Beaver Tails Nordic Ski Club

Sun we made our annual pilgrimage to the Viking Ski Club in Morin Heights.   This is an annual treat for many of us, since we get to ski on the Viking Club’s trails, which are not ordinarily open to the public.  Every year, there are some members who are visiting the Viking Ski Club for the first time and they come away impressed by the trails and the facilities.
We gathered in the Viking club house and made our plans with our hosts, Derek and Hjordis Wills.  Derek led a group of four BTers on an intermediate ski, while his wife Hjordis took five other members out on the less-extreme racing trails.  The rest of us set out for the Crown South trails for a longer ski.  It was a mostly sunny day, with a temperature that started at -11 C but warmed up to -5 C by 2 pm.  The trails were well-covered and groomed, but a lack of snow and colder nights the previous few days had left the descents rapid.  But where prudent, we just took off our skis and walked down, so it did not affect our overall ski.
Derek has a sense of adventure and the group of intermediate skiers found themselves on the occasional uncharted and ungroomed trails in waist deep snow.  Meanwhile, the Crown South group split in two along the way and I somehow found myself chasing the four of the fastest skiers in our club.  While they claimed to appreciate the frequent rest breaks they got from having to wait for me, I had my doubts.  In any case, I learned that the holiday weight gain I am still dragging around is very much affecting my skiing performance.  Our group covered the 19.5 km route in 3 hours.
It was another great day of skiing at Viking!