Road Trip To Florida

March 24th, drove down to Florida in 2 days to pick up my Mom and bring her back home.  Stayed until Tuesday, March 29th morning and made it back to Ottawa on Thursday night March 31st.  Roads were in good condition and traffic was freely flowing and my Mom is a great travelling companion.

2nd Snow storm of the season

yeah...another 30cm fell yesterday.  By mid-afternoon, the plows had cleared the streets.  Tody, the ski trails were in excellent condition.  So, I broke my usual habit of always following trail #1 and tried trails #3, #7, and #5.  But at the end, the snow was fresh and thick, I circled back and did #1 anayway to finish off the day.  My previous videos have all been about going downhill...but in order to go down, one must first go up.  The trails are normally rising slowly, but there are a few places, where skiing is not possible...and the only way to get up these steeper sections is to duck step up. So, today, I have taken a short video of what duck-stepping looks like.  Also, one of my Rossignol x5 ski boots cracked after 14 months...unfortunately, the warranty ends after 12 months.  It's not leaking, and it's still warm and comfortable...so, I'll stick with this pair until a big sale occurs.

Katherine Flies the Coop

On Jan.24th, Katherine rented a big van which we loaded up with her stuff and helped her deliver to her new apartment which she'll be sharing with her friend, Jen.  It was probably the coldest day of this winter, but all went well.  So, now we only have Jerome with us in the nest and two spare bedrooms.

Cross Country Skiing at Mont St Bruno again

Another 4 cm of snow fell yesterday, and the trails were all regroomed this morning.  So, the conditions were excellent today...so much so that Katherine conquered trail #1 without once!

Mont St Bruno - End of Trail #1 - Jan.19.2011

Trail #1 at Parc Mont St Bruno is 9km of mostly slow climbing, but the last bit of the trail is the best part as it is all downhill.  The little bit of fresh snow today made the trail very easy to negotiate...so, I took a chance of descending holding the camera and, thus, without the support of my poles which you can hear dangling from my wrists as they scrape along the trail's surface.

Return to Mont St Bruno again

We went back to Mont St Bruno again, and Katherine decided to join us.  Temperature was -19 deg C, so it was pretty frosty, but the trails had been regroomed this morning and were in very good condition.  Also, because it's Monday, there were not too many people on the trails today making for a more peaceful experince than yesterday.

Parc Mont St Bruno

The St Bruno trails finally re-opened Jan.16th after a two week closure.   Michele and I decided to take advantage of this long sought opportunity.  It was good to get back out on the trails.  Because it was a Sunday, and because everyone in the area had been deprived of the trails for such a long period, the trails were VERY busy.  After returning home, we set a nice apres-ski fire to warm ourselves.