Sunday 19 February 2012 – The Gatineau Loppet Freestyle Event - 51km

Yesterday, the Classic Loppet, today the ‘Freestyle’ Loppet.  This involves the use of skate skies, and is a very energetic activity.

Luckily I don’t have any skate skies!

On the other hand, Santa (above) appears to have acquired some; maybe they were a Christmas present?

I went up trail 30 from Kingsmere (P7) on a lovely sunny morning and shouted encouragement to the skiers from a corner near the top of Penguin Hill, by Wattsford Lookout, which enjoys views over Ottawa.

Santa was only just behind this group of fairly elite skiers, who had taken just over an hour to reach this 20km point along the 51km course, which was the same course as for yesterday’s ‘Classique’ race.

At this point very few skiers stopped for a rest at the corner.  They powered on up the final steep ascent prior to the excellent trail to their next support point at Keogan.

A Brit who was also in yesterday’s race, Steve Hesketh, went past in a big bunch of speedy racers.  So far as I can see, there were just four Brits amongst the 416 who completed today’s race, and Steve was by far the quickest of them.  (As yesterday, when he was an hour ahead of me and three hours ahead of the other two Brits.)

Half an hour after Santa, with the field thinning, and even a lad from Leeds, Gordon O’Neill, going past, Ken powered his way up Penguin Hill for a chat at the corner.  By this time I was chatting to many of the skiers who were finding the hill a little much to complete without a rest, and Ken also felt he had to stop and say hello!

It was a lovely day.  I pottered back down to P7, relishing the nicely groomed surface and the emptiness of trail 30.  Then a short drive to P9 at Dunlop saw me donning my old skis for the last time for this trip and heading up Fortune Parkway to the support point at Huron. 

It didn’t take long for my target to arrive, and again Ken was happy to stop for a chat…..

…and a posed shot with his mouth full of a mixture of Gatorade and chocolate covered peanuts…

“I’ve got to go now” he announced “that lad from Leeds is just ahead of me and I don’t want to be beaten by someone who has no access to any proper training facility.” (Freestyle skiing doesn’t have a large following in Leeds, so far as I’m aware!)*

So off he went, and so did I, enjoying my final descent down Fortune Parkway.  It was a lovely day, and the trail was quick, so the 20mph descent of the final long hill was a satisfactorily exhilarating conclusion to this year’s ‘adventures on planks’.

Here’s a parting shot of the Parkway, by Fortune Lake, yesterday afternoon, before the final descent to P9 car park.

That’s it from Canada for this year.  I’m shortly off to catch a plane.  Hope you enjoyed these postings.  It’s back to ‘plodding’ this week.

I will be putting up some pictures on Picasa, in particular of the images I took yesterday at Wattsford Lookout whilst waiting for Ken.  I’ll place a link here.  If you are a skier who appears in any of those images, and you would like a full size copy, let me know through the ‘Contact us’ button on topwalks.com, and I’ll send it to you.  It’ll be my pleasure.

* BTW, Ken came in 365th out of the 416 finishers, in just under four hours, nearly a minute ahead of Gordon from Leeds, who came a very commendable 366th – the second Brit on the day.  And for Ken that completes Parham Momtahan’s ‘Triple Challenge’, comprising the 160km Canadian Ski Marathon, and this weekend’s two 51km Loppet races.  Only a handful of people (less than 20) have completed this daunting challenge.  Well done Ken!

Saturday 18 February 2012 – The Gatineau Loppet Classique

Regular readers will realise that whilst there’s nothing I enjoy more than a plod in the countryside, I am up for the occasional challenge.

Today that challenge was the 51km Gatineau Loppet.  It’s only a short drive to the start, so an early rise wasn’t needed to get to P2 to meet up with Susan and Roy, who ‘collect’ Loppets.  (Everyone needs a hobby, I suppose!)  Ken, my chauffeur for the day, was also there, proudly sporting his ‘Chelsea Masters’ technical top.  You can make what you want of my gear - it’s all very old, but it works.

The ‘Classique’ is the event for ‘cross-country’ rather than ‘skate’ skiers, and today’s entry comprised 331 folk from 22 different countries.  Our group of four, pictured above at the start, represented three of those countries.  I also discovered Sophie, a French Canadian friend, at the start – she was doing a 31km version of the Loppet, the two events being arranged to start together.

We started at 9am in four ‘waves’, at two minute intervals.  The other three were deemed suited to start in the third wave, whilst I was down amongst the duffers (sorry, Sophie) at the back of the field.  Whilst there was a little aggressive behaviour after the start, when ten lanes of skiers rapidly contract to two lanes, at my end of the field everyone was pretty well behaved.

The previous night I’d helped Ken prepare the skis in an attempt to get a bit more grip and glide from the warm conditions than we had last week.  Green klister had been ironed on top of a layer of glide wax, allowed to cool outside for a while, then some magic (as it turned out) violet klister was ironed on top of everything else before putting the skis back into the cooler.

It worked, I was soon actually passing people on the hills, and was moving along at a reasonable pace.  All went well for about 7km, when I failed (yet again) to negotiate the turn from #5 down #26 – where Helen is pictured in yesterday’s posting.  This time I bashed a thumb, which though not life threatening, remains swollen and  mildly painful.

It was another warm, sunny day, clouding over later with snow flurries.  Lovely.  At the back end of the field most participants were enjoying their day out, the only ‘race’ being with the cut-off times, which quite a few were worried about.  So I had some nice chats along the way and soon realised that given the excellent waxing of the skis, being ‘cut-off’ was not really a worry.

I carried a few spares in a bum bag – clothes, two pairs of gloves, waxes, first aid kit, food, etc, but it never got opened, the drinks and food being provided by the six or so feeding stations along the route being more than adequate.

It’s not a flat route – there’s about 900 metres of ascent, including several steep hills that have to be ‘herring-boned’.  It was after one of these hilly sections (trail 15) that we emerged past Pink Lake onto Gatineau Parkway and down to ‘The Notch’, where there’s a support point.  Here, after just 15km, I spotted Susan and Roy, just ahead.  They remained that way for the remaining 36km – a target – though they never saw me or heard my shouts of encouragement from just a few metres behind them on a couple of hills where I was quicker.  I just didn’t have the technique to keep up with them on the flatter sections, and they eventually finished just a few places ahead of me.

We all met Ken coming the other way where there’s a little loop in the route around Huron Cabin.  He was nearly 30 minutes ahead of us at that point and finished even further ahead, in a very commendable (for an ex-pat Brit) 4 hours 17 minutes.

Whilst the klister was great for going up hills, mine was affecting the downhill glide over the last few km, but not enough to do anything about it.  I’d expected to take about 6 hours for the 51km, but by some miracle came in just under 5 hours.  I didn’t see any of the other Brits in the race – one finished an hour ahead of me and the other two were two hours behind.  So if there had been awards by nationality I’d have got a silver medal!  As it was, we all got a Buff.

For my own benefit as much as anything, the Loppet website is here, the results are here, and my Garmin gadget’s data is shown below:

The Gatineau Loppet Warm-up Loop

Today’s continuing ‘heatwave’ failed to deter Helen and me from a little adventure onto the sloppy snow.

We chose the Loppet warm-up loop, from P2 car park, where tomorrow (Saturday) some of the world’s finest athletes, and Ken, will hare off down the 51km course, hoping to finish in a little over two hours.

Today it took Helen and me nearly an hour and a half to ski the 9km warm up loop.  We were passed several times by two friendly chaps, pictured above, who were setting signs for the various Loppets taking place over the weekend.  The 51km version is the longest; there’s also a 31km route.

The sun shone, as usual on this trip, and the scenery was delightful.  Here’s Helen swooping down trail 5.  To her right is the corner at the junction with trail 26 that I failed to negotiate a few days ago.

Back near P2, an international medley of finely honed athletes was involved in a recce in advance of tomorrow’s exertions.  They all looked very fit.  I hope Ken doesn’t get mown down in the melee.  Nor Susan and Roy, who are starting with Ken in ‘Wave C’, for that matter.

The Loppets start in five ‘Waves’ – A to E, in the latter of which the duffers are set loose, 8 minutes after the elite group.  That means the duffers have 8 minutes less in which to reach the aggressively timed cut off point after 24km.

Oh dear!

Susan and Roy - Loppeteers

If someone who enters a ‘Loppet’ is a ‘Loppeteer’, Susan and Roy fit that description.  Today they had me up at the crack of dawn for a 20 km ‘whizz’ around the Parkways of Gatineau, to record (see pictures above) their final training session for Saturday’s 51 km Classic Ski Loppet.  I have opted out of their final training session tomorrow at the Spa, principally because Roy has borrowed some essential equipment for that pursuit.

A Loppet is a ski race.  They are held all over the world.  Where there is snow, obviously.  Ottawa’s weather system is preparing for the weekend’s events by way of … a rainstorm.  It’s lashing down outside.  So conditions could be interesting.

Today’s Parkway circuit followed a route that I took last year.  Then, with my blistered heels, I timed it at about two hours.  Today I was fitter, but the route took an extra 30 minutes.  Not because Susan and Roy held me up – the opposite was true – but because the conditions were… a little sticky.  For example, on moving out of the groomed trail to take the above photos at the top of Fortune Parkway, I found that about three inches of ice had glued itself to the underside of my skis.  Even Susan and Roy’s waxless wonders were behaving as if threading their way through an ocean of white glue.

It was slow going.  I broke another basket (the thing at the end of the ski pole that helps with traction) – it must have become glued to the tacky surface.  Another repair for Ken to help with.  He won’t be happy!

We certainly earned our Hot Chocolate at the cafe in Chelsea.

A Hot Ski to Lusk Cabin

After the previous night’s indulgencies at Woodroffe Towers, it was 10.30 by the time Helen and I had rendezvoused with Susan and Roy at P19, the most westerly of the ski trail car parks.

The trip to Lusk Cabin is one that we’ve enjoyed many times over the years.  The header picture shows Roy and me outside the cabin on Wednesday lunch time, admiring the view across the lake, and pondering the whereabouts of the Ghost of the Lost Skier of Lusk Lake.

It was warm – around +3C, with snow flurries.  With a couple of centimetres of fresh snow, which was rather wet, this made the skiing conditions…. ‘interesting’.  After setting off along trail 51, Helen flew off ahead (unusual) with her waxless skis.  Susan and Roy soon returned to their car to change into their ‘waxlesses’.  I don’t have any such skis, so I floundered on, slithering slowly backwards on the slightest of uphill gradients, and bizarrely failing to get any glide on the downhill sections.  It was like skiing on slippy wet putty, though I’d never want to try that!

Violet wax was supplanted by purple wax, but it didn’t make much difference.  After a while, Helen left us to take the direct route to Lusk, whilst the three of us soldiered on around the picturesque ‘Taylor Lake Loop’.

Light snow and the difficult trail didn’t do much to spoil our enjoyment of this beautiful woodland trail, though.  After a steepish hill, the trail passes a canvas ‘yurt’ before emerging at the eastern end of Taylor Lake.  Here Roy posed for me (see below) with the lake in the background and a new yurt to the left in the shot.  These yurts can be hired for overnight stays by private parties, as can Lusk Cabin and one or two others in this section of the Park.  Most of the cabins in Gatineau Park are, however, for use by day visitors only, and they don’t cater for overnight stops, though many are used as destinations for evening ski trips and are often found full of folk enjoying mid-week cheese and wine parties.

A little further along our slither, we skirted Lac Renaud, where despite the unseasonable warmth, nobody was found sunbathing on this judiciously positioned bench.

They were all enjoying their lunches in Renaud Cabin, in front of a roaring fire…

After establishing that Helen hadn’t decided to stop at Renaud, we scooted on to Lusk to join her for lunch.  Part of the 3 km cul de sac trail to Lusk was recently washed away, but a good attempt at a diversion has been made, and we were pleased to make it to that characterful cabin.  It was hot inside.  Very hot.  A backwoodsman turned up and opened a window.  Nobody complained.  It was hot. Rather above freezing. That’s very unusual at Lusk at this time of year.

On the way back to Philippe and P19 car park, I discovered that ‘special red’ was the wax of the day, and after applying that I was suddenly and surprisingly able to more or less keep pace with Susan and Roy!

A Day out with Susan and Roy

Readers may recall that we met Susan and Roy on the TGO Challenge in 2008.  We’ve subsequently become good friends and occasionally meet up, albeit they live in Connecticut, some distance from Timperley.

Anyway, they happen to be in Ottawa for Saturday’s Loppet, and are staying in Chelsea.  So with Ken and Helen both at work, and Sue safely tucked up at home in Timperley, they were the obvious choice of companions for me today.

We duly went to P11 – a car park by Meech Lake - and enjoyed a slither along trail 36 to Herridge Cabin, which was deserted apart from a roaring fire.  Two French snowshoers eventually arrived.  It’s unusual to have this popular cabin, only 5 km from P16, to oneself.  The icy trails must be putting people off – it hasn’t snowed properly for about a month, and the trails are showing it.

Old snow, and ice crystals, tend to remove any wax applied to your skis fairly rapidly, and today Susan and Roy had to re-wax three times (see picture below) during our 20 km pootle.  At least there were sunny intervals, and we had the trail to ourselves.

That’s it for today; Ken is having a little celebration, and guests are expected, so the big silver button on this contraption will soon be pressed…

An Icy Afternoon in Gatineau Park

The good news is that Ken returned home last night with a gold bar, having completed the 160 km Canadian Ski Marathon.  Sadly, Michael just failed to make it to the final checkpoint before the cut-off time, so he ‘only’ did 147 km.  Very impressive, nonetheless.  When Sue and I have tried this event we have felt chuffed to manage much more than 100 km over the course of the weekend, and that’s without carrying packs.

Conditions were tough.  There are many tales to be told.  But not here, for the time being.

We enjoyed dinner at ‘The Pub’ in Chelsea with Susan and Roy last night, but today was Sue’s appointed rendezvous with United/Continental  Airlines for the purpose of returning to Timperley to win some of the bread that’ll be needed to support our travel plans for the year ahead.  She managed to ski nearly 150 km during her stay, though, which isn’t bad for a ‘Beach Holiday’.

So having dropped Sue at the airport I got a late start for a 23 km ski from P2, covering the eastern section of the Gatineau Loppet route.  It was fairly warm at just minus 2C, but the tracks were icy and my blue wax soon dissipated, leaving me with a rather slithery experience along tracks like trail 15 in the late afternoon, pictured above on the way to Pink Lake.  Which is white at this time of year.

En route to the undulations of trail 15’s twisty course, the trail passes under a series of huge pylons.  Not even Gatineau Park is protected from such monstrosities.

Later, the low sun lit the trail beautifully.  I was passed by these two ladies on a short incline.  I wasn’t the only one finding the ice a little slithery – normally we’d all be scooting quickly up this short hill with our skis in the prepared trail, but today even a small rise proved hard work.

After wiping out at an innocuous junction (my first proper ‘crash’ of the trip) I found my way back to P2, via trails 26/29/27.  On Saturday and Sunday mornings this coming weekend, several hundred athletic skiers will be racing down the track pictured below, just yards from the start of the Classic and Freestyle (skate skis) Loppets – 51 km races around some of the Park’s excellent trails.  There will be much competition for the leading positions, whilst at the other end of the field people will be straining every muscle to avoid being ‘timed out’ at the cut off points around the course.

Another Ski Weekend

This is the weekend of the Canadian Ski Marathon, which Sue and I have taken part in on several occasions, as has Helen.  But this year we have left the heroics to Ken, Lester and Michael, who are aiming to complete the full 160km in two days, including an overnight camp at around minus 20C, for which they must carry all the gear for the full distance.

No sooner had Ken left the house on Friday afternoon …. when the cat’s away ….

Saturday saw Helen staying at home to digest her lobster, whilst Sue and I embarked on our traditional trip to the Fire Tower, from P12 by Meech Lake, up trails 40 and 24 to Ridge Road, and on to the Fire Tower.

It was cold – around minus 16C all day, but as you can see from the header photo, we made it to the Fire Tower.  This is the western limit of Gatineau Park’s groomed trails.  Those who wish to continue have to bushwhack from here.  The Fire Tower served as an observation post for fire rangers for around 30 years, from the 1940s, until it was succeeded by more sophisticated methods of fire prevention, such as air patrols and lightning detection.

McKinstry Cabin lies 2.5 to the east of the Fire Tower, so it provided shelter for a tea break, then on our return journey, for lunch.

There’s no bird feeder at McKinstry – perhaps it’s just a bit too far away for the re-supply vehicles.  But there is a good fuel store for the wood burning stove.

There’s also the regulation outhouse.  We couldn’t manage without these essential buildings!

The trails were fast today.  This is what can happen if you take a corner at excessive speed.  Luckily, no lasting damage was done.

As has been the norm on this trip, the sun shone virtually all day from a crystal clear sky.  Below is a skier on his way along Ridge Road, at the point where our route heads down to the left along trails 24 and 40, back to Meech Lake.  In today’s icy conditions, care was needed on the final shaded sections.  Despite the grooming it can be icy in places after a prolonged period of not so cold, sunny weather with no precipitation.

Sunday, saw us (me, Sue and Helen) back at P3 for a short ski in cool minus 10C conditions.  Here’s one of the few images I took, this one whilst rattling down Gatineau Parkway over a motorway bridge, on the way back towards P3 and Ottawa.  The image, like most taken on this trip, doesn’t adequately convey the impression of steepness.

Sue sadly has to leave for home tomorrow, but Susan and Roy should have turned up in Chelsea, and hopefully by the time we get back from Sunday Dinner with them tonight, Ken will have returned victorious from the Ski Marathon, sporting a ‘Gold Bar’ in recognition of his achievement.

Après Ski, and the Wakefield Triangle

Today (Friday) Helen joined Sue and me for a couple of hours’ respite from our ‘beach holiday’, by way of a whizz around the 17 km ‘Wakefield Triangle’.  This is a circuit from P17 – along trail 51 to P19 (Philippe) then back along trail 53.  Trail 53 is a favourite, as it’s one of the few trails in Gatineau Park that passes through open countryside, though that often means the groomed track is blown over with spindrift that the woodland trails don’t suffer from.

You can see from the photo of Sue on this trail that today wasn’t so sunny – there were sunny intervals, but not at the time I took the picture that would demonstrate the open countryside.  It was above freezing, so our violet wax only worked intermittently, some of the trail being cool in the shade, but some of it having turned to ice in the sunshine.

A planned trip to Wakefield (the town – in Quebec – ha!) was abandoned in favour of delicious hot chocolate and carrot cake at Les Saisons Cafe (pictured above) in Chelsea, where we were able to conduct other essential business next door at ‘The Pub’.

Penguin Hill

Today I dropped Sue (exhausted from 5 days’ skiing) and Helen (exhausted from 2 days at work) at the Spa in Chelsea, then parked up at P8, a few metres down the road at the other end of Chelsea.

This put me in a great position to try out part of the 51 km Gatineau Loppet route.  Don’t worry, I only went 32 km today, but I did check out the steepest of the hills on the Loppet route, the 200 metre ascent of Penguin Hill, pictured above near the point at which it is joined by Trail 30.  As you can see, the sun beat down yet again and the temperature rose to a positively balmy 2C.

You might wonder, like I did - ‘Penguin’ – seems an unusual name for a geographic feature lying about eleven thousand kilometres from the nearest penguin habitat.

Apparently it used to be called Excelsior Hill, excelsior being the Latin for ‘higher’.  But it seems that the road currently known as Gatineau Parkway (a ski trail in winter) follows the route of something called the Penguin Trail, and that name has devolved to the steep hill that comprises the start of the trail currently known as trail 1, leading steeply up to Ridge Road.

Skiers in the 1920s were looking for a way to avoid bushwhacking from where the bus dropped them off, to a lodge at Camp Fortune that was used as a base for cross country skiing.

To fill this evident need, in stepped Joe Morin, the Ottawa Ski Club’s Director of Trails.

Continuing with one of Charles Hodgson’s well researched pieces:

“The Penguin Trail was short, spanning considerably less than a kilometre, but it was memorable. This is because Joe Morin claimed to have found a penguin in the snow just as they were finishing the trail. He caught it, put it in his backpack and skied it in to Camp Fortune where he and his Night Riders nursed it back to health. They made a sort of mascot of it and claimed that it must have walked from the southern hemisphere and that’s why it was so tired. Other people were sceptical and arranged for a visit by — as the 1943 Ottawa Ski Club Guide puts it — “learned and bespectacled ornithologists” to disprove the unlikely claim. The bird however, having regained its strength, flew out the window before the bespectacled doubters could inspect it and Joe maintained his claim that it had indeed been a penguin.”

He goes on to observe that:

“Modern day Park users may be aware that a penguin is a flightless bird. This undercuts Joe’s authority in the event of the bird leaving on the wing, though it may give a small degree of support to the “walking-thus-tired”  theory.”

Charles provides further fascinating historical background here, which can be summarised along the lines that a ‘pingouin’ was perhaps found – that’s the French name (and the location is in French speaking Quebec) for a Razor billed auk, a bird that can fly but which looks much like a penguin and inhabits the north east Canadian coast, sometimes getting lost and finding its way quite far inland — albeit perhaps not walking.

The ‘Razor billed auk’s trail’ or ‘Razor billed auk Hill’ would sound a bit odd wouldn’t it?

Lac Philippe

With Ken and Helen both at work today, Sue and I headed out on a cold, clear morning to P17 (Wakefield) and a 24 km circuit.

First of all we followed the groomer (which remained out of sight) up trail 52.  It’s about 8 km to the junction with trail 50.  Pristine conditions, but the abrasive icy snow soon removed our violet wax and saw us herring-boning up the slightest of inclines.  Here, Sue tries (and nearly fails) to demonstrate the technique.

By the time the junction with trail 50 was reached more wax was needed to see us on our way to Lac Philippe (pictured at the head of this posting) without too much of the ‘one slide forward, two slides back’ routine that seems to feature at times of thawing, re-freezing, and no new precipitation.

We aren’t complaining though, it’s lovely to be under pure blue skies in weather that’s not too cold (just two layers of clothing needed).

When we reached Renaud Cabin (below) it was deserted apart from a roaring fire, which meant that our sandwiches were quickly toasted on the cast iron of the fireplace.

Bluejays monopolised the feeder, with black squirrels and woodpeckers nipping in from time to time.  Red squirrels and the smaller birds appeared after everyone else had gorged themselves on the fresh seeds, probably left by whoever had lit the fire.

A couple arrived, and a chat and an hour later we were back off to P17, via trails 54, 50, 51 and 53 – all very pleasant after we had rewaxed our skis for a second time.

Shilly-Shallying at Shilly-Shally

OK Gibson, put your hands up, you are to blame for this entry, for most of the content of which I have to thank Charles Hodgson and the Guide Gatineau website.

As Charles says, “anyone who walks, bikes or skis the Ridge Road in Gatineau Park knows the intimate little cabin named Shilly-Shally.

It’s located less than half a kilometre north-west of where Ridge Road crosses the Fortune Parkway, a spot known to us as ‘Gossips’ Corner’.  Keogan shelter is nearby on the south-east side of the Parkway.

Shilly-Shally is a phrase meaning “unsure” and is thought to have arisen more than 300 years ago from people saying “Shall I? Shall I?” That’s according to The Oxford English Dictionary at least.

But apparently the Gatineau Park cabin wasn’t exactly named for that reason.

Before skiers took to the Gatineau Hills, farmers tried to eke out a living along Ridge Road and one of their old buildings eventually became a snug retreat for lucky skiers. At first though as a ski cabin, Shilly-Shally was not open to the public but rented out each year for what is reported to have been the princely fee of $15 per season.

There are a few theories as to why the cabin is called Shilly-Shally.

One is that it represents a halfway point along the trail and might be a place where skiers decided whether it was worth going the whole way or turning back.

This would tie into a meaning of indecision but begs the question of “half way to where?”

Shilly-shally occupies a place on the periphery of where Ottawa Ski Club skiers ventured. It seems unlikely that it was considered a significant halfway point along the Ridge Road since skiers would have to ski the entire way back along Ridge Road; plus, in the early years, Ridge Road was still a road—in use by sleighs, rutted and not always the first choice of skiers.

Another theory also relates to a meaning of “unsure” and I like this one better. The NCC only stopped leasing Shilly-Shally for private use two or three decades ago and so there are people still alive who leased it and one of these—Sheila Thomson—has her own tale about why the cabin is called Shilly-Shally.

She and several other teenage girls were some of the earlier skiers using the cabin and what they were unsure about was how to get the wood stove going.

Here’s what she says:

“In the 1940s my father repaired this old ramshackled building that was where Shilly-Shally is now for some of our friends to stay and it was a group of teenaged girls who didn’t know how to take care of themselves; the stove smoked and they didn’t know how to cut the wood. So he called the place Shilly-Shally and the name stuck. It was a kind of pun of “chilly chalet” because it didn’t keep warm.”

The image below was found in the 1958/59 Ottawa Ski Club Year Book and entitled “Shilly-Shally cabin, near Mud Lake.””

So the present cabin is probably quite modern…

Now then, that’s enough Shilly-Shallying around for one day!

The Khyber Pass

Today’s (Tuesday’s) exertions took Sue, Tim and me (Ken and Helen having both gone to work) to P7, Kingsmere, for a sunny 22 km ski, mainly along Ridge Road.

Here, two popular cabins, Shilly-Shally and Huron, are linked by a steepish hill, pictured above, that is known as the Khyber Pass.  It was quite difficult to climb in today’s icy conditions, but a joy to descend later in the day.

Shilly-Shally was host this morning to this lone red squirrel, and to nuthatches, woodpeckers and chickadees (like great tits) on the feeder.

It always seems strange to me that red, black and grey squirrels appear to live happily side by side over here, whereas in the UK the red squirrels are perceived to be an oppressed minority.  Perhaps it’s all to do with habitat.

It was about minus 6C in the Park today, with wind chill taking the temperature to around minus 15C.  However, in the calm of the trees under a warm sun it was very pleasant.  Here, Sue luxuriates in the sunshine shortly before an arduous passage along icy trail 1B, on which we worked up an appetite for lunch at Huron Cabin.

It was really noticeable today how friendly everyone was compared with the weekend ambience amongst visitors to Gatineau Park.  It’s much nicer here mid week, though at weekends you are much more likely to bump into someone you know…

Monday 6 February 2012 – A Short Ski from P3

Just 15 minutes from home, Parking Lot P3, on the eastern edge of Gatineau Park, is just about our closest trail head.  It’s not generally a preferred venue despite the good trails, as there are no convenient cabins for lunch stops.  But today we just wanted a brief bit of exercise to punctuate what is essentially our annual ‘beach’ holiday.  So Helen joined Sue and me for a 12 km saunter from P3, along #5 for a while, then back along Gatineau Parkway.

You can see from the above picture how close these cross-country ski trails are to the centre of Ottawa.  The image below is just five minutes further along the trail, after diving off onto #5, still very close to the centre of town.

So, we enjoyed another sunny day on the trail.  It was however unseasonably warm, rising to around 6C in Ottawa, a record for this time of year.  At least it didn’t rain, though!

Back at home, it’s probably colder, but the season of unhappy news continues.  Dot (my mother) has made a habit of falling over kerbs and is back in hospital recovering from her second hip replacement within twelve months.  We wish her a speedy recovery.  Meanwhile our condolences go to Pam, whose husband Len has died after a long illness.

We are pleased however to hear that John, who I visited on my way to Tyndrum a couple of weeks ago, has been putting ‘Poor Michael’ through his paces, and we also hope that Sue’s aunt and uncle, Rachael and Frank, have enjoyed their own cross-country skiing trip to northern Italy.  They are possibly, in their own understated sort of way, the fittest of the lot of us.  Keep it up, R+F!

Ski Weekend

It has been a lovely weekend in Gatineau Park.  I’ve written more than enough about our recent trips to this area – here – so this year it’ll just be a few pictures and some brief notes.

After our 18 hour journey on Friday, including a two hour delay at Newark and subsequent immaculate views of New York after dusk, Sue and I were pleased to don skis for enjoyable trips with Helen into the Park.  Conditions were gentle – minus 7C on Saturday, minus 5C (but cloudier) on Sunday.  Care with feet meant that last year’s severe blisters weren’t repeated; ‘kill or cure’ cured my knee injury; and Sue’s neck problem didn’t prevent her from enjoying being back on her planks.

Bohemian Waxwings were out in force in view of the header picture, taken on the escarpment above Ottawa, at Champlain Lookout, but the only deer we saw was a carcass.

Ski conditions are excellent, but may not stay that way, so there were lots of folk out this weekend.  On Saturday we parked at P9 and enjoyed a 17 km trip around the Burma Road to the Lookout, and on to Huron Cabin, which was quite busy, as you can surmise from the ski rack shown below.  Conditions for our return to P9 down Fortune Parkway were fast, reaching a steady 30kph in the groomed tracks.  Which is quite exciting!

Sunday saw us squeezing into P16 and taking a 15 km there and back (with 19 km knobs on for me) route down trail 50 to the junction with trail 52, before returning via Herridge Cabin, where Sue and Helen are pictured below, on a somewhat greyer day than Sunny Saturday.  Ken and Michael joined us there for lunch, having set off earlier on a final short (30 km) training outing for next week’s Canadian Ski Marathon, which the rest of us are giving a miss this year.