Training Log Archive: Bash

A nice social ski with Leanimal, who is visiting from France, and occasional visits on the trail from 'Bent, Phatty, Coach LD, Bob, Hermes and Hank as we all did our different things. Time includes stops to chat with various people. We adjourned to Tree Hugger ABC for an amazing Cheese Fest provided by Coach LD. Hermes brought me my very own Beaver trophy in honour of my work on Wilderness Traverse. A fun reunion!

'Bent and I only had time for a short ski at Scenic Caves so we kept skate skiing a little longer after our mandatory 30 minute prologue. It was snowing and the forest was beautiful after yesterday's rain and warm temperatures. There was a little ice but conditions were mostly good. I'm still hating the steep uphills on skate skis but flats and downhills are OK.

'Bent, BazingaDog, AdventureDog and I went up Lover's Leap (beside Switchback) and followed some Craigleith snowshoe trails. It was snowy, icy and muddy - always slippery. I guess I'll call it a run but there was a lot of climbing and there were areas of poor footing where we just hiked. The dogs had a fantastic time and met a bunch of other dogs on the escarpment climb.

'Bent and I went skiing at Scenic Caves after a family Christmas that included a little too much adventure. Mom slipped and fell most of the way down our stairs, bruising her tailbone and wrenching some muscles, which is a big deal when you're 86. Luckily, 'Bent stopped her from hitting the bottom. She improved considerably over a couple of days and decided she was OK to drive herself home (about 3 hours) today. I'd been expecting to drive her car with 'Bent following but she is independent. The key was for the "kids" to stop trying to convince her to use her iPhone to navigate and let her draw her own map by hand with highway numbers and town names. It worked just fine.

This was my "mandatory" 30 minutes of skate skiing to try to learn to like it. It's not fun yet but it's getting closer. Fluffy snow had been coming down for awhile so it wasn't the best day for skating but it was amazing to be in the woods.

Then I switched to classic. It was beautiful and snowy, and I had excellent grip. Way too excellent. But that just means I got more exercise. Other than 'Bent, I ran into almost no one on the trails after getting more than 1 km from the busy chalet.







There were a lot of novices around the chalet - people on vacation who wanted to try something new. At one point, I heard laughter and animated conversation in another language from an adjacent trail. Two men in turbans were kneeling in the snow, attempting the difficult job of getting back onto their feet in long skis, and obviously finding it hilarious. It felt very Canadian.

'Bent and I took BazingaDog and AdventureDog for a short romp around the trails in Collingwood in between family activities.

Merry Christmas!