I always look forward to spring weather in Ottawa, in April and re-living it again in May, in Labrador. During April after the racing action wraps up and it’s the “official” month off, some skiers might feel the need to flee south after a long cold season. Well that just isn’t my style. I much rather spend what I think is usually one of the best months in Ottawa (weather dependent of course) doing spring like stuff. This includes scrounging the last bit of skiing in the Gatineau Park. Some epic adventures were had, for example see the link for the Perimeter Ski of the Park Video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKP5USwx5SY). It’s also a good time to celebrate the end of the season with skier friends before some of the team splits for the summer. Lastly, when the snow is gone it is time to break out the road bikes and mountain bikes for some big days. And oh yeah, I forgot to mention I pounded out a few university exams there one week in between it all! That tends to be a pretty big part of spring for a student skier and another good reason to stick around.
So that was spring #1 – Here is the highlight reel:
Ottawa's finest spring skiing, blue sunny skies and great pond crust for those "ski anywhere you like" adventures. This photo also honors Matthias and Colin who are departing from the Chateau Claymor (possibly one of the best skier houses in the Ottawa region). MIA from the Chateau is Lee but I would never leave my good buddy out!
Here he is! A great shot from the Camp Fortune Nordix Sprints. That event was a great idea and ton's of fun despite some pain.
On to some road riding. This is the "BOOM POSE" and was adopted and perfected by the one and only Adreezy Marchand.
Me and my new ride. Another successful shopping trip at Fresh Air Experience! Those guys are awesome.
An epic day to say the least was when myself, Andre and Matthias loaded up Andre's Car for a trek out to Kanata Lakes. It was a pretty intense muddy ride and a good send off from the guys!
Now it was time to split from the Ottawa scene and return home for a summer of work and ski training. I must admit, I felt pretty foolish walking into the Ottawa airport with a big winter jacket in one hand and skis in tow in the other. But leaving the airport at home, my jacket was no longer in my hand. Neither did I know a small dash-8 plane could manage time travel because when the plane landed and I got off it felt like mid winter.
Spring # 2 - Here is the highlight reel thus far.
April 28th. Freshly groomed tracks and bomber Corduroy!
A section of the local downhill. I may or may not be practicing here for next year Nordix Sprints. Either way, I decided to fully mount my bindings and put all of the screws in, just in case...
At this point some good ol shorts and t-shirt skiing seemed pretty far away...
But here on May 4th, were getting a little closer!
A rather large day in the Big Land! The snow takes quite the hit with this kind of weather.
I know I am not the only one in the country enjoying some spring skiing right now but this is just a tribute to those of you who can and to those of you who wish you could!
We are now in week 1 of the new ski season, its time to get back into the routine of training and planning workouts day in day out. It was a bit of a shock but I think the motivation is there! I even kinda look forward to my second melt-down of the year and re-breaking into some trail running and mountain biking amongst other dry-land ski training.
Happy Training Skier Friends.
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