Training Log Archive: Bash

I met Tracy Roth for a tour of Hockleycrest. She's another avid snowboarder who has taken up cross-country skiing this winter. She has the right skills, and she got braver as we skied. We managed to get down most of the toughest hills in the trail network with no incidents. Weirdly, her Garmin measured 13.4 km while my Ambit measured 9 km. That seems low so hers may be right. My watch also measured 2400 m of elevation gain and said we went more than 900 m below sea level. Um, no.

We had another dump of fresh powder overnight and through the morning! I had an errand that took me in the direction of Albion Hills Conservation Area so I stopped for a ski enroute. I had my heavy backcountry skis because I expected to be breaking trail through deep snow but I couldn't have been more wrong. The grooming was as good as I've ever seen it.

I only saw one other person and he was lying in the snow at the base of an uphill trail. Rather than embarrass him by hovering and waiting, I carried on and took a different route up the hill. Turns out they don't groom that section of trail so I got to do some floundering in deep powder after all.

They currently require reservations for a particular date but you can go at any time. That may ease off with the next random shuffle of Covid colour zones.







Nice sunset tonight!

Shannon, Denise and I went for a ski tour around Castle Glen - my first time there. It's not maintained for skiing but it's really nice! We didn't encounter anyone in 2 hours. That also meant we had to break trail through fluffy snow the whole way but that's OK. I had snow up to my knees in a few places! Beautiful morning with snow squalls passing through. :)













P.S. Elevation profile and total gain is all wrong - too low this time.

Conditions were so amazing that I had to go for another ski, this time in Kolapore. 'Bent had worked hard breaking trail with Tarno this morning but it wasn't hard to convince him to join me for a quick jaunt around some of the northwest trails.

Timato, K-Way and Aubrey came to pick up our Adventure Van, which is joining their family. While they were in the neighbourhood, we went for an easy snowshoe over to the Bruce Trail with the dogs. It was a perfect winter day!







Then we had a campfire and played in the deep, fluffy snow.



Dee's kids started the tradition of jumping off our deck into the snow drifts.



Even Timato jumped!



The toboggan hill wasn't slippery enough today so BazingaDog helped out.



Happy Valentine's Day!

Yesterday I got two emails from Strava: "Uh oh! Shannon has taken your crown." What?!

I rarely post workouts on Strava but apparently, I had the women's crowns for two segments of Kolapore ski trail. I was bummed - not because Mrs. Miller had taken my crowns but because I never imagined I would ever have any Strava crowns. And now they were gone and I never even had a chance to enjoy them.

With a little research, I learned that I still have one other crown from 2 years ago. Out of curiosity, I uploaded 10 Kolapore ski GPS tracks from the past 12 months, which gave me three more. It's all quite hilarious and unbelievable. Leaderboards are one of the aspects of Strava that have made me feel like I don't belong there. I'm slow and I don't want to feel like I'm in a competition while I'm training.

There are two that look like this. Yup, that's how I roll - sharing crowns with Bob.

While 'Bent and Bob did a long, speedy loop around Kolapore, I took our neighbour Darcie out for her first serious ski loop. She's a snowboard instructor and triathlete who has borrowed her Mom's old XC skis because the downhill ski clubs have been closed. Skiing in Kolapore isn't for beginners but she stayed in control and did very well. We were out for almost 2 hours before we met anyone else on such a cold morning - and of course, it was Bob and 'Bent! After that, we met a handful of others but we almost had the place to ourselves. Awesome, chatty fun.

My Ambit3 has lost its mind recently when it comes to elevation gain. Today was a typical outing - about 11,000 meters of climb. My high point was 12,520 meters - about 40% higher than Mount Everest. Cool! Last week I switched to the Suunto app after their repeated threats to those of us who hadn't done so yet. So far, they're not impressing me.

Chilly, deep powder snowshoe before dinner with 'Bent, our neighbour Darcie and the 3 largest dogs in the neighbourhood pack, including both of ours. We gave her two old pairs of ski boots and some chocolate croissants. She gave us fresh-baked challah, which has become a regular treat on Friday nights. I love winter.