It was another cold day last Sun, but like Sat it was sunny and the winds were low. That makes a big difference in terms of skiing comfort.
With a temps of between -20 C and -18 C, I was expecting a small group to show up at the Viking Ski Club in Morin Heights, but we ended up being a dozen strong BTers ready to take on the trails. The Viking trails have their fans among the BTNSC and it had been three years since we last paid a formal visit there. We assembled in the Viking club house at 10 am and discussed route options with our Viking Ski Club host, Derek Wills. At 10:30 am, we set out across the road and skied down to the lake to start the trails. At the first junction, Jessica B, Luc, and Vivian decided to split off and go for a shorter and more relaxed ski. That left nine of us BTers to follow our Viking tour leader, Derek.
It certainly was good to have Derek at the front, especially since the connection from the initial 
trail to the Crown South trail took us along the side of a road and was not obvious. We then got going on the Crown South trail proper. That takes one through the woods and across lakes and marshes. The Crown South trail is single track, but it is well-groomed. So it is not back-country skiing in that sense. But compared to a typical ski center, where you have the sense of security of being in a place with distinct boundaries, the trails at Viking have a wilder feel because they just go off into the countryside on public (i.e., crown, or government-owned) land. If one does not pay attention to the map and the trail markings, you can get well off course. But with Derek’s guidance, we never had any such concern on this day.
We were skiing at different speeds within our group and so we made sure to stop and regroup at the trail junctions. We snacked quickly during those stops in lieu of a longer lunch stop on the trail. The trails were rated as intermediate and there were some adventurous descents, but the abundance of soft snow made them secure. We took a route that allowed us to loop around behind the club house and approach it with a long final gentle descent. We got back at 2 pm after having skied 19 km. It was a marvelous outing!
As we lounged in the club house, Dennis Martin and his son, Christopher, came across the Viking Junior Trophy. The Martin family had been members of Viking several years ago and Christopher had not been back to Viking for 10 years. They were delighted to find Christopher’s name on the trophy from 2001. He was co-winner that year with Audrey Bouffard-Nesbitt, daughter of two of our instructors at last week’s ski clinic! Olivia Bouffard-Nesbitt, their younger daughter, is currently on the Canadian national team at the U 23 World championships that are taking place this week in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
A big thank you to the Viking Ski Club, and particularly to Derek Wills, for hosting us for a splendid day of skiing!