Calabogie to Ottawa. The Gatineau hill are much closer and just north of city. Source: Google Map
Logistics & The Drive:
Having two kids in the race program and one car can be challenging. Morgane’s first race of the season at one hill in Ontario and Tara’s ski program in Quebec. Two girls skiing at the same time in two different provinces.
My wife was keeping the car and driving Tara to Edelweiss for her race program. Caro, Morgane’s co-racer had sleepover were getting to Calabogie Peaks with the coach. Wife dropped them off in Bells Corner on the edge of Kanata at 6:45am. There was no room for myself, so I ended up leaving with another parent and their child. Tristan’s mom arrived at our house at 6:55am; the coach had about a 25 minutes head start, but we heading up arriving at Calabogie virtually at the same time thanks to two plows. There were a few centimetres on the ground and the Queensway was covered in snow. Once we reached Scotiabank Place, we started tailgating behind one hundred cars from the edge of the city on the two-lane 417 until we reached Arnprior.
Logistics & The Race Prep:
Everyone had lost much snow during the week’s rain. Calabogie was hosting the first U16 race of the season and they were holding on the steep Face of Tiger that apparently was bare of snow at the end of the thaw. The temps had just drop maybe 24-36 hours before and the Peaks blew all day Friday so they could cover it and race on it. On the morning of the race, the hill was cover, the crew started setting up the safety netting. There was some concern on our hard the base would be.
I remember skiing that face a few years ago and it was pretty vertical, but they blew so much snow that it made more sustain pitch. There was even a crevasse on the side.
Artificial snow glacier and crevasse
Skiing & Racing:
As the kids and coaches were going they stuff, I enjoyed little fresh untracked turns on High Fall or later in the day on the black in the middle of nowhere Buckshot. There were a few nice steep line with a few covered hazards on the middle of the Face. I skied mostly on the tight side of the Solar quad.
There were a couple of firsts for the club’s 6 kids:
– First race since her leg injury for Morgane.
– First ski race ever for Tristan’s first race ever; he used to be a hockey player. Started at the end of the pack, he impressed a few people wondering where did this kid, who was ripping the course, came from (his dad is a ski school director).
– and maybe the first finish in a U16/K2 slalom for Simon.
Nick’s would complete his 1st run
Second last to start in the 1st run, Tristan had to deal with ruts and he was flying
Barrett Chute and Face of Tiger
The course was hard, technical and was getting pretty chewed up with resulted in a high casualty rate. Only 2 of the 6 kids completed the race: Simon and Caroline who generally had difficulty finishing their slalom. Caro had a nice placing also.
Nick, Morgane and Tristan straddled or DNF their 2nd run. Regular strong skier Chris DNF in the first run and straddled in the 2nd. Only a two-thirds of the girls and half of the boys survived managed to complete the race.
Morgane above the pitch on 2nd run
Simon’s was his way to complete his 2nd run
Buckshot at the end of the day
Morgane came back with Tristan’s mom and me. Tristan and Morgane were passed out on the back seat. Regardless of the results, it was good to getting one start under their belts; I felt especially that way for Morgane. Tomorrow is another day, another distant race from Ottawa (Ste-Marie) and another discipline (GS) plus I’ll have the car this time. Although it was -1c and snowing today, forecast for overnight is rain followed by a deep freeze.
MadPat’s Gallery:
Calabogie Peaks ON : January 19, 2013 – U16 SL
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