Before the Season Ends…

The stars finally aligned and I did it… I went skiing for the first time this winter. I feel like lots of factors have conspired to keep me off the slopes; first we had no snow and then when we did it was -20 degrees and the reality is I’m turning into a fair weather skier. Whatever, I finally got off my duff and headed to the slopes with about a million other Montrealers. Thankfully not all of them headed to Mont-Tremblant like I did but it seems like about half of them made it up there.

Courtney and I were invited to a friend’s place just north of Tremblant, in Labelle. We decided to head up on Friday night during the tail end of the big storm that rolled through. I managed to make an observation on the difficult drive up; Canada shouldn’t limit SUV purchases for environmental reason but rather because most people who own them are too dumb to drive them. Why do I say that? Because far too many people were driving like their SUVs were magnets on a metal road. How smart do you think these people felt when they ended up in the ditch; and a lot of them did. So aside from seeing a lot of mayhem on the roads it was an uneventful, white-knuckle, drive up.

The conditions on both Saturday and Sunday were awesome. There was lots of fresh snow on the ground and the weather was perfect for skiing; a mix of flurries and some sun. It felt good to be out on the slopes and I had a fun time hanging out with our small group. Even though the parking lots were full, thanks to the huge lift capacity I don’t think that we ever had to wait more than ten minutes to get on a lift. I haven’t completely forgotten how to ski but it did take a few runs to get back into the swing of things. By the end of the day I felt like a natural again; I was smoothly rolling through the moguls, carving some tight arcs on the smooth parts and even catching a few of the last spots of powder on the sides of the runs. As much fun as the skiing was it is too bad that Tremblant doesn’t have better terrain because that would really put it in a class by itself in the Northeast.

It was nice to not have to drive back to Montreal on Saturday evening. Props definitely go out to Adrielle and Emma who had a nice warm batch of chocolate chip muffins waiting for Courtney, Danielle, Bre, Sally and myself when we got back to the chalet. There are few things that compare to sitting on a couch in a chalet in the middle of nowhere, drinking wine by the fire, knowing that you don’t have to deal with the crush of people on the roads heading home.

I do wish that I was in better shape because my legs were burning by the end of the weekend. That thought brings me out of my bubble and back to the reality that the ultimate season is about to start and I need to get back into shape. Time to call the gym and get that membership I’ve been putting off for so long. Or maybe I should just enjoy the ski season as long as I can and get out a few more times… that sounds like a better plan right now. Read more!