Skiing Dudes 2012

The Skiing Dudes are the winter branch of the Cycling Dudes. We meet every Tuesday at 10:00 am in the Kawartha Nordic Ski Club (KNSC) parking lot for a 2-3 hour ski followed by lunch at nearby eatery like Honey’s a few km south of KNSC on Hgw 28 at Big Cedar. For directions to the club + trail conditions you can check the KNSC website at www.kawarthanordic.ca

A St Patrick’s Day Ski

Barry & Pete decided to check out the conditions on this gorgeous warm spring like day, 3C at 10:00 & 9C at 1:00. We were surprised that the trails still had such a good snow cover, however water was flowing in some of the low lying areas on Kenner & Beaver. From the Woodfine chalet we skied up Kawartha to Red Fox, across Fox which was a great ski, up Trillium, bottom 2 photos showing the trail conditions, across Wolf, next photo, up Owl, next 2 photos, to Tanney where changed into our spring garb. From Tanney we skied down Kenner to Beaver a great ski with a surprise ending! The 1st photos of us in shorts shows Pete just north & Barry just south of the Wolf junction. The next photo shows the junction of the old Kawartha trail from Wolf before the logging in the mid 90’s resulted in the change to the present course. Continuing down Kenner Barry took a photo of me standing in front of the start of the original northern section of Adam Scott. As the photos indicate the trail was snow covered until the last downhill run where we encountered water flowing in the creek seen in the 2 photos. Barry managed to ski over the water but as I was crossing a section of ice broke under me so I opted to “bushwack" around the water hazard. Took a break at the Bullrush Lk viewpoint which also had open water. From Kenner we skied west on Beaver where we encountered flowing water in 2 more creeks, photos of Barry were taken at the 1st creek crossing. On our last crossing over open water (no photo) the ice broke under my left ski causing the ski & boot (still attached to my foot!) to sink into the water however the inside of the boot remained dry! As we approached Adam Scott we had to ski under a ribbon of red tape indicating that the trail was closed! The top photo shows Barry skiing down the hill on Beaver from Trillium. Even with the mild weather the Tanney loop looks like it could remain skiable into next week, however the snow cover on Beaver from Trillium to the Woodfine chalet was very wet & melting quickly so access might be a problem.

Bonus Day-Tues March 15

Peter Hamley, Barry Diceman, & Pete MacLoghlin enjoyed skiing today in ideal spring conditions. The trails were closed last Thursday because of rain but were reopened on Sunday March 13 after an overnight snowfall. The Tanney Loop was freshly groomed as the photos show & we were surprised that all the trails we skied were snow covered with no bare patches. Kawartha was closed from Wolf to Red Fox because of flooding. Barry had skied lower Kenner last Wed & found the top section of the big hill bare so we avoided skiing any trail south of Beaver. On leaving the chalet at 10:00 the temperature was -2 C so until Tanney cabin the trails were fast with icy areas. After Tanney the ice became soft, the snow a bit wet but the waxless skis continued to glide nicely. Peter was using waxing skis & found that they were slipping on any uphill grades with the milder conditions near the end. We skied up Kawartha to Red Fox, across Fox, 1st 2 photos, to Trillium where we met a group of skiers including Alex in his para nordic equipment. The next photo shows the good snow cover on Trillium as we skied up to the Tanney cabin. From Tanney we decided to ski down Owl rather than PL. Barry had skied PL last Wednesday & felt that it would have bare areas & that the hills would be quite icy. Owl was in excellent shape, photo of Peter, from Owl we turned onto Otter, photos of Barry & Peter skiing down to the beaver pond towards Kawatha which we skied down to Wolf. Barry spotted the snow hole in the next 2 photos on Kawartha just before Owl that he felt might be caused by the heat from an animal in hibernation. Then skied across Wolf to Trillium & down to Red Fox. The next photo taken on Trillium shows the signage indicating a para nordic access trail (A with a smaller PN). Skied across Fox photo of Barry & Peter to Kawartha where Pete was going to remove his shorts at the junction of Fox & Kawartha but decided it was much easier to roll up his pant legs & as Peter joked just pretend that he had skied in shorts. On our return at 1:00 the temperature was +3 in the shade & +7 in the sun

Skiing Dudes Photos- Jan 25 2011