Birthday ski 2010

This year was nearly a complete miss due to lack of snow but finally right on my birthday we got our dump to start the xc ski season. That said, I opted to wait a day until the traffic let up and the trail groomers had done their work.




I decided to start the season with a light ski trek to Healey from P19. The wind chill was up around -24 C but once the first first hill was conquered I was thankfully surrounded by trees that cut down on the wind's bite.



Upon arriving at Healey, I settled in and started to unpack my lunch only to be interrupted by a gaggle of retired snowshoers on their weekly outing. Hoping for a little more solitude, I quietly reversed my efforts and before long I was arriving at the next hut down the trail. At Herridge I was greeted by a warm fire and a single couple of skiers. I settled in with a cup of coffee and a toasted sandwich.



All in all it was a fine start to the season. Next trip, Lusk Cabin for a sleepover.

GAT ski video

Ski down past Shilly Shally cabin




Ski down to P7 Kingsmere... with a near wipe out.


Alternate angle showing me coming down at the crowd huddled at the 90 degree turn.

Listen to the one girl say, "Look, he's taking pictures looks like he's got things under control." at which point I nearly lost it. DOH!

A visit from London

This weekend we had a visit from our UK friends, Glenn and Donna. They are experienced travelers and often have little or no plan before setting off around the world. Needless to say, this trip was no different as they zoomed into town on Saturday afternoon on a 3 day stop before continuing on to Toronto and then St. Lucia.

Sunday we headed down to the Rideau Canal to check out some of the Winterlude attractions. The ice was a little rough but we were determined to get in our annual skate on the world's largest outdoor rink. Yes, the sign now reads "largest" not longest after Winnipeg's little fiasco calling in The Guinness crew with their measuring tapes to steal our record. Anyhow, after our skate we felt that we well deserved one of Ottawa's famous Beaver Tails.




Sunday night we went down to Patty's Pub to relive the our Carleton U days with some old friends. The Super Bowl was playing in the background and actually proved to be an awesome match-up for a change.


Monday we decided to celebrate Paula's birthday by driving up into Gatineau Park for a x-c ski. Donna is originally from New Zealand which sees little or no snow but through years of traveling she has managed to "master" the downhill scene and mentioned that she was now ready to try some cross country. So off we went to rent some skis, poles and boots at Trailhead for about $10 a set and then up to P10 in Gatineau Park. From there we skied up to Shilly Shally cabin for some left over pizza warmed up on the woodstove and a pint of Kilkenny.



We had a great time and I think Donna may be ready for some of the more technical trails. Glenn on the other hand was well bad and managed to re-injure his shoulder and pull his groin during one of his many attempts at skate skiing. Too funny.

All in all we had a great time and can't wait for their next visit to Ottawa. Hopefully it's not another 5 years between... cheers guys.

x-c ski in the GAT

It appears as if the snow is here to stay and I finally managed to find a day to head up to Gatineau Park for a ski.

Mike arrived bright and early Monday morning and we were off. We hit the P16 parking lot after a quick side trip to check out the covered bridge and then circled a couple of times before finding the perfect parking spot. Ok, actually we did a couple of donuts in the completely empty lot to celebrate the start of what we knew would be another great GAT ski day.

After a quick trip to the go-hut we headed off down, or rather up, the trail from P16 in the direction of Herridge Chalet. As per usual Mike climbed straight up the hills with his waxless skis while I left behind a nice herring bone pattern in the fresh snow. Bastard.

The trails and the weather were perfect - sunny and about -10 with an overnight dusting of snow to cover the rocks.



After a few ups and downs we finally found ourselves at Herridge. The maintenance man was just leaving on his snowmobile to groom some more trails. But not before shoveling some refreshingly nice smelling chemicals into the outhouses to cover up the stank from those yuppie weekend skiers. Yuppie crap really stinks, something to do with the faggy spandex they insist on wearing while skate skiing through the forest.

We then scooped up a nearby geocache (GCPZ48) and headed in for some grub.

Inside the cabin, the woodstove was roaring and we slapped our tinfoil wrapped sandwiches on top to warm up. It was a rare moment of solitude as we had the entire cabin to ourselves. On the weekends this place is normally a packed sweat lodge with the only available seat being in the upper level where the steam from everybody's sweaty socks and sweaters floats up creating a sauna-like effect.

After lunch we decided to just ski back to the parking lot rather than continue on. I didn't want to injure myself before my upcoming annual Kingston curling weekend. Ahhhh, but that's next week's blog.

Cheers blog readers.

Mike skiing down the hill to P16.

First person view of the ski down to P16.