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!!