When I came out on the parkway I was surprised to see such a nice base down. Seems the blend of freezing rain along with a few cms of actual snow formed into a nice solid crust over the asphalt. Not enough to help with the gravelly trails of Ridge road but it looked to be quite good for skiing on the smoother roadways. With that in mind I turned tail and bolted back to the car, drove home, changed and grabbed a pair of skis before heading right back to the park for a ski. The conditions were surprisingly good. Just a cm or so of snow packed down by numerous skiers made for easy skating. Occasional grey patches of asphalt peeked through but they were covered in a layer of ice so the skis floated over most anything they saw. I skied up to the lookouts before the day started to close in on me but it was a nice treat.

Climbing Black Lake
Sunday I skied from MacKenzie King up to the lookouts and again the conditions were pretty good. A little sketchy beside Black lake but all in all another good ski. Tuesday the rains and warm temperatures are sure to wash away this tenuous snow but I think I'll head out tomorrow morning to get a few more kms in before it disappears. Long range is looking promising for some significant snowfall but who knows if/when that will actually pan out. In the mean time strike while the (wax)iron is hot...or rather while the snow is cold.

Nov 23 - 28th - What a difference a couple of days makes

Remembrance Hike

Last Thursday was another beautiful Remembrance day and time for our annual “last of the good weather “ hike in the park. Bryan, Mike and I decided to head up to Lac Phillippe this year and maybe walk up to Lusk cabin. Add to that Bryan had a new camera and was itching to “break it in” (not literally of course) so we met up at the visitor center, dropped one car and then drove up to P19. Walked in along the closed campground road and dropped down to the beach for a little bit to take some shots of the birds and the sun shining on the lake. After a loop through the campground we walked up to “Phillipe” cabin to have a quick snack. Twas here that a crew of four CF 18’s circled low over us in an impressive display. I suppose they were killing time before their Remembrance day fly past of the cenotaph downtown. They actually made two passes before roaring off into the wild blue yonder all in tight formation.

Birds flaunting the rules
After a short break we opted to head towards Taylor lake rather than up to Lusk. Not sure why we chose that option but there you go. No fixed agenda so no harm wandering where we like. Interesting to see a lot of dump truck traffic on the road out to Taylor Lake. Seems they’re re-grading the road around the lake with some fresh gravel. I checked carefully for shards of glass mixed in the gravel as we walked in but didn't spot any. Then again, perhaps my qualifications as a construction materials engineer aren’t up to scratch here and we’ll have to wait and see the true experts pass judgment on the quality of the job ;-).

Fisheye mirror - presumably to watch for oncoming hikers

We stopped at the Taylor lake yurt to have a little lunch. My stove is in some need of a little service but I finally managed to get it fired up long enough to heat up some soup. The lunch spot seemed like a good idea at the time but halfway through our meal the construction crew finished their lunch and fired up the graders and vibratory compactors. Bit of a raucous din ensued which wasn’t really our game plan for a quiet lunch spot. Ah well. With the noisy machines on the roads we decided to loop back on trail 55 in the opposite valley to get some peace and quiet. Beautiful trail through there. Certainly a favourite ski loop but today the waxing was a little tricky. All in all a beautiful day and a good one to take some time in remembrance of those that sacrificed to let us enjoy the things we love.

Lunch shared with a vibratory compactor... nice :(
Today I took some time to roller ski up to the Champlain lookout. I’ve done a little roller skiing this fall on the D-loop and out at the Lac Phillipe campground but this was the first time this season up the big hills. Haven’t done much road biking up there this summer either. Is it me or did they make the climb up the Fortune parkway bigger over the summer? ... maybe just seems that way. Guess I’ll have to go up it a few more times before the snow flies to “recalibrate”.

Gasp, wheeze... perhaps I should have ridden my bike...

"Mother Nature is teasing us..."

First tracks
Those were my buddy Pete's words a few weeks ago when "first snow" reports started trickling out of the West and even Lake Placid which got some early snow. "That may be true" I told him "but she doesn't tease us with snow in June (despite what the Northern Pikes might think)". She starts to work her magic in October and little by little we move inexorably towards the real stuff. Compactable stuff. Base building, powder covering, skiable snow. Last weekend we got another tease... but at least it was here as opposed to some far-flung ski locale. Another tease to be sure but at least - to a degree - it was skiable. I got a little skiing in on the waxless boards but skiing along the grassy shoulder of the parkway has never been my thing. I quickly turned back to the car and strapped the roller skis back on. The real stuff will fall soon enough and with it the season will begin in ernest.

Patience (and more rollerskiing) is a virtue.


Not quite ready for Penguins