Edelweiss + a bit of Fortune QC : January 25-26, 28-29, 2014 – Back on course

After the bad week and last episode of rain 14-days ago, the awesome 2013-14 Winter was back on track. The Polar Vortex 2 moved in time for the Ottawa Masters to use their no skin suit rule last Wednesday. The temperature moved away from the deep into the -20s just in time for Saturday.

Saturday January 25 : Edelweiss

The Strief ski run opened for the previous weekend, but we were away racing at the neighbouring hills. Prior to the trail opening, Strief had a few big mounds of snow on it which was probably moved after the rain, then it got real cold.

Saturday morning was covered with 10cm layer of fresh snow. As usual, instead of making fresh tracks, coaches were making a fresh course down a steep Streif. I couldn’t believe the amount of snow that was blown at the entrance and in the pitch of a still closed Shotgun trail. I’m taking meters high. A few poachers defied patrollers and ducked the rope or sketched down on the edge of Strief behind the pipes.

Today was the return to awesomeness of our great winter weather with fresh snow, big flakes falling and -6c in the afternoon.

Sunday January 26 : Edelweiss

Our Winter hasn’t been only about the snow, but also the cold spells. A freezing -29c start which would warm up to -18c later in the afternoon. Shotgun mounds of snow were roughly flatten, but I think the trail was still closed and some people were still poaching it.

It didn’t matter, it was a hero snow day on Strief. When it is this cold, snow doesn’t slide much. Hard lovely carveable cold artificial snow on the steep pitch, I could have stayed for hours if it wasn’t for my frozen hands and toes. Morgane was giving her ski lessons, not easy to ski with young kids when it is this cold.

Tuesday January 28 evening : Edelweiss

Another 10cm feel on Ottawa on Monday with continued cold conditions, awesome skiing and -18c. Coaching on Strief again, but with the U10s and U12s for a training evening under the lights. For the three outings in four day, I still skied exclusively on Streif.

Wednesday January 29 evening : Fortune – Back on course (Racing)

So Winter was back on course…now it was time for me to get back on course. Back to ski racing. I’m taking babysteps in Winter 2014 in my return to Ottawa Masters ski racing after a hiatus due to health issues. I’m still not over them and I’ve been skipped two of the first three races struggling with my anxiety. Wednesday was my first slalom race since March 2011. A slalom on Slalom was the order of the evening. I hesitated before leaving the house, however I managed to overcome my demons for this night. The stress level was slightly better than my first race back two Wednesdays ago, but the results were again far from my normal handicap. Skiing at 88%, second last in the Beer Points again. Although the conditions were nice, the course was down to the blue ice layer from the rain event. The skis weren’t tuned, but that wasn’t important, the goal was showing up for the race.

Next race is already tomorrow: a GS at Edelweiss.

Tonight’s Results and Beer Points

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Edelweiss QC : January 12 & 15, 2014 – Potholes of Life

After an incredible stretch of Winter conditions in the Outaouais and all the regions North of the St.Lawrence Valley, the season ran into a pothole.

Rude awakenings or sleeping in

Saturday January 11 was the start of the ski school programs, but Edelweiss was closed. In fact most of the ski areas in Quebec opted to closed on what is one of the busiest days of the season : the first Saturday of ski school programs.

In fact the first pothole of the season which put an end to the awesome Winter streak of packed powder ski conditions was the rain from last Monday January 6 then everything was put in the deep freeze the following day. Round two of thaw and rain came on Saturday January 11 with temperatures around +6c reduced the snowpack and gave us Spring snow conditions for the Sunday.

Sunday January 12

I’m normally not one to complain about Spring conditions, but not in January. The road was also showing signs of Spring with potholes and bumps. The ski conditions were so bad as the roads. My daughter was teaching her first class ever with the Ski school this morning…ironic that she had ski lessons at Edelweiss as a young child.

The temperature this morning was just below freezing and the plan for the day was to train slalom on Zoomer. The only problem was that Zoomer was closed as the groomer was still working at it when the lift opened. The ski patrol wouldn’t let us crossed the line to set while it was somewhere on the hill. What was supposed to be only a few minutes took about half of the morning. In the meantime we got to work on our skiing. The NCO team was also present and managed to set the course in which the patrol was pissed off at us. Eventually we were allowed to set before the trail was open to the public…which was like only 2 minutes before.

There was a small layer of fresh snow, but it was hard to get a clean edge on the firm frozen granular base. Two courses were set up; ours on Upper Zoomer and NCO’s on the lower main part of the trail. Kids from each club were training both. The bonus with NCO’s course was that they had set up a small timing device so the kids could know how they did. Our timing was off, as we decided to train much later due to the fact that it was almost lunch time were the course was set. Like the snow conditions, you have to be able to adapt.

It didn’t take long for the course to become ugly; huge ruts, icy firm base, which sometimes broke through. It was a challenge and the kids had to fight at every moment not to be bounced out. One thing about ski racing, you have to focus on your skiing and on not the conditions. The conditions can suck, but they suck for everyone. The fastest skier win, regardless of the conditions.

Wednesday January 15 – Potholes of life and Masters race

Like a ski season, life has full of potholes. Although I’m still skiing and my ski streak is still active; if you’ve been reading this blog regularly and reading between the lines, you might have noticed that I’ve been fighting with health issues related to stress for the last 3-4 seasons. One of the significant moments that started to affect my skiing was the health scare I got at the first Ottawa Masters race at Fortune back in January 2012. Since that blackout, palpitations and sky-high heart rate and blood pressure, I had withheld from ski racing. This, even after following a series of tests at the Heart Institute. Everything seemed to be related to my increased anxiety levels which was hard to control. I finally hit rock bottom last June and it has been a long continuing fight to try to get healthy again. I’m not traveling like I use to: I’m taking one step at a time. One huge step is to get back into Masters ski racing. I had skipped the first race at Fortune due to my stress level being too high.

This was the second Masters race of the season and the first one at Edelweiss. I had planned to get at the hill no matter what. The goal was to race, but I was going to see how I felt first. No sharpening or waxing, I couldn’t even manage to do it. The stress level increased as I was driving up to Edelweiss to finally reach a high at the starting gate. My heart was racing, my mind was rushing, my body didn’t like it; not the normal butterflies feeling…this was intense and the worst feeling in a long time. My anxiety issue have multiplied the normal race anxiety 20 times. The fact that my last racing evening two years ago ended up badly didn’t help. It was much warmer than I expected as it was just around -5c.

Down the icy GS course on Zoomer and through the finish. I felt slightly better at the finish area. The ski conditions weren’t as bad as feared and it was carveable with good edges. Ottawa Masters racing consist of 3 timed run, the competitor with the best two run combine time wins.

First run was breaking the ice.
Second run was the fastest.
Third run was faster than the first.

The final results of the race was that I won. A first victory in my long road in becoming healthy again. The fastest racer of the evening was series champ Gary which clocked over 5 seconds faster each run. In fact my fastest run was 2.43 seconds slower than my handicap for the Beer Points, that is skiing at only 93% of my pre-blackout racing expectation in GS back in late 2011 : second worst versus his handicap on the Beer Points list.

It was a nice 5 run evening, but they were so important. This was small step to the road to recovery. It was a great evening with a great turnout of 56 racers and there were many new faces since my last race. I expected that my season results will be sandbagged, so I might “win” best improved run at least once in the future? I wasn’t going to make it to the long -23c Cascades slalom the following Wednesday, but I’ll take this small victory and build on it.

The evening time results HERE.

Here is the summary from the Masters’ prez:

Race 2 Edelweiss GS
Another great GS, another great turnout! 56 racers lined up to set themselves up for ridicule and defeat at the hands of the race crew on a course in direct view of the chair lift. Some of you were very entertaining.
This was a picture perfect night. I was skeptical given the R and the warm melt from the weekend, but the temperatures dropped and the snow was fast and hard and held up well. No wind, about -4 or so and that was it.
The crew set up a great course, the finish coral was safe and well protected. Good Job!
Once again the Gary Joneses were at the top of the list. Bod Suderman, failing to show is putting his dreams of a Masters championship in jeapardy already.
On the ladies chart, Erin Hall threw a pair of 36’s narrowly edging Megan by 5/100ths of a sec to win Gold. I think that was the first podium for Erin!
Danielle Avery, a masters newby, took home her first gold in the beer points. She promptly drank her award.

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Hintertux, AUT : August 29, 2011 – Austria’s turns

Sunday: Italy (Passo dello Stelvio)
Last week: Switzerland (Zermatt and Saas-Fee)
Prior weeks : France (Tignes and Les Deux Alpes)

Its Monday and I’m starting my final week in Europe, so it must be time for Austrian turns. My almost 6 weeks stay in Europe is coming soon to an end, like many of the summer ski areas (Les Deux Alpes and Saas-Fee) which closed their summer skiing activities the previous day. The next ski season is close-by with snow having fallen this weekend at Passo dello Stelvio and Hintertux. Austria will see a few more Austria glaciers (Kaprun, Stubai and Solden) to re-open for the Fall-pre-season time.

Hintertux is different from the ski resorts I’ve visited in the pass month. The surrounding valleys and mountains are greener and populated with small rural villages which is the totally opposite from a place like Les Deux Alpes. The first thing you noticed at Hintertux is the facilities are modern. It takes 2 gondolas to reach Tuxer Fernerhaus and the lower extend of the snow at 2660 meters and a third gondola (Gletscherbus 3) to get at the slopes and top at 3288 meters. Each stage has a beautiful lodge and cafeteria and / or restaurant. The last stage gondola climbs towards a jagged Gefrorene Wand peak and you don’t really notice the ski terrain until you stepped out of the top station. There you notice the heart of the summer complex of Hintertux, two slopes almost face-to-face of approximately 200 meters each serviced by 2 t-Bars.

View of Olberer terrain

Olberer T-Bars, Gefrorene Wand on the other side.

Of all the summer ski areas I’ve visited, which is 6 out of the 7 of all ski areas open in late August, Hintertux is the lowest in altitude. The snow quality wasn’t the same as I encountered in the higher ski areas in Switzerland, but the terrain was excellent with a number of runs off two different faces. You could also ski down 628 vertical meters to the lodge restaurant at Tuxer Fernerhaus and take the Gletscherbus 3 gondola back up. Hervé was explaining me that generally in summer, they are more lifts on different terrain open (Kaserer 1 + 2 and Lärmstage chair), however this being the end of August; skiing had retreated to the best quality part of the glacier.

The terrain was pretty steep and snow was hard and icy in some spots. The gondola exits on top of the Gefrorene Wand side which is mostly West facing. We started skiing on the Olberer face where the Eastern orientation facing the sun would make it more edgeable in the early morning. There were a bunch of racers at the bottom of both lifts and they were a few courses on the hill. There were even some race kids from Greece. The snow was firm at first, but became soft after a few runs. Of course, they were the exception where there was no snow on top of glacier and you just hard and / or dirty glacier ice.

There was about 3-4 groomed runs on the Olberer side and the remains of an abandoned snowpark. The vast majority of skiers were training and skiing on that side. When the snow was softer, we headed across to ski the Gefrorene slopes.

We skied down to the longer run from the top of the Gefrorene lift down the chalet for our expresso and beverage break. The trail had a few switchbacks and there was a small stretch covered with rocky chocolate chips just before the melted out terrace. As we drank, we looked on at the major construction around the station which included the construction of new lift.

Lower ski run and lift construction seen from Tuxer Fernerhaus terrace at 2660 meters

Tuxer Fernerhaus (2660 m), construction crane and Gletscherbus 3 station

We headed back up and spent now most of our time on the Gefrorene side. Skier’s right along the T-Bar was as steep as I’ve seen for glacier slopes. There are maybe 30 posts on the side of the top trail indicating the different lanes, however that would have been earlier in the summer. Today, the only course on this side was on the other side of the T-Bar closer to the gondola terminal exit. There was still a dusting of fresh snow which covered the very hard and not always perfectly smooth surface, but we found a few good lines. You didn’t need to ski straight down, you could also follow the trail along between the steep lanes and the rock face which connected with the run to the bottom. There was some mellower terrain for the odd tourists that had rarely skied. The skier’s left part of the glacier was mellower (the southern end of both sides), the other being even longer, passed between each face and lifts to continue lower. That part of become pretty pathetic and slushy and dirty as it got later.

At the end of the ski day, we ended back down for an excellent cheap meal and beer at cafeteria at Sommerberg (2100m) at the top of the Gletscherbus 1. First rate facilities and dinning at reasonable price: not what I expected. We had an excellent two-days in the Tyrol and South Tyrol; today was my biggest day of the trip with 24 runs and 5806m vertical skied mostly 200m t-Bars for 4 hours.

Gletscherbus 3 gondola

Gefrorene Wand T-Bars, Olberer on the other side

MadPat skiing Gefrorene – picture isn’t level

Hervé on the Gefrorene Wand side with Olberer in view

After this meal, we took the one last gondola down and headed to the Gaushaus in Tux, a few villages down. Hervé headed back to Germany as I decided to settled down for a few days to ski on September, write some of these TRs and close out my skiing for 2010-11. I had initially hoped to make it further East pass Lienz to ski Mölltaler Gletscher, the only other remaining summer ski areas to make the list complete, however the extra 200km was getting me further from Paris. I knew what to expect at Hintertux for September turns, I wasn’t so sure about Mölltaler as I had difficulty finding information. After 5 weeks, I wisely decided to stay put and rest and my credit card keep a load off bill which was probably already pretty impressive.

A few days later, on September 1, I managed to return and ski before closing out the trip and return to Paris by train via stops in Innsbruck and Munich :
Hintertux, AUT : September 1, 2011 – last turns and days in Europe.

MadPat and Hervé at Sommerberg

Last stage before Hintertux and the valley at 1500 meters

MadPat’s Gallery :
Tag 32 / 29 August: Hintertux

Ski Log

Ski log detail of skiing terrain : 24 runs for 5806m vertical skiing

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Passo dello Stelvio / Stilfserjoch IT : August 28, 2011 – Sci estivo

How many ski areas are only open in the Summer time?

Taking the train out of Zürich the previous day, my driving through Italy’s South Tyrol to go skiing made it the fourth country in less than 24 hours. The previous afternoon I moved from Switzerland through Liechtenstein to end up in Austria’s Tyrol.

Zürich streetcar

Zürich Hauptbahnhof

Walensee

Schann, Liechtenstein

Tyrol

It was still dark outside when I was waiting to be picked up at 5:30am by a fellow Ottawa Masters Racer. It had been a long walk up the hill from the train station the previous evening, now I was waiting at the side of the street. I was in front of the Pension Can in the small town of Landeck where I had stayed the night when I finally the headlights coming my way. Herve and I were heading for a place called Stifserjoch in Italy, 100km drive and less than 60km south of the Austria border: A Mountain pass which serves as the border between South Tyrol and Lombarby and a stone throw from Switzerland. In fact, South Tyrol was annexed by Italy at the end of the First World War in 1919 and most of the population of this province maiden language is still German thus the two different names for the same ski area (Italian 2011 Census).

I had mentioned to him that I wished to ski most of the seven ski areas open in late summer and that Passo dello Stelvio was on the list:
– Tignes, France
– Les Deux Alpes, France
– Zermatt, Switzerland
– Sass-Fee, Switzerland
– Passo dello Stelvio, Italy
– Hintertux, Austria
– Möllaler Gletscher, Austria

Hervé was now racing in Europe and living in Germany. When I inquired about summer skiing in the Alps, he asked me if I wouldn’t mind the company? We were initially supposed to tag up and ski Saas-Fee and Zermatt together, but the high possibility of rain during that week, hard connections from Germany to the Swiss Alps and cost didn’t make it worthwhile for him to take a few days off work. That decision was wise especially when it rained in Saas-Fee and the ski area was closed on the day we were suppose to meet. We proposed our get together and found a place for me to stay in Landeck on the road from his Bavarian home to Passo dello Stelvio. We would drive back to Austria from Italy and head to Hintertux that evening and ski there the following day.

Early morning in the South Tyrol, Italy

Inside the old town : don’t follow the GPS too closely

Switchback to the top of Passo dello Stelvio

The road up Passo dello Stelvio belongs in the same category as roads up to Alpe d’Huez in France or Valle Nevado in Chile for puked factor. In what seemed like an endless series of switchbacks, we finally made it to the top of the pass at 2760 m populated by a few builders, hotels and tram building. This was the second highest road in the Alps, after the Col de l’Iséran near Val d’Isère which made my oldest daughter puke two weeks ago on my ski Tignes day.

Lower tram prior around 7:30am

I felt better when we arrived at the top and started breathing the fresh mountain air. As we were getting ready in the tiny parking lot, there was already a lineup of racers waiting for first tram. It took two tram rides to reach Livrio (3174m) and the remaining skiable terrain on this late August morning of this warm summer in the Alps. The terrain seemed simple and lackluster at first with the two Geister parallel poma lines running a fairly flat slope. From the tram, you needed to climb downslope to reach the lift. The bottom of the slope was simply ice. Towards the top of the lift, Hervé indicated to turn right at the top and its at this moment that I realized there was more to Passo dello Stelvio liftserved skiing that meets the eye. There was another poma on a steeper side. Coaches were busy setting up a few courses on the Payer runs as we were enjoying some fresh tracks. Yes, fresh snow tracks in August in the Italy. How special is that? The base was somewhat firm, but there were some pockets of fluff. That side of the hill was steeper. After 4 runs on the steeper side, we headed for another poma that was slightly lower.

The Cristallo lift wasn’t running, so we decided to keep an eye on it. At one point, we saw a few skiers waiting and the lift running, so we decided to join them. That lift was on a flatter slope on a different orientation. The poma seemed to have technical issues, but once everything was figured out, we made 10 fast laps in the fresh snow. The poma didn’t have a great vertical, but we didn’t care as the skiing was so much fun. The skier’s right of the poma had a narrow strip with a few fun rolls. On the other side of the ridge from that poma was a huge drop off with skiing destination Bormio within sight.

View of the main Geister slopes from Livrio (3174m)

Cristallo poma

Hervé and Cristallo fresh tracks

Hervé on Cristallo and view of the Payer lift and slope

View off the back end of the Cristallo lift. Bormio is in the other direction

Payer lift and courses

Payer lift and courses. View of the Cristallo poma at the bottom

We headed back and skied down the main slope to the rustic lodge next the Tram terminal with the even more rustic bathroom. Best view from behind a toilet ever. After our food, water & expresso break, we headed back up for some more laps on the Cristallo slope. Once the racers had all gone from the steeper Payer runs and we took advantage from the nice firm edgeable snow for a few last runs. We tried to milk it for extra more runs on the Geister side, but it was 1pm and the closing time. The liftee stopped our day at 27 runs.

Main side (Geister). Livrio at the botton. Tricerone (3050m) can be seen on the left. You could load midway to avoid the flats and ugly snow.

Payer and Cristallo pams at the end of the day

Livrio lodge and buildings. Notice the steep carpet ride to access the lodge. White building on the left is the tram terminal.

Although the skiing is modest, the setting of this place had it special and we had a great day.
I understand why Hervé likes this place. After our runs, it was back down via the Trams to the car at the pass, back down the valley and onto our next destination.

View of part of the road up to the Pass – I can’t remember if this is the toilet view?

Tram between Livrio and Trincerone

Buildings at the Pass

Passo dello Stelvio and Swiss border. The border had a strategy importance prior to the First World War when the pass marked also the border between Austro-Hungarian Empire and Italian Kingdom with Switzerland just above

View driving down to the valley

Ciao South Tyrol

MadPat’s Galleries :
Tag 30 / 27 August: Zürich nach Österreich
Giorno 31 / 28 agosto: Passo dello Stelvio

Day’s Log

Detail log of skiable terrain

The Day and terrain stats: 27 runs and 4137m vertical in about 5 hours including the 1 hour break.
Verticals :
Geister 1 + 2 : 192m (3160-3352)
Geister 2 (from the midloading point): 157m (3185-3352)
Payer : 147m (3190-3339)
Cristallo : 149m (3170-3319)

Tram Passo dello Stelvio-Trincerone : 290m (2760-3050)
Tram Trincerone-Livrio : 124m (3050-3174)
Both Trams : 414m
Top to bottom ski terrain on August 28 : 192m (3160-3352) / early summer potential : 592m

Monday Mad Addict’s Attic features Passo dello Stelvio and includes a ski map of the area

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Camp Fortune QC – January 2, 2002 : Ottawa Masters Virgin

Wednesday Nights has become over the years synonym for Ottawa Ski Masters racing, but it wasn’t the case for myself.

Where was I over one decade ago? I was stuck in a job, often working long hours and not definitely not skiing enough, especially since I started working and moved to Ottawa in the Winter 1995. During that 1994-1995 season, Caroline and I skied a few times around the locals hills, but I was bored. Mind you, I had grown allergic to small ski areas after spending 7 seasons racing for the Université de Montréal ski team (1986-1992). At the end of those years, I couldn’t barely set my skis on hills with a vertical less than 2000′. Once I arrived in Ottawa, I tried skiing local, but I preferred driving hundreds of miles per weekend than skiing here. This attitude, more demanding work, starting a family lead to fewer days on snow and felt depressed. I longed for more time, more quality ski days.

Many Canadians play in Adult Recreational Hockey Leagues, however I only played one year as a kid until I had to choose between hockey and skiing. Back in the Fall 2001, I was surfing on the net on this great website called FirstTracksOnline, which had tons of links. I discovered a link for the Ottawa Masters Ski Association. Read the website and called the contact person. I was informed of the format and invited to their open-house evening at host by Tommy and Lefebvre Ski Shop. Ski Adult racing was just what I needed to get out of the house, get some purpose driven turns and do something else with my life than being stuck at work.

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Fast forward to the first schedule race of the season: Camp Fortune Wednesday January 2, 2002. Heading up for my 3rd ski outings for a third day in a row, 4th day since the beginning of the season on December 7. Skied on the 31th with Morgane and my wife at Fortune and solo daytrip to Tremblant on New Year Day. Skiing on January 1st had become an annual thing, this was the 4th year in a row.

December 2001 had been particular warm with very little Winter in the air or on the ground. This evening would mark my return to ski racing; after a 9 years hiatus, I was going to renew with skiing against the clock. It would also mark my first time with my new skis, parabolic skis: the 183 cm short Atomic Beta Race 10:22. In the past few years, I’ve been skiing on 201cm long old straight Rossignol 7SK slalom skis.

I arrived at Fortune only to find out that the first race was canceled. Regardless the Masters were setup in the bar and selling lift ticket for $10 (normally you also have to pay for the race also which was $15). A great deal no matter how you count it. The GS would have probably been run on Slalom or maybe Marshall (I don’t recall if it was open), but Slalom didn’t have enough snow to open. Not much was open on this warm start to the season.

Instead of racing, a small 10-15 gates slalom course was up in the middle of Clifford, which was actually the side of the part of the open trail. Masters racers were welcomed to ski the course. I got a good feel for my new skis and trying to remember how to turn between gates. Although I had GS skis at 183, these skis were still shorter than the skis I was use to ski on and it slowly came back to me.

I got to know a few of the regulars that evening. As we were riding the quad with Bob and a couple other guys, he mentioned that they were going to move the guns on Slalom next in order to get the trail open soon. I thought to myself that he most work here and that his family are probably owners of the ski hill. It wasn’t until later that I realized that Bob was the owner with his brother, who knew? I found it pretty cool that someone roughly my age owned one of the most important ski areas in the region and actually ski gates with us.

Although I didn’t race on this evening and that my return to racing was postponed to the following weekend at Edelweiss. On this evening, I got to tryout my new skis and break the ice with fellow adults racers on the hill and in the bar afterward.

Fast forward to 2012, we were supposed to have the Masters first race of the season tonight, but lack of open terrain forced us to postponed the start of the season by one week due to lack of snow for the first time since that evening in 2002. This season the Ottawa Masters will be celebrating their 30th year, come out and race. You won’t regret it.

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Mont Cascades QC – Jan. 12 2005 – i love skiing in the rain

After hearing the comments (at work and elsewhere) about me skiing last night, I decided to write a ski report of a small area outside Ottawa (167meters vertical) (approx. 1m=3ft)

Wednesday night, as always, a Masters race was scheduled. This week, it was at Mont Cascades. Last week, the race was at Camp Fortune (same size about 20km from downtown Ottawa). Cascades is located 30km away from downtown.

Some believe the conditions must have been terrible and icy, the only terrible conditions were the driving and weather. Snow conditions are very often great when it’s raining. The weather last night was -6c with Freezing Rain, Drizzle and Fog. An interesting mix indeed.

The base was soft and easy to carve. It’s was a lot fun to ski. Unfortunately the race had been canceled ’cause the part of the hill that had the equipment was shut down for the evening. The word went out late so a few of us never heard it and made our way to the hill. Once there, why not ski a bit. The hill were operating the triple and the small beginner. The other two doubles elsewhere on the mountain were closed. There were 3 runs if I exclude the small beginner one. Amazing conditions, my race wax combination was dead on for once. 😡

Anyway, I had fun, however I had to remove the ice from my goggle each time when I got on the lift AND off the lift. My whole body was like a statue covered in a sheet of ice during the ice storm. I called it quits at 9pm (after 2 hours of skiing), hope everything dry off by next week. 😆

SKIING IN THE RAIN CAN BE FUN:

Need to dress in layers. Have a change of dry clothes in a gear bag including underwear (unless you are using t-bars). If you are wearing a hat, very helpful to have a hood on your jacket. The hood keeps you head dry and warm.

So next time it’s raining and you have scheduled to go… go anyways, you’ll have fun if you are dress properly. 8)

Here are some Great Ski Days I had in the Rain.

Grand Montet (Chamonix) March 28, 2003
Tremblant, April 21, 2003 (closing day)
Alpe d’Huez (near Grenoble, France), Jan 2, 2001.

http://www.montcascades.ca and http://www.ottawamasters.ca

Originally posted on Thu Jan 13, 2005 5:24 pm on firsttracksonline

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

Patrick dit :

Zukatah dit :

Mieux vaut fermer que de rester ouvert et d’offrir des conditions exécrables!

Au contraire mon ami. Conditions exécrables ❓ ❓ ❓

Les conditions (comme d’habitude lorsqu’il pleut) étaient fantastiques, seules les conditions routières et météorologiques étaient difficiles.

Pourvue que tout sèche avant la semaine prochaine 😆 .

Bon comme je l’ai mentionné ailleurs, malgré les conditions météorologiques, le ski hier soir était fantastique. -6c et verglas/grésil.

Comme tout les mercredis soir, je m’alignais skié (beau temps, mauvais temps) avec les OMSA (Ottawa Masters Ski Association) (www.ottawamasters.ca). La semaine dernière la course était au Camp Fortune, c’était un peu plus loin cette semaine (30 km au lieu de 20km).

Les conditions routières étaient difficiles, quitter Ottawa à 6 heures n’est pas évident en plus de la météo. Surtout qu’il y a quelques grosses côtes avec des virages en bas pour se rendre au Mont Cascades. La station est située à 30km du centre-ville et à 167 mètres de dénivellée.

En arrivant à la montagne, le stationnement avait environ 40 autos, mmmh, “les Masters vont être les seuls sur la montagne ce soir”. 🙄

Hé non, à mon grand désarroi, la course a été annulée pcq le côté de la montagne avec la piste de compétition, les piquets et chrono était fermé. Seul le triple et la chaise double pour débutant étaient ouvertes: 4 pistes ouvertes. Plusieurs autos appartenaient à un groupe de ski qui avait des cours. (et oui, j’ai téléphoné la montagne avant, mais la décision a été fait après 4h30 😡 ).

Au lieu de rentrer chez nous, j’ai décidé de m’habiller et skier. Comme d’habitude, les conditions sont superbes lorsqu’il pleut. La base est ramolie, aucune plaque, c’était très agréable de tourner 😛 . Et la météo…

Verglas et grésil pendant les deux heures que j’étais sur les pistes, je n’avais pas de lave-glace pour mes lunettes, je devais donc gratter vigoureusement lorsque j’embarquais sur la chaise ET en débarquant de la chaise 🙄 .

Important chose à savoir lorsqu’on va skier sous la pluie/verglas. Amener beaucoup de vêtements de rechange (bobette inclus à moins qu’il y a seulement des t-bars). Mes vêtements étaient recouverts d’une couche de glace, c’était beau à voir, on dirait que j’étais une statue durant la tempête de verglas. Autre note importante, avoir un capuchon si on skient avec une tuque, car ça protège vraiment beaucoup de l’humidité et du froid.

Dans l’ensemble, superbe soirée, la meilleure des trois que j’ai eu à date. Pour vue que mon linge sèche d’ici samedi. 😆

Voici d’autres journées de ski mémorables sous la pluie:

#1 Grand Montets (Chamonix): 28 mars 2003
#2 Tremblant: 21 avril 2003 (dernier journée)
#3 Alpe d’Huez (près de Grenoble): 2 janvier 2001

DONC, N’AIEZ CRAINTE, SKIER SOUS LA PLUIE PEUT ETRE AGREABLE.

Le problème est après la pluie 😕 .

Initialement affiché le jeudi 13 janvier 2005 – 12:51 sur zoneski

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Edelweiss QC – January 14, 2009 – Chill night

Skiing on Velvet! \:D/ \:D/ \:D/

Just a simple TR just to say Wow!!!

Simply amazing groomed conditions. P.P.P.C. (Perfect Packed Powder Corduroy) on the two different runs I skied. Mind you the temperature was -26c in the morning with -39c windchill; the hill will remain in great shape as we received a bit of snow earlier in the week.

First race of the season, when I turned into the parking at 6:30pm it was a nice -28c.

Did maybe two warmup runs down Zoomer, the usual run for our race. Tonight we had a treat, the GS course was set on Streif.

The racer in me = :drool:
My back injury = 8-[

Streif is pretty impressive trail for a recreational racer. Fun course.

One run for course inspection and one run free ski followed by my 3 timed runs. Not a single patch on ice even on the steep pitch, way better conditions than last Sunday a few miles south at Cascades.

No speed suits for tonight, but a few of us removed our big coats in order to impress and play mind games with our opponents. 😆

3 straight runs without a jacket, just a vest. Back to the top to get my jacket, I was about to get back on the HSQ…but I decided to call it a night for my toes (starting to freeze) and my back. In the bar at 9pm (for the awards and door prizes 8-[ ), got home at 11pm.

Satisfied of my night overall (times could have been better, but with the lack of skiing and back issue), my time was improving every run. Paid a beer for 0.23 slower than my rival. I was a bit stiff at first, but the back survived. Iced it when I got back home.

So for those keeping track, that’s 2 hours, 8 runs x 200m with 0 powder. \:D/

Ottawa Masters evening GS results

From the Ottawa Masters:

Speed Suit Rule
When the ambient temperature at the time of registration drops below -20 C, the use of speed suits shall be banned. Dress warmly. Women, however, are still encouraged to wear speed suits in the bar after the race.

Race Cancellation – Weather
Race will be cancelled if, at 15h00 on the day of the race, Environment Canada posts an ambient temperature of -28C (or lower) either at the http://www.weatheroffice.com web site, or at the 998.3439 info-line. It is the responsibility of the racer to check these sources on race day – Chances are Gary might not be able to post a cancellation notice on the web site by 15h00.

I wasn’t sure if the race was going to happen, notice Vorlage didn’t have any nights. Camp Fortune had lights also, I couldn’t really see Cascades on the drive up. I saw that Edelweiss didn’t opening the following night.

Originally posted on Thu Jan 15, 2009 5:01 pm on firsttracksonline

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Edelweiss, QC – March 22-23, 2006 – Night Skiing

Quote from Spensar

Patrick, in the Killington thread you said you skied last night. Was that local? If so, how was it.
I was out Wed. of March break and Strief was knee destroying washboard concrete with virtually no snow on it. The blues had a bit a snow that let the kids have some fun. Has it softened up at all? Even have a granular layer over the rough ice?

So the question was asked in the Laurentians thread:

I had a race last night on Zoomer, but Strief was beautiful. Conditions were fast but not so hard, however one of the reasons was the hill was virtually empty last night and Strief is often over look.

The bottom of it still had corduroy at 9pm when we started skiing it after our race. I’m maybe going back tonight for a couple hours (I have a night pass which I rarely use and this is one of last nights).

For those who are wondering where are we talking about? EDELWEISS outside Ottawa (200 meters vert only 35km away from downtown).

HOWEVER the conditions are changing fast (this would apply to the whole Laurentians). I skied Wednesday evening at Edelweiss and went back last night. While the conditions were fast and firm (not hard) on Wednesday evening, last night was a different story. The weather is changing and temps last evening were above freezing (+1c) after a day at around +5c. Snow conditions was corn and soft, the only firm spots were a few patches of ice (steep Strief pitch). Other things that I didn’t notice on Wednesday was a few tiny bare spots that had popped out, not much but the snow depth in certain places isn’t very far. Yes, the Strief pitch was still hard and icy compared to the overall conditions of the mountain.

Conditions and coverage is going to change quickly as the forecast for the weekend calls for temps at around 10c. Local skiing in Ottawa probably only has 2-3 weekends left.

Ottawa Masters results for the Wednesday night: Results

Data Log for the Thursday night:

Originally posted on Fri Mar 24, 2006 3:08 pm on firsttracksonline

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