Tuesday

A cross country ski along the Gatineau River rail tracks. The only flat land around, perfect for a skate ski.

Wednesday

A little road running action.

Friday 

A Friday afternoon playing hooky Board Meeting with an important associate at Camp Fortune. 

Saturday

Neighbourhood trail hike with the kids.

Sunday

Another family hike on our neighbourhood trails.

Monday

A PD Day, I took off the end of the day to take the boy for a ski at Camp Fortune.

Wednesday

Monday

Perhaps the first day that felt like spring; the melt had well begun and it was almost warm for a trail run. The snow was still deep, and a foot off the packed line meant a quick knee-deep burial.

I entered a creekside valley, and the steam came off the water and enveloped me like a tropical jungle.

Good Friday

A final family ski weekend at Tremblant.

Saturday

Competitors in costumes or pure skivvies attempt to run the pool. Some make it.

A successful polar bear swim at Lac Mercier! Note the ice floes.

Tuesday

A first walk on my newly bare backyard trails.

Friday

Trail building in the backyard.

Saturday

A quick first spin of the Spring on the backyard trails!

A season’s passes

Sunday

A family hike in the neighbourhood trails. Yes, that is a dress.

Tuesday

A XC ski at Larrimac Golf Club with my boy.

Wednesday

Another Larrimac xc ski, with both kids.

Friday

Blackcomb. A 40th birthday present from my wife, including a surprise appearance by two of my brothers and their families.

7th Heaven: Go to Heaven, ski like Hell.

The wife on the Sudan

Saturday

Major powder on Whistler.

Sachs family apres ski

Sunday

A birthday present from my brother: Whistler hell-skiing.

Brother Matthew avoids decapitation, once again.

The pick ups were the most exciting part

Tuesday

Back home. And back to Gatineau Park P6, for perhaps the last ever skate ski on the old Peltonens?

Keogan shelter- a good place for wine and sup, but not this time.

Saturday

Tremblant with family and fog.

A Sachs parade of big turns and pizza slices

The girl stretches

Sunday

Tubing St Jovite

Monday

A trail run on the neighbourhood trails. This is March 17.

None has ever returned from a Parc Gatineau wormhole.

Sunday

An old friend’s wedding took me to Puerto Rico. At Rincon, where the wedding was held, I got to try some SUP board surfing. No actual standing up or surfing occurred.

Monday

Surfing San Juan’s La Ocho beach.

 

Saturday

It’s been a quiet few weeks with some pressing work, so I haven’t gotten out much, but there’s always some action on the weekends. First, a family snowshoe in the back yard.

We followed these tracks. They appear to be dinosaurs’.

These two pictures are of the Witch’s Tent. According to legend, I saw a witch showering here. Instead of destroying me, she gave me a golden chocolate– and disappeared. We do not know if she is a good or bad witch.

We always approach the Witch’s Tent with caution.

Enough light after the snowshoe for a skate.

Sunday

A family ski. My girl is now a solo artist. And my back thanks her.

Preparing to inaugurate the Rink-to-Road Run. Single diamond.

Me and my Pelties

The start of my 20th season with my Peltonens, at the Gatineau Park P7. I got these in grade nine when I joined the XC ski team and first learned of skate skiing which had only taken over in the previous few years. These skis were sold as a kind of hybrid and for many years I used them for both skating and classic just by changing the wax. Good old Pelties. They may not be long for this world.

Ottawa and the Ottawa River from the lookout, with the Gatineau RIver visible to the left.

The first skate ski of the year is always a struggle. I didn’t fall, so I’ll take that as a victory.

Tuesday

And topped off with a few hillsprints in the home stretch.

Thursday

My first night xc ski of 2014. From P16 in the Park, this was a brilliant little trip with my big brother. This picture is a trail intersection. I love night skiing. You really feel like the woods belong to you, and it drives home the beauty of this sport: our facilities are open 24/7. Ski at your own convenience.

Saturday

A family snowshoe in the backyard.

Rink maintenance.

An afternoon family xc ski along the Gatineau River train tracks.

Sunday

Monday

Freezing rain put a shell on all the beautiful powder we’ve gotten, but there’s always a sport to match the conditions. This time snowshoeing.

I went out for a half hour, but stayed an hour and a half, once more, completely lost in my backyard woods as the sun goes down.

Tuesday

First cross country ski of the year, getting reacquainted with beautiful Gatineau Park in wintertime. I took a trail near my house I’ve taken a dozen times, but somehow found this short trail stub that brought me to a lake lookout I’d never seen before. This is (one of) the magical attributes of Gatineau Park. You always find new things.

Halfway into my ski I crossed the groomer, and had this beautiful cream to ski the downhill return trip.

.

Thursday

One of my favourite times of day to be out in the woods is late afternoon/ pre-sunset, when the sideways light casts great shadows across each scene, with random details highlighted. There’s a kind of magic to it, especially off trail in the bush where the sunlight comes through in 3-dimensional blocks of light. Thursday was quick and beautiful xc ski.

I cast a long shadow in the Parc.

Saturday

Rainy day of downhill at Mont Tremblant. The kids were in lessons, so we couldn’t miss the chance for “free” skiing.

Sunday

Sunday was a day of rest. Of a sort. A family xc ski along Lac Mercier (Mont Tremblant)

The January thaw leaves a hockey net wet and lonely. A Sutter-esque commentary on the state of the game in Canada?