After all my messages cautioning members about the variable conditions at Mount Royal, only 16 people turned out at 10 am. Of them, twelve came to ski, while four opted to go walking. It was sunny and about -9 C as the skiers set out. As predicted, the city had not groomed the trails. There were no defined tracks for most of the first parts of the trail. Farther along, there were only inchoate tracks that had been created by skier traffic. For the twelve experienced skiers out on this morning, this did not present a problem. And the conditions were otherwise great. There was a thick base and the descents were snowy
with no icy spots. What’s more, the scenery was spectacular with soft snow still resting delicately on the branches and sparkling in the sun. For those of us who usually ski Mount Royal at night, it was a treat to see the trails in daylight!
It turned out that many of the those who did not go to Mount Royal, still did get out. One contingent of skiers skied at Cap St Jacques, another city-run large park, but at this one they are somehow able to groom the trails. So after a good bout of morning exercise, people began
making their way to Monique’s, aka “Melrose Place”. Despite dire warnings of parking problems due to the partial clearing of snow from the Melrose Ave., parking turned out to not be an issue. People began arriving at 12 pm and unpacked their food. By 12:45 pm we began enjoying appetizers and shortly after 1 pm the crowd descended upon the main dishes. We were 35 skier/diners in Monique’s home and we were all impressed by how such a large number of people could be both talented skiers AND cooks. The variety and 
quality of the dishes was impressive. This included the dessert table, featuring Glenn’s famous cheesecake. He advised us that he had used some light cream cheese in addition to the regular stuff, such that his “diet” version of his cake clocked in at 5700 calories instead of 6000! The noshing and chatting carried on to mid-afternoon.
Many thanks to Monique Isler for once again being such a gracious and generous host!
We made a point of snapping a photo of each of the dishes that were served this year, so those of you who were not able to attend can see what you missed. Check the photos out at