Cap St Jacques 2024-10-27
27 people came out to CSJ for an 8 km walk under mostly cloudy skies. The walk was well protected from the wind and it was great to catch up with everyone. Thank you Linda for leading the walk.
Gai-Luron 2024-02-18: Photos on Flickr
Gai-Luron did not disappoint this morning. 5 BTers and 2 guests. It was good to see Micky, a guest, Bob, was able to keep him company on the 8km L trail for one loop. Conditions were good with light snow falling to let us know winter is hanging in there.
Gai Luron, 2024-02-04
Notes by Jeff & Karen, photos by Ann, Erwin, Karen and Jeff on Flickr
Eight skiers and three crampon hikers came out to enjoy the sunny skies and well-groomed trails at Gai Luron. We were all keen on taking advantage of the little snow we are getting this year before it disappears. Thanks to Erwin for leading the hikers on a 5.2-km trek through the hilly forest and to the operators at Gai Luron for supplying free sunflower seeds for the chickadees that we enjoyed feeding along the way!
Station touristique Duchesnay, 2024-01 (26-28)
Notes by Karen & Jeff, photos by Ann, Caroline, Dennis, Erwin, Jeff, Jessica, Robert and Tom on Flickr
Twenty-four skiers and eight snowshoers came out to enjoy a fantastic weekend getaway at Duchesnay, the first club getaway since COVID. A big thank you to Cheryl Walker for organizing the event and to the weather gods for cooperating with fresh snow on Friday. (It was great to leave the rain behind on the way up.) Ski conditions were excellent with well-groomed trails. Skin skis were popular and we covered all the trails with many of us tackling the expert run #11. The snowshoers were also happy with their 5-km trek on Saturday overlooking Lac Saint-Joseph lined with ice-fishing huts and their 5.6-km crampon trek on Sunday that wound through a snowy forest to a lovely little lake (Lac Jaune). Thanks to all our photographers for the great photos, the entire snowshoe team for sharing the leadership role as we changed positions along the trails and to Dawn for her homemade killer cookies. Let’s do it all again next year!
Les Forestiers, Saint-Lazare, 2024-01-21
Notes by Karen and Jeff, photos by Erwin, Jeff and Karen on Flickr
Six intrepid snowshoers and 13 skiers set out in -14C-degree weather for a brisk outing that kept us all moving. Although we arrived at different times, we all had a good outing in smaller groups. Quite a few pine cones on the ski trails were still waiting for some lucky squirrels to spirit them away. Conditions weren’t as blustery on the trails as last year (which at times felt like an Arctic blizzard), especially in the forest, which was nice and sheltered. Thanks to Erwin for taking photos in the cold and for leading the snowshoe group on a brisk 4.2-km trek that shaved off 18 minutes from last year’s outing (1h12 min vs 1h30 min)!
CSJ 2024-01-20
You know it is cold out when Rick wears a hat! Quote Linda H.
Gai Luron 2024 01 14
Notes from Linda H, photos on Flickr , Linda H and Cheryl W
Gai Luron never disappoints. We said there would be good grooming and they delivered. 11 skiers and 7 snowshoers played in the fresh snow. Despite a few aches and pains from yesterday it was great to be out. For once, in mid January, it was not freezing cold. The parking lots were full when we got there so I am sure the new snow and balmy temperatures brought a lot of people out. We are not the only ones who have been anxious to get out on our skis.
Snowshoe notes from Karen, photos from Ann, Erwin, Karen on Flickr
Seven enthusiastic snowshoers launched our new season with a 5.5-km trek through the hilly forest of Gai Luron. Conditions were Goldilocks perfect (not too cold, not too warm) with lots of fresh snow lining the trails and coating the trees and morning sun streaming through the forest. The 2.5-hour outing included a welcome break at a cozy hut where we enjoyed snacks and the warmth from the wood stove. Thanks to Erwin for sharing leadership duties and taking lots of great photos along with his wife, Ann. And where we would we have been without our able map reader Maureen? (Looks like that Girl Guide training came in handy.;))
Linda H notes form CSJ Jan 13
Cap St. Jacques was not busy when we started so the skiing was hard work given they had not tracked yet. That did not spoil the outing for the daring dozen who showed up. The weather was great, only snow, and balmy at -1 so a day for the skin/waxless skis. Not sure if we will be able to move for tomorrow’s outing but the well-groomed trails of Gai Luron will be quite welcome after today.
Linda H notes from CSJ Jan 7
Finally some snow! We were 13 walkers and a dog. 9 km on mostly plowed trails or roads. We did see 1 skier and the CSJ groomer, Eric, was out flattening the trail so maybe he hopes to groom tomorrow. It was lovely to be out for some fresh air and great company. CSJ did not disappoint and Chief made sure no one was left behind.
Happy New Year to everyone. It looks like the snow gods are smiling upon us!
Look for our Sunday (Jan 14) destination to be determined soon. CSJ should be good on the 13th. Let it snow!
Ski Weekend (and snowshoe) January 26-28 Station Touristique Duchesnay.
Dec 10 Holiday dinner at Il Fornetto: Peter C note.
Twenty-eight members celebrated the season last night at Il Fornetto in Lachine. We had a few Covid cancellations in the days leading up to yesterday. Hope they are feeling better soon! We had a fine time. The food, venue and company were all great. Thanks to Tom for the photos.
Dec 03 Cap St Jacques Linda H notes:
Great weather to check out the trails at Cap St. Jacques. 10 walkers headed out on the rabbit towards the farm. We then set off to the beach. It is amazingly uncrowded this time of year. The trails were a bit muddy but overall, they were in good shape.
We took one of the walking trails back which had us trying out our limbo moves to get under a fallen tree. (Note to self: we are just not as flexible as we used to be!)
We decided 7 and a half-ish km was enough as the weather was just starting to drizzle.
Nov 26 Mount Royal
17 showed up to walk the trails of Mount Royal. We went up, around, through ‘do not enter’ trails and down 370 steps (according to Tom). No one wanted to head back up the stairs to confirm the number!
We were happy to have the trails mostly to ourselves but it was getting busy at noon as we headed back to the parking lot.
We walked 8 km and we got some pretty sunlit views of the city. Have a look at Tom and Linda’s pics which, thanks to Keith, are available on Photos.
Ile Bizard Nov 19 Notes by Linda H (Check Photos Page)
28 walkers and a dog came out to enjoy the trails at Parc Nature de L’Ile Bizard. A bonus today, the parking meter was hors de service so, for those who did not have a parking pass, the parking was free – hopefully.
The weather was a cool but turned into a snow shower toward the end of the hike. Half did 8.5 ish km and the other half did over 12 km (they added the de l’Eglise loop).
Many thanks to everyone who came out.
Oka 12 Nov 2023 Notes by Linda H (Check Photos page.)
8 hikers on the 8 km trail at Oka today. Surprisingly still a lot of leaves on the trees. It was cloudy but some, like Zevan, came prepared for everything. They are doing quite a lot of work to the trails, shoring them up from erosion which left a few muddy spots but once we were climbing it was fine.
We only made one wrong turn near the bottom and, to get back to our cars, we had to reshow our entry tickets. I think it is the first time we ever missed that final little left turn. Guess the conversation at the front was riveting. Not sure what the excuse was for the sheep that followed! A great day was had by all and a quick trip to the OKA cheese shop on the way home made for a great day.
Prevost
Prevost Hike Report: A challenging hike at Prevost found 19 of us at the start. A few found it to be a bit arduous and cut it short. Don’t be discouraged, future outings can be split into 2 or even 3 groups according to how far / fast they want to go. That way we can stay closer together, allowing the keener members to challenge themselves and the others can smell the flowers. I am sure some of us, myself included, can lead the smaller groups.
The opening meeting at the Beaconsfield Yacht Club was well attended and gave us a chance to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.
Our president, Peter has stepped down after 5 years of great leadership, and we are in search of a new leader.
We are well into our walking season, see weekly emails for info. As you all know this is a volunteer run club. If you would like to volunteer to help us out it would be much appreciated. You are all welcome to suggest and lead a hike.
The club main activity is cross country skiing however we have a snow shoe group as well. Snowshoe outings have been averaging 5km and take place at the same locations as the Sunday ski outings.
If you are interested in joining the snowshoeing group please let Karen know, via email: karen.evoy@gmail.com. Please bring along a pair of walking boots and/or crampons in addition to snowshoes in case the snowshoe trails are more suitable for walking than snowshoeing.
The weekly schedule, as always, is posted here in the Calendar, and in the weekly club emails.
The best way to reach us is to send an email to: btnsc2018@gmail.com.
You can also comment on our website Forum page or our Facebook group page. If you’ve not joined our Facebook Group page yet, please consider doing so here.
Here you will find some useful information about x country skiing.