#skiing
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!
Another fairly good #snowstorm in #Ottawa last night and into today. I measured 18 cm of #snow so far. This is going to make for good #skiing.
@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.
Ski Trail Conditions In Gatineau Park
Now this is the kind of official report I like to see!!
Last Updated - January 16th 2023, 8:30 am
Note - The trail conditions are beautiful.
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.
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!
#Skiing today with @Kathryn Barr in #Gatineau #Park. This was our fourth ski and our last for a while, as we have a week-long melt coming up, with temps as high as +9°C coming. Today we skied 14 km from P6 at the Mackenzie King Estate to the intersection of the Champlain and Lac Fortune Parkways and back. It is quite a climb on the way there, but much faster back!
These photos are from the second day of #XCskiing in #Gatineau #Park today for @Kathryn Barr and me.
We did about 10 km on the Gatineau Parkway at about -1°C (30°F), which is once again fairly warm for skiing. We have a big storm coming later on tomorrow, which is expected to impact skiing. Not sure if will put a halt to it or not, as that depends on how much rain vs snow we get.
So it looks like this will be really and for truly our last ski of the winter, as we have a serious thaw arriving tomorrow and +14°C forecast by midweek. Today was #ski number 21 in #Gatineau Park on Trails 50 and 54 to Lusk Cabin and back for 8.4 km. The temperature was -5°C with a windchill of -13.
With the season coming to an end, and this being a Sunday, the Trail 50 start point at P20 was busy, but everyone headed in different directions and Trail 54 wasn't very busy.
