Well to be honest there was a fair degree of soul searching earlier in the week at the Timmies Beaver Tails Nerve Centre about going to Montagne Coupée. Of course if you do not believe you have a soul then soul searching is kind of futile, but I digress. Mr Optimism was gung-ho after seeing a report the centre was fully open and some of us were curious to see the changes they had made at the centre, so putting on our rose-coloured spectacles, it was agreed we would go.
So Sunday morning saw us driving along the Met east bound, ignoring comments like “Skinet only gives the centre 2.5 out of 5”, vainly looking for the snow drifts, or at least snow higher than the tufts of grass. Anyhow we did arrive, as did 22 other club members, including many who attended the ski clinic the day before, anxious to hone their new-found skills. A new parking lot, a walk uphill to a new centre, very fancy-Nancy, bright and with a large area selling Oka cheese and other food products made by the monks who had recently moved to the area from Oka, clearly their soul searching was more effective than ours. One down side is that the waxing room is only slightly larger than my granny’s old out house, very cozy for three, the waxing room that is, not my granny’s out house, oh never mind. Fortunately there was no wind and the sun came out, so waxing outside was possible.
Nearly everyone opted to do the 9.2 trail, found to be good on previous visits and recommended by the centre as being in good condition with some ice by the river. This turned out to be very sociable, with most people passing or being passed on the trail. Folks found the snow conditions to be not as good as at Morin Heights, but still enjoyable except for the ice section, not quite the Rideau Canal but still challenging. As the sun was shining brightly, several skiers did more loops encouraged by you know who, yes “loopy” and her cohort Mickey “the Quick”. Others were feeling their legs from the previous day’s clinic or local skiing, so they decided enough was enough and retired to a new Timmies just down the road from the ski centre.
Pity the centre wasn’t in 100% condition, but still an entertaining day. Oh yes, has anybody seen Arthur’s hips, he seems to have misplaced them, consequently his fanny bag keeps falling down.
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Addition by Tom
I can add some insight on the conditions on the other two main trails. Those trails are the 5.3, which goes under the power lines and passes the cliffs of the “montagne coupée”, and the 7.6, which extends in the other direction though a mixture of woods and fields. Both were rated by the hill as “2 out of 5” (where 5 out of 5 is best) and as a result they were largely deserted. The coverage was thin in spots, but by my (admittedly) “gung-ho” criteria, they were still well-worth skiing. The conditions were on a par with the trails we have been skiing at Mount Royal the last couple of weeks. The 7.6 trail was especially nice when I did it after 12 pm, as the sun had just come out and this made the rolling snow-covered fields look all the more picturesque.