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.

Rink care begins at home

As with so many things in life, outdoor rec brings with it a host of grasshopper/ ant issues. Tuesday was an ant day, flooding the rink. I finally filled the giant sinkhole in the far corner. Much less uphill skating now!

Wednesday

A return to Gatineau P6, an old favourite. I often skiid here at night last year, so a daytime turn was like a whole new discovery. I also realized how short the trails off here are– I must not go very long at night. In 2 hours I did all kinds of loops, exploring each trail I crossed, and winding up at Pink Lake.

-20-what-now? We love it. Oh, the torturous first five minutes as your body warms up, and your mind tells you, this isn’t going to work!

Saturday was downhill skiing, and Sunday was snowshoeing with the kids, all at Tremblant. Unfortunately, no pictures from this era survive! But I’ve discovered that the two hours the kids are in lessons is just enough time to get to the top, bomb CBC, get one run off the Expo chair, and make it back up and over.

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.

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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?