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#ski

gander22h@diasp.org
Adam Hunt

Speaking of #xcskiing, this was not impressive. I know we have to live with our #skiing interrupted by #ski races like the #Gatineau Loppet this weekend, but I would prefer to see the race be less disruptive to other people and make less of a mess of the environment. WE are there to emjopy the beauty of the outdoors and this makes a bad impression. This was a refreshment stop for the racers, with hundreds of cups just thrown all over the place.

Brings to mind what Lao Tzu said: "Running and racing maddens men's minds".

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gander22h@diasp.org
Adam Hunt

Today's #ski was an "epic adventure" for which @Kathryn Barr gets credit for both the general concept, distance and the route, as well as the choice of starting point. Every now and then she likes to push what we can do!

I should note that we generally ski distances of 7-10 km most of the time, but K wanted to do a huge trip of 21 km and today was the perfect day, as it reached about -5°C and the windchills were about -13 or so, making it easy skiing with no risk of things melting. We also had 2 cm of freash snow, plus brilliant sunshine and not a cloud seen all day long.

The route in #Gatineau #Park was a huge square from parking lot P8 to P9 on the Gatineau Parkway, the past P10 and then the 1000 foot vertical climb over 4 km to the intersection of the Champlain Parkway for a very short break on a bench. From there we started down the escarpment on the Champlain Parkway to the intersection with the Gatineau Parkway, past P5 and back to P8. Total distance was 21.1 km.

This earned us each an ice cream break on the way home. One advantage of ice cream cones at -7°C is that they don't melt!

#skiing #winter #Ottawa #XCskiing

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gander22h@diasp.org
Adam Hunt

@Kathryn Barr and I went up to #Gatineau #Park today to go #skiing and we did #ski 8 km from P5 to up the Champlain Parkway, but conditions were difficult. We had about 10 cm of new snow, which was great, plus there was still snow falling, too. The temperature was just below freezing and the temperature-dewpoint spread was only two degrees, so it was warm and humid, too. We both had periods when the skiing went fine with good kick and glide using Violet Special wax, but we had periods where our skis would ice up, with snow packing hard to the skis and actual globs of ice stuck to the skis as well. This required stopping, taking our skis off and scraping them, or else it was not possible to ski at all. At some points we had to stop every 100 m or so. I have seen this phenomena once before and it seems to be caused by wet snow falling just under freezing and skiing on it melts it enough to adhere to the ski's wax. One of the photos shows the result. I would be happy not to encounter it again.

#xcskiing #Ottawa

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ramnath@nerdpol.ch
ramnath

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#DIAMOND #DUST #SKI #HALO: Ski resorts are great places to see sun halos--rings of light that surround the sun when ice crystals fill the air. Spaceweather.com reader Christian Schartner was skiing at Reiteralm ski resort in #Austria this morning when he witnessed this specimen:

" #Winter has finally returned to Austria," says Schartner. "Today, I skied at -10°C. Several nearby snow cannons created sparkling #crystals, creating the perfect conditions for 'ski halos.'"

Snow cannons were key to this display. Ordinary sun halos are caused by ice crystals forming naturally in high cirrus clouds. Snow making machines create a spcial type of crystal called "diamond dust." These man-made crystals tend to be more optically perfect than natural crystals in clouds, producing extra-bright, extra-sharp halos.

A close look at Schartner's picture shows specks of light in the air. Those are the glittering crystals of diamond dust which make ski halos so beautiful.
https://spaceweather.com/

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gander22h@diasp.org
Adam Hunt

With 27 cm (10 inches) of fresh snow from the recent storm, I headed to to #Gatineau #Park this morning.

I was #skiing on my own, since my #ski partner, @Kathryn Barr is still out of town until Monday night. I don't usually ski the main part of the park on the weekend, because it can get too busy and it it was. There were traffic jams to get into the park and at one stop sign. I started at parking lot P9, which holds 100 cars and by 0900 was half full. When I git back at 1130 hrs it was almost full up.

I skied about 15 km up the Eardley Escarpment on the Fortune Parkway, to the Champlain Parkway and then onto the Champlain Lookout. The skies were clear and the visibility unlimited so the view down the escarpment was good. From there I came back on Trail 1, which was not great, as it had not been properly groomed. From the stone bridge I headed back down the escarpment, which is a fairly quick run.

The pictures turned out pretty well. Many of the shots show the trees covered in a layer of ice from the recent freezing rain.

#XCski #winter #Ottawa

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gander22h@diasp.org
Adam Hunt

Winter storm warning

7:19 AM EST Thursday 12 January 2023
Winter storm warning in effect for:

  • Ottawa North - Kanata - Orléans
  • Ottawa South - Richmond - Metcalfe

Winter storm with significant snowfall beginning tonight.

Hazards:
Snow, heavy at times, with snowfall amounts of 20 to 30 cm.
Rapidly accumulating snow resulting in difficult travel conditions.
Reduced visibility in heavy snow and local blowing snow.

Timing:
Heavy snow beginning this evening and tapering off late Friday.

Okay I am excited! This should get #XCskiing restarted!

#ski #skiing #winter #Ottawa

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