Edelweiss QC : The Eleven days of Christmas Holidays 2013

What did I go during the Holidays? Not sure other than ski many days at Edelweiss and watch hours of Doctor Who episodes. We also got away for New Year Eve Celebration at Titus Mountain, New York.

Saturday December 21

On the first day of Christmas,
Ullr and MSSI gave to me:
Yodeler, Chute, Trou du Diable, Easy Street and Chemin des bois trails to ski.
A snowing drive after the previous day long snowing drive to and from Tremblant.
A nice -7c and smooth skiing.
One coach off to Newfoundland and the another at Tremblant resulting in me skiing with the U10s.
Great day with the exception of one hour of freezing fog and a young racer being plowed by a snowboarder on Chemin des bois.

Sunday December 22

On the second day of Christmas,
Ullr and MSSI gave to me:
Yodeler, Chute, Trou du Diable, Easy Street and Chemin des bois trails to ski.
Woke up by some ice pellets hitting the window.
No snowplows on Ottawa streets and crazy slow snowing drive after I managed to hit the highway.
A nice -6c and 12cm of fresh snow with a layer of sugar on top with was hard for the U10s.
Freezing windshield and goggles weather turned us into skiing glazed donuts.

Monday December 23

On the third day of Christmas,
Ullr and MSSI gave to me:
Upper Zoomer is added to Yodeler, Chute, Trou du Diable, Easy Street and Chemin des bois trails to ski.
Brushes on Upper Zoomer for the younger kids to brush up on their stance and pole plant while older kids got full gates on Lower Yodeler.
Again nice -7c and awesome groomed packed powder skiing.
So good that I added a couple of extra runs after the training was done.

Friday December 27

On the fourth day of Christmas,
Ullr and MSSI gave to me:
Upper Zoomer, Yodeler, Chute, Trou du Diable, Easy Street and Chemin des bois trails to ski.
Skiers’ Boxing Day…after wrapping, unwrapping and shopping in the last 3 days, it is time for the folks to hit the slopes.
The Strief chair opened for the first time this season, but no extra terrain open.
An 8am arrival for my daughter Morgane’s CSIA Level 1 Instructor Course even if the lifts only opened at 9am.
One coach gone and two were back – Christmas Camp is starting for the whole race program.
Brushes and stubbies on Upper Zoomer and Full gates and hand timing of slalom runs for older kids.
Conditions were awesome in the morning, but I was helping to set the course.
Deep cold as moved in those days, but the cold morning temperature, turned out to blue bird and -7c again.

Saturday December 28

On the fifth day of Christmas,
Ullr and MSSI gave to me:
Upper Zoomer, Yodeler, Chute, Trou du Diable, Easy Street and Chemin trails to ski.
Second day of CSIA course for Morgane, second day of camp for the race program.
Racers skiing GS while younger kids begged me to take them in the “bumps” which was in fact ungroomed mounts of snowmaking on the skiers’ left of Upper Zoomer.
Warm day in Ottawa with a -1c at 7am, temperature hovered around freezing all day.
A very light spitting like on Day 2.
The top of hill was covered with a fog/mist when we left.

Sunday December 29

On the sixth day of Christmas,
Ullr and MSSI gave to me:
Upper Zoomer, Yodeler, Chute, Trou du Diable, Easy Street and Chemin trails to ski.
Morgane passed her CSIA Level 1 and follows in the tracks of her grandfather more than 60 years later.
Christmas camp day two and I’m with the U12s today as we set on Upper Zoomer.

Congratulation Morgane!!!

Monday December 30

On the seventh day of Christmas,
Ullr and MSSI gave to me:
Upper Zoomer, Yodeler, Chute, Trou du Diable, Easy Street and Chemin trails to ski.
Cold -20c and the snowguns are back on Zoomer.
Frozen U10 kids in and out of the lodge a few times.
My whole family is at the hill and Morgane’s season pass snapped in half while training GS with the U16s.
Warmed up to a -18c in the afternoon.

Thursday January 2

On the eighth day of Christmas,
Ullr and MSSI gave to me:
Upper Zoomer, Yodeler, Chute, Trou du Diable, Easy Street and Chemin trails to ski.
Car had difficulty to start when it was time to leave the hill.
-29c makes for a freaking cold day, almost record-breaking, wind chill warning in Ottawa, frozen toes and frostbite at the end of nose to end the day… even if it had warmed up to -24c. Hard to believe that it could be colder than earlier in the week.
We had the hill to ourselves, except for a few brave frozen souls.
The kids trained GS top to bottom on Yodeler on a Polar Vortex day.
Too cold for the radios to function; awesome groomed conditions.
Huge mountain of snow on Zoomer…can’t wait to have it flatten so we can have another run open. There was also limited snowmaking operations on Easter Bowl and Streif for the first time.

Friday January 3

On the ninth day of Christmas,
Ullr and MSSI gave to me:
Mountain of snow on Zoomer are flatten.
The rest of Zoomer is added to Upper Zoomer, Yodeler, Chute, Trou du Diable, Easy Street and Chemin trails to ski.
Another -29c start at a freaking cold day, wind chill warning, frostbite on nose and frozen toes as it warmed up to -25c.
Stubbies slalom instead of full gates due to cold and the risk of breaking them.
As for my body, I thought my nose would fall off.
Incredible skiing on incredible new grabby hero snow on Zoomer.
Snowmaking on Easter Bowl and Strief.

Saturday January 4

On the tenth day of Christmas,
Ullr and MSSI gave to me:
Zoomer, Yodeler, Chute, Trou du Diable, Easy Street and Chemin trails to ski.
Couple centimeters of fresh snow and Slalom training on Zoomer.
Much warmer day forecast gave us a still cold -22c to start and increased wind. Temps managed to crawl up to -14c, but still had frozen toes and nose.
And Mikaela Tommy visiting her coaching brother and giving back to her club and community. Never saw someone ski so fast in a course without touching the gates.
18-year old Mikaela received the rockstar welcome from the kids.

Sunday January 5

On the eleventh day and last day of Christmas holidays,
Ullr and MSSI gave to me:
Zoomer, Yodeler, Chute, Trou du Diable, Easy Street and Chemin trails to ski.
Great conditions and awesome skiing with fresh snow again. You know its good when a World Cup skier skis Edelweiss on fat skis.
People tracking powder when we are setting.
Mikaela was back in the afternoon with her race gear to ski with the club and her dad, Mike Tommy (twice Olympian and Canadian Champion in the 1980s), gave a few pointers to the racers and coaches.
It was a great conclusion to the last day of the Holidays. Awesome snow conditions, awesome skiing by the kids and awesome pointers from World Cup skiers.
And real warm day compared to the last few days; -12c to -4!!!

Last Holidays were real good, but the 2013 Christmas Holidays skiing at Edelweiss was overall the best in over 5 years!!!! The Ottawa region was blessed by Ullr this Christmas, let’s just hope he doesn’t take too much of a break this Winter and keep delivering.

Pictures courtesy of Julie from the Edelweiss Ski Racing Team

U12s on Lower Yodeler

Mikaela skiing the awesome conditions

Maddie U16 training slalom on Zoomer

Adam

Chris

Xavier

Mikaela and her fans!!! You can even see a piece of MadPat in that picture

Support Mikaela Tommy : Make A Champ website

S-Media : Q&A with Canadian Rising Star Mikaela Tommy by C.J. Feehan

FIS website : Mikaela Tommy’s biography and results

Bob and Doug McKenzie : Twelve Days of Christmas
Truly is the Great White North!!!

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Titus NY – December 31, 2013 & into 2014 – New Year Celebration

Celebrating the New Year in New York!!!

Ti..s is the place!!!

Not TIMES Square at the centre of Manhattan, but TITUS Mountain on the Northern edge of the Adirondack mountains a few miles south of the Whippleville near Malone, New York.

In the last days of 2013 I received an email from Titus informing me of their plans. I thought it would so cool. I had skied a number of times on the first day on New Year, but never at the stroke of midnight.

Quote from Titus:

This New Year’s Eve, we’re pulling-out all the stops to ring in 2014 & you don’t want to miss it!

Great food & beverages, LIVE entertainment, nightskiing & much, much more!

Our lifts will be OPEN ’til 1am on New Year’s Day! For the FIRST TIME, you can lay down the FIRST TRACKS of the New Year!

As midnight approaches, you can enjoy our Torchlight Parade down the main slope in front of our expanded lodge & patio area . . .

. . . and, at the stroke of midnight as the last torch goes out, the FIREWORKS explode over the mountain!

The North Country has never seen a New Year’s celebration like this! Join us & welcome in 2014 the Titus way!

It was something that I had looked for New Year 2000, but I didn’t find. Now we were going into 2014 and a family ski area few miles south of the border was going to make it happen. The month of January 2014 was also a personal skiing milestone for myself.

Wait at US Customs on New Year’s Eve

Although I was skiing locally at Edelweiss almost every day during the Holidays, the family thought it would be so cool to drive to Malone, New York. The forecast was calling for an extremely cold night, but the lowest temperatures of the week was pushed back 24 hours making me breath a sign of relief as my youngest daughter had a hard time the previous day at Edelweiss. We hadn’t planned to ski for the whole day, but the last few hours of the year and getting first tracks of the year past midnight was on a “Bucket list somewhere”. We left Ottawa after 6pm to make the 100 miles 2-hour journey across the border. Between the traffic, slippery roads with snow and the cold below -21c, the longer than average wait at the US Border and the odd extremely slow driving individual such as 30mph in a 55mph zone (they were either drunk or never drove when snowing types): the drive took us over 2:40. We arrived shortly after the torchlight parade (which had been moved earlier in the evening) which gave us a parking spot not far from the lodge.

Sign to Titus

Base Lodge

Party in the Base Lodge with band playing some Guns

We walk through the the bar which was rocking with lights and a live band playing stuff like Guns N’ Roses. It was passed 9pm when we got our lift tickets. This was my third trip to Titus: the last one involved us showing up at unfortunately closed ski area during a terrible Spring Break 2012. The only visit which featured actual skiing was in February 2005. Morgane was only 7 at that time and it proved to be an excellent family ski area. It is a 1200′ vertical area with 3 small mountain with a calm atmosphere. The night skiing is limited to two sides of the smaller of these hills.

Ski Map

Ready for some turns

Sunset at the base of Chair I

Chair I

This was the ‘least’ good and the iciest conditions I had experienced in 18 outings so far this season. I have to say that the conditions for the last month have been consistently amazing. It was snowing and there was a nice layer of fresh snow, however the base was slick and firm and would have called for sharpen skis to fully appreciate it. It is true that ski areas north of the St.Lawrence divide hadn’t suffered any real thaw this season, unlike near or south of the border.

A trip to Titus is a bit of travel to simpler time with old lifts, old lighting and quieter trails. I always love skiing at rustic ski areas. The terrain offered to us didn’t add any extra value to make the trip from Ottawa, especially for the night skiing. The skiing isn’t steeper and the vertical isn’t really greater than the Ottawa locals have to offer. For the same distance, you can make it to Tremblant, but you won’t be able to find that rustic feeling, excellent family, quiet and beginner ski area.

Snowing on Chair I

Main Side and Chair IV

Our late evening started with a slow ride up the triple and a descent towards the other side of Moon Valley. Morgane mentioned that the black run wasn’t that much harder than Edelweiss’ green run Easy Street. There was maybe 7 various descents to be skied on this night. The plan had to ski non-stop until next year, but it was a cold night. The temperature was warmer than anticipated with a -14c compared to the -20c it was in Ottawa when we left, but it didn’t stop us from taking a small break to warm up.

Warming up

Fireworks and snowflakes galore

Our last moments of 2013 we done riding the slow double. Certain trails had their light shutoff and the trail closed by a simple chair during the fireworks so we could ski back to the main side from our location. With a few other skiers, we watched the fireworks from behind the chair then heading down the still blackened trails. The darken trails reminded me of night skiing when I was in High School in the early 1980s.

The run on the side of the double chair (chair I) with runs like Whistler, Sunset and Milky West-Ravine Run were more interesting than the flatter main side with chair IV with Milky West, Little Dip/Meadow Run, Chocolate Chip and Ridge Run, however that more remote Pine Run was nice and quiet. The Face was a sheet of ice-covered by small layer of snow. Besides the entertainment inside the Base Lodge, there was also a few people riding the beginner handle tow, in the novice terrain park or at the snowtubing park. A wonderful evening to spend outside.

First turns of 2014 in the dark

Tara and my wife were cold and called it quits for the night with maybe 30 minutes left. Morgane and I closed off our evening until last chair on the main side at 1am. It was a wonderful evening and I could see a better great way to celebrate the New Year and reaching month 100 in the ski streak. I have a voucher for Titus and I might make a return visit when the bigger mountain is open, because 2-hour
is a long drive for this skier to only ski 155 meters (508ft) vertical which is smaller than the hills next door. Still I wouldn’t have wanted to be at another place on this day.

MadPat celebrating the 100-month mark

Happy New Year everyone in the Ski Mad World.

MadPat’s Gallery:
Titus NY – December 31, 2013 – New Years

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Calabogie ON : March 17, 2013 – St. Patrick’s Dual

After a two-day Spring Break in the Green Mountains (Sutton and Mad River Glen), we were back in town for one last weekend of racing for adults and kids. Back-to-back Edelweiss Masters Final and the Final final race in the kids season at Calabogie before everyone get back to school and work.

A very short night for St. Patrick’s Day and Dual race at Calabogie Peaks. Tuning skis to fix Morgane’s race ski from that rock “hidden under powder” damage and a long drive for a very early arrival at the hill. It’s hard getting at the hill for 7:30am when you have more than a one hour drive. Let’s just say that I was pushing it … a bit. At one point, I remember passing a familiar minivan on Highway 17…good, we won’t be last from the club to make it to Calabogie. 🙂

Early morning look at the Dual Slalom Course

It was a cold morning for late March which was a good thing for the race. So it was the usual hurry up to get at the hill and wait type of day. Tara, Mrs. MadPat and I hooped on the chair just prior to 9am and started skiing corduroys run after run!!! We started skiing the long green Ole K&P which is the further run west then started moving right to left on the map skiing afterwards Fiddlers, Buckshot and Shanahan’s. My face and feet were slightly frozen.

Tara and Caroline

Tara going skiing moose imitation

At 10am we headed down towards Face of Tiger; I felt like I was skiing on pre-edge skis. The race start was set below the face. When I found out they was the race start was going to be detailed, I informed Caroline and Tara to continue skiing for a few more runs, because it was going to be awhile before Morgane’s turn. I wanted to set up for some picture of the kids.

The short delay, became longer and longer. We found out that there were a number of athletes that hadn’t preregistered or shown up, so organizers had to sort out the pairing in order to make sure racers skied against someone about the same caliber or not alone. All U14, U16 and U18 were invited to this special end of the year Dual.

Morgane’s first run

Stephen taking off

Adam letting his hand down

Filip heading towards the finish

Nick off the jump

Each skiers would be getting 1 run in each course paired up and race head-to-head in the same competition in a dual format. After over one hour delay to the start, the race was on. I’ve participated in a couple of Dual races in the 1980s and they are always spectaculars. It can be a bit nerve-racking for parents. Morgane started off strong in dual and was running neck-and-neck at one point, then she feel behind and landed hard after second jump, lost both skis and crashed hard with a face plant on the bullet proof snow. 😦

DIN setting!!! The DIN setting is a touchy issue, especially after she broke her leg in a crash when her ski didn’t release. She didn’t have any issues of skis popping off this season, but she didn’t race on Dual jumps either.

I increased the DINs for her second run. The course was getting rough in a few places, especially the gate at the biggest jump and landing area, many skiers crashed or lost their skis. She was more tentative and wasn’t as fast out of the start blocks on her second run. She completed her run and I was proud of her and her season, especially coming back from a major injury. By the time that all the kids got their two runs in, it was already 1pm. The fastest 8 per age categories would move on the elimination round.

The Start

Maddie and the coaches at the start

Shinning icy Face of Tiger and start of the Dual : Maddie on the right

Morgane’s second run

Xavier ahead, but…

…he would get a rerun.

A previous skier was hurt at the finish and Xavier is charging towards him. Xavier would make the Final 8 for the U14’s in the afternoon.

Chris’s first of 8 runs in the day. We would eventually get a bronze once it was all over.

Simon (left) would just make the Final 8 (U16) with this run

Lunch

A close team : Xavier, Morgane and Maddie

Once lunch was over, everyone gather to hear who would get to race in the afternoon. The matching was fastest against 8, 2 vs 7, etc. Two runs, the fastest combined time win and moves to the next round. Got it? Now the time for the maths. Let see…

8 skiers
x 3 categories
x 2 boys and girls
x 2 runs
96 runs in the first elimination round.
48 runs for the top 4.
48 runs for the Final and 3rd place.
Total amount of runs : 192

Rounding it up at one run every 30 seconds makes for a total of 96 minutes, but that is very generous considering the re-runs, race stoppages and rides back to the top. In fact, they were 16 skiers in the U18 category racers either, so…

At the start before the Elimination Round

Maddie (left) is in a tight race in the Quarter Finals

Xavier in the Elimination Round

It was about 2:30pm when they got started and Calabogie doesn’t have any night skiing. To speed things up, the top 4 were getting ski-doo rides up the slope along the 21-25 seconds course. By the time everything was over, the chair was closed. The two 4 racers in the day would have done 8 runs in the course for a total of under 3 minutes in their day, but make no mistake, ski racing is tiring and the were some close calls and a few crashes. The course was pretty beaten up with 192 runs, but it would have been so much worse if it wouldn’t frozen solid in the morning and the temps would have closer to a typical St. Patrick’s Day.

Few racers still racing – coaches and racers waiting for it to end

Snowmobile rides for the racers

Chris racing in the Semi-Finals

B Final, to determine who will get the Bronze. Both skiers are tired at this point. Chris lose his pole at the gate above the jump.

Chris skiing without pole and glove.

Second run of the B Final. Eight run for both of them. The margin was tight, skiers tired. Chris was slightly ahead when his competitor crashed.

The family got a bunch of runs in, Morgane stayed at the start to encourage some of her teammates that made the elimination round. As for myself, I got 6 before the race and only 3 more in the next 6 hours. I might not have gotten many runs, but a did get many pictures from the kids from the team.

The St.Patrick Après-Ski was back in a Kanata restaurant with the kids and some of the kids and parents from the U12 Championship race at Ste-Marie. Celebrating an excellence an excellent season and the last of the early early morning wake up calls.

End of the day and the race season

U16 Podium

Days’ Log

MadPat’s Gallery :
Calabogie Peaks – March 17, 2013 – U14 & U16 Dual

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The Edelweiss Masters Finals : March 16, 2013

After a 1AM arrival from March Break with the last two days on both side of the Québec – Vermont border: it was time to get up real early and head for Edelweiss to work for the Masters Finals. For the second year in a row, I wasn’t in it. Instead of playing with the camera as role of photographer like last year’s Finals at Cascades; this year I had a drill and some gates.

As the previous weekend at Edelweiss, I was working the race. However a Masters’ race is easier going than the U16 Championships. The whole family was out for this one. Morgane and the other U14 and U16 racers were going to forerun the first of either the GS or the Slalom runs. After two days of pain in her knees, Morgane was feeling better. Morgane would have been 3rd fastest girl if she could enter the race. Maybe in a few years? 🙂

To my surprise, the race was being held on Zoomer instead of the initial planed Strief. They were some concern that Strief was going to be real fast with hard conditions, so they was a decision on making it safer for everyone. The conditions were bullet proof. The start was set just above the pitch. Dan also set the course in order to contour problem spots with little snow on Zoomer with made an interesting line for GS and the Slalom. The slalom was going across the upper pitch then lined up to one of the quad chair pylons.

Last year I made 24 runs during the race: this year it was 10 over 6:40. The Masters Finals are always fun: its day time, not freezing cold and dark. After the race people have time to chill or make a few runs before heading inside to the end-of-the-season door prizes.

Instead of repeating Gary’s detailed description of how it went down; I’ll quote the Ottawa Masters Ski Association prez for the most of the rest.

The Edelweiss Finals

Wow! What perfect model for how to run a great race!

The day started chilly, -12.5C by my thermometer. Light clouds and lots of sun. The temp held, climbing only to -8C throughout the day. The conditions were perfect for a ski race. Groomed corduroy, hard fast snow and great viz.

In the morning, the scene was humming. Gates were going up. At the finish hut, they set up score boards, outdoor PA for time announcements, aligning the beam and hay bales.
They set up a corral and then, they decided to expand it. I head Pat say they were doing it for Gary. I piped up and said “Thanks Pat, that’s awfully thoughtful of you” To which Pat replied, “Not you, Fast Gary.” Hmmmm. So I guess that makes me, what? Aahhh, Slow Gary? The Presidents Curse strikes again.

The World Cup points race was on the line. Benoit was leading the series all winter and wearing the yellow bib. But Gary J, with 5 wins in a row was slowly catching him up. By Saturday morning, the deficit was cut to 28 points, which meant Gary had to win 2. It was looking good but then Bob showed up. Everybody knows Bob is strong in the Slalom and he was there to win.

The Ladies division was pretty much clinched by Kathleen and Carmen, but the bronze was still open for the taking. Sarah was holding that spot, but she was out west. Erin was coming back from a soccer injury. Could she do it?

The World Beer Cup Points was led most of the season by Vladimir. He has been training like a madman. As the defending beer cup champion, he was looking repeat with back to back wins. Never been done before. The beer points is the most volatile division, you just never know who’s get it all together and win the 100 points on the day. In this division more than any other, it is never over, till it’s over. Only about 150 points separated 1st from 5th. Would Greg Z or Chris Z step it up? Would Vlad choke on the foam?

At the end of the day, who took it?

This is what happened on Zoomer that day:

Podium GS race Mens / Ladies / Beer Points:
Gold JONES, Gary / DEVOST, Karine / MALEY, Shane
Silver BERNIER, Benoit / CONNELLY, Kathleen / DESAULNIERS, Roger
Bronze SUDERMANN, Robert / HALL, Erin / PACHNER, Martin

Podium SL race Mens / Ladies :
Gold SUDERMANN, Robert / DEVOST, Karine / WISMER, Laura
Silver JONES, Gary / WISMER, Laura / MALEY, Shane
Bronze BERNIER, Benoit / PORTER, Carmen / SUDERMANN, Robert

So Gary won his 6th race in a row in the morning, but finished 2nd to Bob for the slalom. Although Ben made it on the podium for both race, it wasn’t enough to maintain is lead. Gary finished ahead of Ben by one step on the podium in both races.

In the Ladies, past Canadian Masters Champion Karine took a break from being a busy mom to show to everyone that she still had ‘it’ winning both races.

Here is who won what at the end of the year Banquet:

2013 Ladies Champions:
Gold CONNELLY, Kathleen
Silver PORTER, Carmen
Bronze HALL, Erin

2013 Mens Champions:
Gold JONES, Gary
Silver BERNIER, Benoit
Bronze BLEW, Brian

2013 Beer Points Champs:
Gold ZULIANI, Chris
Silver MARTINCEVIC, Vladimir
Bronze DUVAL, Melanie

2013 Dave Gowan Award:
This years award winner is an individual who has been with the masters organization for a few years now and is a stalwart member of the new skool gang – the group of young, fast, die-hard skiers, out to make us grey hair bifocal wearing fuddies wish we were in the bar. He attended 10 out of 12 races. He was one of 4 racers who improved his beer points handicap in both disciplines. His sense of humor and Masters spirit was set when he raced in a Green Morph Suit at Cascades.
The deal clincher was set when he flew home on the Red Eye from Cuba landing at 5AM so that he could attend the finals. Leaving someplace warm, to race in the Finals? Now that’s dedication to the craft! And that’s why this years winner is:
Chris Evans

The staff and members of the Edelweiss Race Club pulled out every stop and delivered an amazing race. The races were set perfectly, started on time. The course crew were efficient and friendly. The lunch was excellent and prompt. The bar party was great. Thanks a lot to JS, Ken, Jonathan, Patrick and the rest of the Edel Race team and staff.

Good Job, Well Done.

I hope you all had a great season and you all come back next year for some more Ottawa Masters Ski Racing Fun!

This was the end of the Masters racing, but my daughter still had one race to go. The following day was another early start with the U16’s Dual at Calabogie Peaks. Another early morning where everyone had to be at Calabogie Peaks for 7:30am for that Sunday race and they are a good 60 minutes from our house in Ottawa. Courage…it is the last race.

Full Slalom Race and Beer Points results
Full Slalom Race and Beer Points

Pictures courtesy of the Ottawa Masters Ski Association

John Irvin, founding members of the Ottawa Masters

Dominique and Sophie at registration. It couldn’t happen without them. Note some of the door prize behind

Shaun Fripp, Canadian Ski Hall of Fame member and one of the founding members of the Ottawa Masters

Shaun and Kim Fripp – uncle and nephew, both member of the Canadian Ski Team at one point (Kim for Ski Jumping at the 1976 Olympics). The Fripp family have been called Ottawa’s Von Trapp Family 🙂

Skis are race ready

Morgane and the other U16 Edelweiss Team Forerunners

The race is about to start with veteran Peter Kunstadt in the gate

Gary J on his way to win the Championships

Combine Alpine and Breakdancing?

Kim looking at the results and repeating the Masters’ Motto : “The older we get, the faster we were

Group picture

Click HERE to see the rest of the album from Ottawa Masters Edelweiss Finals.

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Mad River Glen VT : March 15, 2013 – Hard Luck March Break Part 2

Day two of our Hard Luck too short Spring Break

Ten inches had fallen the previous day on General Stark Mountain. Morgane was sad, she was sitting this day out as her knees were really hurting. She really loves this mountain and hasn’t skied it since Spring Break 2010. Tara’s mind was on the single and nothing else. Skied Upper Antelope then into a one feet powder turns on Bunny’s skier’s left. We repeated for the second run, however we turned on Porcupine this time, but the base was real thin underneath that fresh snow. Isssh, this was not good for the project of future turns at MRG in the coming week (but it got cool again and skiing at MRG made it to April). It was the same program everytime, Tara would ask us if we would get off at the mid, we always said ‘no’ then a push off to Antelope then playing around in the various trail options between Catamount and Antelope. On the lower end, we would always explore the trails more on the Sunnyside.

Tara and Caroline at the top of General Stark Mountain

Antelope

Approach the mid crossover

Bunny powder

Tara had a weird twisting fall at the bottom in Periwinkle Bowl. Her leg hurt, but she ended doing one more run on the double. She wanted to ski on a green run this time as she didn’t want to force her leg too much. At the end of the run, we suggested that she call it a day. It was already close to 3pm anyways. Caroline and I went out to head towards Fall Line. Again there was powder, but the base was real hard as the previous day at Sutton. We didn’t experience it with Tara as we were skiing the lower angles runs, but on the rough and steeper runs, we were being knocked around. Skied a bit of the woods to catch up to Caroline as I was busy taking a few pictures. The lower mountain was done through Upper Glades and Lower Beaver. I was tempted to sneak in the woods, but it didn’t seem like a good idea. Although the base was thinner, the overall ski surfaces was better on the runs we skied.

Beautiful from this angle

Ugly looking uphill – I don’t have twins. Pictures taken on different rides up

Hard base on Liftline with deep pocket

Chute’s coverage was better

Sketchy top on Chute

Woods

Upper Antelope

Antelope Powder

Creamery Powder

Catemount

As the lift were about the closed, the clouds moved it and it started snowing and building the recent snow. The forecast for the following days was also cold, because the base was very thin on the Sunnyside – if it would get real warm, Easter at MRG wouldn’t happen (they made it even further into April). Even luckier since our visit, MRG and the rest of Vermont received even more snow and from what I read, skiing was great.

Bare spots showing on Sunnyside

Double

Snail under Birdland chair

Family inside, Tara is done.

Last run without kids on Fall Line

Glades

Hiking in the snow after the lifts are closed

Quiet inside

Leaving back for Ottawa

MadPat’s Gallery :
Mad River Glen – March 15, 2013

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Sutton QC : March 14, 2013 – Hard Luck March Break Part 1

Hard luck Spring Break.

Bad luck curse for Spring Breaks due to injuries and weather seemed to continue again this March. The week started with two girls and one dad being sick then it rained on Tuesday. I was hoping to make to the Saguenay for the first time, however the fact that we had to be back in town on Friday night made the possibility of this trip less likely.

Our departure for Spring Break finally took place on Thursday morning. The trip was now a combo MRG-Sutton, however after it was decided we were going to leave on Thursday morning, we opted to start it off at Sutton. I wanted Morgane on her new non-race skis for MRG, however I needed to pick them up at Stowe. It made for a morning travel from Ottawa, pickup, mounting skis then skiing unlikely. The decision was to head straight for shorter drive to Sutton and let her use of race skis. Mont Sutton and Edelweiss (MSSI) no longer had an agreement on deals with season passes, so we ended up paying full price … for a Half-day pass. Tara had a free lift ticket with her Grade 5 passport.

Chalet

It was a very late start and Morgane wasn’t fast: Tara and Caroline did one run on the beginner chair. I remember as a young kid, we used to ride that T-bar on that liftline and ski solo. The chair goes slightly higher than the old T-bar. Once they were done we all headed towards the HQS Chair II.

Trying to find a compromise for first run; we skied down l’Alouette. There was a new layer of loose powder on the hard frozen base. For the second run, we skied towards Chair IV and the upper mountain via the steeper Youppe-Youppe. This run used to be one of my favorite’s when I was 7 back in Winter 1973. Everything off the run was really rough snow, ice, grass and ungroomed covered with a nice 15cm of light layer, so it didn’t take long to figure out it was not necessarily the day to explore.

Alouette

Old wooden liftline maze at bottom of Chair II

Youppe-Youppe

Next descente was down on Miracle-Emotion(?) to Chair VII. It was mixed illusion and emotion as they was untracked snow. I could also see Morgane grining as her knees were really hurting. You could see she was in pain, but she wanted to continue to ski. As we were skiing down a nice final untracked pitch, we realized that the base wasn’t as nice and Morgane did some damage on her race skis. The rough surface made my teeth fillings hurt. After that run, both girls wanted a break for food, from the cold, frozen feet and for Morgane’s knees. It was about -10c, but it was humid: it was probably the coldest temperatures we had skied in over 3 weeks. Although we started skiing really late and barely skied 60 minutes, we went in the Chalet 840 at the top at altitude 840 meters. This is a part of Sutton I enjoy: the rustic feel of the on-mountain chalets.

Traverse towards VII

Steeper pitch

Hurting knees and no base under soft layer

Emotion pitch above VII

Rough conditions : Triple-diamonds aren’t open

Sutton has some real fun terrain, but with the hidden hazards buried, we opted for skiing Dynamique straight under Chair IV. There were so nice pockets of powder, no surprise underneath, although the base was hard and icy.

Trying to keep everyone happy, we skied down the long Alleghanys, one of the classic Eastern Townships trails that starts at the top and runs along the Mont Sutton ridge across the top of the whole ski area to finally dropped into the mellower Chair I sector. Tara and I skied the “marginal conditions” conclusion of Alleghanys while Morgane and Caroline better covered trails – this is why we needed to pick up her non-race skis. Signals got mixed and Tara and I skied one more run on Lift I before ending back to the Main Chalet for an urgent restroom break.

Chalet 840

Light powder

Dynamique

Main Chalet

Happy after a day of skiing

It was a short day, but not if you count the long drive. It was a nice little powder day, unfortunately what was underneath wasn’t. After our day skiing, we drove across the border at Richford VT to eventually eat supper in Stowe. Tomorrow, we ski Mad River Glen.

Northern Vermont driving

Stowe food

MadPat’s Gallery:
Mont Sutton – March 14, 2013

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Mont Ste-Marie QC – February 24, 2013 – Speeding past MadPat

I believe this might be a first? For the first time ever, Morgane had more ski days than me at anytime during a ski season. Heading into this Sunday, she was at 25 days versus MadPat’s 24 total. This was her 6th day at MSM this season and she was going to return next weekend for the GS Championship race.

Morgane and the rest of the team left Ottawa early Wednesday to head to Speed Camp. She trained, skied and raced Super G for the last 4 days. This was the Art Tommy race which Morgane missed out last season due to her breaking her leg only 3 days prior to the Camp.

The whole family was up early for this one: MSM isn’t next door. We showed up to the cottage that the team was renting, but everyone had cleared out. I did a few runs with the family including the steep Betsy with Tara. The snow wasn’t slick first thing in the morning, but it was going to change as skiers skied, slide or side-slipped it. Formidable looked icier from the get-go. While I was waiting for the kids to ski in the race, Caroline and Tara continued to make some runs on the Cheval Blanc side.

The kids were using most of the Outaouais trail with its drops, turns and rolls, which is one of the favorite runs in the region. The race was using the entire trail, so to leave the start area you either needed to climb back up a bit for a traverse or do like a I did, bushwhack out towards Betsy eventually.

The race was a super combine in which the 2nd run would be a slalom in the afternoon. Even if Morgane is light and racing on 175s versus the bigger girls on 195s, however her overall results were much better in speed events versus Slalom, especially this season. This was also the case today.

At lunch, Tara had seen two of her friends that belonged to a ski club which bused kids from Ottawa to different hills every weekend. They managed to tag up to each for the last few runs of the day on Vanier, the main side of the ski area. Not as steep and added some variety to the limited runs on the Cheval Blanc side. Once the race was over, I did a few runs on Vanier and managed to tag up with them. Although there was a layer of fresh snow in the morning and snowed most of the day, the snow on scrapped off to the slick side the steeper runs. I noticed a new glade on the Vanier side, but it looked even more scraped off.

Next weekend is the Finals with a return trip to MSM for the GS championship and the first U16 race of the season; the slalom championship. It’s been a busy season.

Morgane at the start

With coach and Caroline

Tara is tired of waiting for the race to start

Caroline

Morgane

Finish area

Tara skiing Betsy

Mrs.MadPat and Tara at the bottom of Betsy on Carousel

Chris

Nick

Simon

Tristan

Skiing across the other side on Frank-Pouliotte

Vanier side within sights

Ski Chalet at the bottom of Vanier side

Afternoon inspection prior to Slalom Run

Start area has been lowered for Slalom Run

Morgane’s slalom run

Chris

Tristan

Nick

Simon

Trails on the Vanier side from the top of Cheval Blanc

Skier on Vanier side ; Cheval Blanc’s trail in the distance

A glade : this is new

The fairly new Sudermann Side trail on the South side with no lift back

Upper Serenade

Mrs.Madpat with Tara and friends on park’s edge

Tara in the park

Podium for the U16 Boys

MadPat’s Gallery:
Mont Ste-Marie : February 24, 2012 – U16 SC

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Timberline, OR – August 29-31, 2006

Tuesday August 29, 2006 9:16 pm

Oh well, who said that Summer skiing was suppose to feel like Summer? 🙄

After a few days of hot weather, the cold air moved in. As I got out of the Lodge at 6:30am this morning for breakfast (no breakfast in the Timberline Lodge until 7:30). Brrr. Definitely not a T-shirt and sandals weather for a quick walk to the Day Lodge (the only place to find breakfast before the lifts started turning) as temperature was in the low 40s. I can’t believe I even debated what to wear to go skiing this morning. Eventually got my winter stuff (pants and jacket). Got ride of the sun glasses and tiny gloves after a few runs because the temps weren’t rising that much. I don’t know what the boarder that bought his ticket before me was thinking. He had a T-SHIRT. After seeing him at top, I never saw him again.

Besides the cool weather that stayed in the mid 40 all day, it was very windy and the clouds eventually covered the area at around noon.

How was the skiing?

Snow softened up at around 10am, prior to that…I could feel the hard surfaces vibrating all the way to the fillings in my teeth. Upper Palmer had only one course set up for ski training for adults (people like me – ie. Masters, etc.). I guess all the kids are about to start school. Skiing was also possible all the way to the bottom of Palmer via one canyon and beyond. The snowpark was open into other canyon, however people had to hike across into the other canyon to reach the lift.

Skiing beyond the bottom of Palmer is still possible with excellent coverage. The snow ends at about 180 vertical feet above the bottom of the Magic Mile chair which is more or less a 10 minute walk.

Here is the forecast for tomorrow…Who said that summer felts like summer. 🙄 I’m here for the next two days then back for Sunday and Labour Day. I was solo today, however my daughter Morgane is probably going to join me tomorrow (not at 7am, but later in the morning).

Tonight: Mostly cloudy with sprinkles in the evening…then a slight chance of showers after midnight. Breezy. Snow level 6500 feet. Pass winds west 10 to 25 mph becoming light after midnight.

Wednesday: Showers likely in the morning…then partly cloudy with a chance of showers in the afternoon. In the north…snow level 6500 feet. In the south…free air freezing level 8000 feet. Light wind becoming northwest 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon.

Mt. Hood from Magic Mile in the early morning.

Getting closer. Skiable terrain as seen from the top of Magic Mile.

Palmer Lift and glacier

The ski-streak guy : 1000+ days in a row and counting

Timberline at the end of the snow

Snowfield from the end of the snow

Timberline Lodge

The snowpark into other canyon.

Silcox Hut at 7,000 feet

People hiking across into the other canyon to reach the lift (Palmer and top of Magic Mile). Clouds moving in.

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Wednesday August 30, 2006 6:44 am

Today: Showers likely north in the morning…then a chance of showers in the afternoon. Morning clouds south…then partly sunny. Snow level 6000 feet rising to 7000 feet in the afternoon. Light wind becoming northwest 10 to 15 mph in the afternoon.

Tonight: Mostly cloudy north in the evening…then partly cloudy. Mostly clear south. Free air freezing level rising to 10000 feet. Pass winds northwest 10 to 15 mph shifting to the northeast after midnight.

Thursday: Mostly sunny. Free air freezing level 12000 feet. Pass winds east 5 to 15 mph.

It’s 33F right now and pretty humid. I just heard that Timberline was closed today, back to bed.

I won’t have to debate much longer.

Late August snow at Timberline

Wednesday August 30, 2006 10:55 pm

Frankontour wrote:

I hope you will have a few good ski days later this week

Yesterday was good, today also. We did a tour along the Columbia Gorge and Multnomah Falls.

We actually got some snow today. The whole family was interviewed by a news crew from Portland who came to do a story about the snow fall.

Skiing tomorrow with Morgane then off to the coast for 2 days. I’ll back for the last two days.

It feels like Winter outside almost here. It was 37c and snowing at noon. (oops, 37F)

Columbia River looking West

Columbia River looking East

Vista House

Multnomah Falls

Wind and Kite Surfers on the Columbia

Columbia

August 31

It was 40F at 7am. Packed powder (okay, it’s a slight exageration), but it wasn’t the hard icy surfaces of the previous ski day. Everything softened up at around 9am. My daughter joined me at 10am for turns until closing. No wind and temps increase fast. Nice sunny day. It was getting pretty sticking at around noon.

Then off to the Pacific Ocean for 2 days. Back to Mt. Hood for September close out the 2005-2006 season and MadPat’s month #12.

Fresh tracks on packed powder. 🙂

Tara and Caroline waiting at the top of the Magic Mile chair. Mountain still a bit white from the previous day’s snow

Snack time

From the top with Jefferson in the background

Morgane at the near the bottom of the Palmer lift. Vertical definately better than the local hills in winter.

Morgane past the Palmer Mid-station. Note on-ramp at bottom of Palmer

Timberline Lodge. Classic ski hotel. Family is waiting on the steps. Morgane and myself resting after our day of skiing while Tara is looking through the binoculars

Ski Map in post from Monday Mad Addict’s Attic : Timberline

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MadPat’s Galleries :
August 29, 2006 : Timberline – Mt.Hood
August 30, 2006 – Hood and Columbia River
August 31, 2006 : Timberline – Mt.Hood

Originally posted starting Tue Aug 29, 2006 9:16 pm on firsttracksonline

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Vorlage, QC – Feb 12, 2006

Back for my second day from 13 days out west.

Skiing with the whole family (Morgane, 8 and Tara, 3 and my Caroline, my wife which I won’t mention her age :o). …only 1300m total vertical today (testing my new watch)… that’s slightly less than one Tram ride at Jackson.

Conditions this afternoon were slick and icing, almost forgot how to ski on this. Marc, if it doesn’t snow soon, i’ll be back next week. 😆 or I should sharpen those skis… probably did some damage on P-Tex point at Snowbird. 😀

Definitely not a packed powder that Anthony found at Sutton.

Originally posted on Sun Feb 12, 2006 11:47 pm on firsttracksonline

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