Beaver Tails Nordic Ski Club

If you are like me, you look forward to a weekend away because it is like a mini holiday. But you have the stress of getting all your work done before you can leave. I of course have to add some extra stress because I like to leave before traffic on the Champlain Bridge builds up. In Montreal, on a Friday, that pretty much means you have to leave before or shortly after lunch!
What to pack? Of course that is stressful too. You bring clothes to cover all ranges of temperatures from -20 degrees C to plus 5 because the weather gurus said temperatures were heading south over the weekend. Then, because of possible poor conditions, Orford did not get a lot of snow over the week and they reported that trails had not been groomed, we had to pack the snowshoes. That meant digging out the hiking boots and hiking poles and getting out some different clothing to handle that sport. Good thing we were not flying because we would not have made the weight cutoff for checked luggage.
Finally we were ready to go. Travel down highway 10 was light. Once we arrived there was the stress of where to go for dinner. Lucky for us the weekend organizer came to the rescue. Arthur G., who gets my vote to organize this event for next year, contacted everyone who had arrived to ask if they were interested in the local St. Hubert for dinner because he was going to make a reservation for 6:30. Now it was not his fault that we could not find a place to park nor was it his fault that they claimed they never got the reservation. Anyway, again thanks to Arthur, they found us a place and fed us. Amazing how stress leaves the body once it is fed!
Saturday morning is the real start to the weekend. Never mind the 8 am starts we normally have, you can sleep in and then enjoy a nice leisurely breakfast with fellow skiers and over that second cup of coffee decide what trails you will ski. One of the benefits of choosing this hotel was that it was just 10 minutes away from the cross country ski center and that was if you drove at 10km/hour and waited 5 minutes at the gate to get your ski ticket!
For Beavertails weekends, no matter where you go, there is always this excitement/stress at breakfast regarding the trails and ski conditions. People try and sort out who is doing what and when and how. Fortunately for us, a scouting party had skied the day before but unfortunately for us, reported back that conditions were not good on Friday – un-groomed wet sloppy trails. Overnight, with dropping temperatures, the parking lot at the hotel was nicely frozen over. So, many of us concluded that there was no point in hurrying out to the hill! In fact we felt the longer we waited the more the ski center would have a chance to groom the trails. That second coffee tasted pretty good.
Now there was no memo or email circulated but the majority who breakfasted (i.e. everyone except 2 people) had the impression that we would plan on meeting up at the ski center at 9:30 am. Now in typical Beavertail fashion, that meant some would be in the parking lot at 9:30, some would be ready to ski at 9:30 and still others would do their own thing and get there whenever they pleased. How two people out of 29 heard 8:30 ready to ski we will never know. We even had some non-weekenders join us for a ski on Saturday so it was a good thing we did not start out at 8:30.
Once on the trails, it would appear that cross country skiing has a calming effect on Beavertails. Once it is determined that the trails are not only in good condition but the weather and wind are also cooperating the stress magically disappears. There was not a single person who was disappointed with the conditions. The realization that we did not have a 1 hour 45 minute drive home after skiing was icing on the cake. It was a mere 10 minutes – if you count the stop at the La Cordee tent to look at their waxing techniques. Almost everyone skied a bit more than they normally would. Many headed out to the trails in the Jouvence sector. One Beavertailer even hit a personal best and did his longest ski ever (congrats Tom V.).
Now some Beavertailers had to hurry back to the hotel because they had booked massages. We humans are strange creatures. Is there any other species that rushes around so they can have an unwinding massage?
For the rest of us, we meandered back to the hotel and rested until it was time for the wine and cheese. Bob L. did not disappoint us as there was plenty of wine for us to sample. Yes, stress here too! He brought different kinds to try!
Honestly it never ends. Dinner was next and our super organized organizer helped us out again. Arthur G. knew full well that after imbibing on Bob L’s alcohol, most, if not all, of the Beavertailers would not remember what they had ordered weeks before for dinner. Arthur handed us little slabs of paper which summarized what we ordered! Dinner was stress free.
Sunday morning comes around and you already know what is coming. The stress of wanting to do it all this time: breakfast, skiing and quickly returning to the hotel for a shower and packing all before the check-out time. The collective decided it had to be an 8:45 ready to ski time if there was any hope of doing it all.
Keith and I decided we had had enough of all this stress. We needed to get home to recover from our stressful weekend! We had a nice quiet breakfast (everyone was gone by then) and decided to have a nice traffic-free drive back. We were home by lunchtime. There was plenty of time to unpack, do the laundry and take a nap.
I am sure all who were at the weekend join me in thanking Arthur G., our super organized organizer, for all his hard work in making this weekend a great success. I will certainly vote for a return to Orford next year. I will just have to take the week off before the weekend so that I can prepare myself mentally and physically for all that stress!