mont-ste-marie | outdoors

After waking at the crack of dawn (re: 7AM), I was fighting car sickness by napping. From the seat directly in front of me, my dad navigated the winding roads of Highway 105. My eyes were shut, but my ears weren't, so I clearly heard him read the Volvo's thermometer: "It's minus twenty-five". I squinted my eyes tightly and continued to pretend to sleep, reminiscent of the days when I would coax a piggyback ride to my room from the car after Sunday night dinners with my grandparents by refusing to admit I was actually awake.

I did not want to ski.

The vast majority of my newly minted law school friends were in New York City for the weekend. I was not. That was fine, I was in Ottawa visiting my parents with Chris. Unfortunately, a few weeks prior, I had been infected with Chris' enthusiasm for a day of downhill and agreed to a day at Mont-Ste-Anne. Chris had brought his skis on the train to Ottawa and whipped my parents in similar frenzy. On the other hand, I had since seen the light (and the weather forecast)... See prior blog post.

I tried to put up the usual fight ("I'm not feeling well! It's too cold! I'll be exhausted for the drive back to Kingston!"). But of course, as always, I spent Saturday night collecting the necessary ski-items, piece-meal style, preparing for skiing on Sunday.

Ten minutes before 10AM, we were skating up to the Vanier chairlift for our first run. Luckily, the sun was shining and the wind was non-existent. And, most importantly, the mountain was covered in powdery goodness.

Vanier lift... note: this is only a small part of the lift. Chris told me the hill is about twice the vertical height of Blue Mountain. 

I didn't take me long to remember why I love to ski. It's oddly collegial and independent at the same time. Automatism sets in and your mind wonders. In my case, a song will get stuck in my head. Or I'll create the plot to a story I'll never write. Or I'll think up imaginary conversations with high school friends I haven't seen in years. Or I'll pretend I'm on Ellen ("I never dreamed I would be here!"). A few minutes later, you're on your way back up, chatting with your chair-mates ("How good was that run, eh? Good thing it's not colder, eh?"). It's great stuff.

Even greater: My mom's chilli, dished out from a thermos my dad purchased the day before (I swear, our house eats our things). As my toes thawed, I savoured the mushrooms. In my head, I was calculating my cost per run, an annoying habit I picked up from my grandpa (after two runs: "we're down to fifteen bucks per run, guys!").

chilli!

On Sunday, the tickets had cost us twenty-nine dollars each since my parents had thought to pick up tickets at Costco instead of getting them at the hill. By lunch, I had completed 7 runs (a little over 4 dollors per run!). However, lunch was already my second break. I like to blame my low threshold for cold weather on inheriting bad circulation from my dad.

main lodge at MSM

Thankfully, the chilli warmed me up nicely for the afternoon. A lazy fifteen minutes behind my parents, Chris and I boarded the rusting tram for a ride to Cheval Blanc, Mont Ste Marie's second lift. As is usual for a Sunday, one run was reserved for racers. The sight of ski racers always prompts my dad: "I really wanted you to be a ski racer!" I remind him that I probably wouldn't have gone to Queen's Commerce and/or law school had I pursued that dream...

That afternoon, we complete five runs, bringing our total to fourteen (two and a half dollars per run!). I'm sure my parents would have stayed longer, but by two o'clock, I'm reminding them of their promise to have me on the road to Kingston by six.

I napped the entire way to Ottawa, my head on Chris' lap. As always, the morning's pain had been worthwhile and I was looking forward to reading week when I get to do it all over again.

winter wonderland | outdoors

Hi all,

Plans for 2013
Well, long time no blog! I should warn you, today's post is going to be a lot of talk-talk-talk. I intend on it being a precursor to a more photographic post that I'll put up in a few days. My goal is to have a more expansive post on Ottawa winter activities. For now, I'll just warm my blogging fingers.

As much as my summers in Ottawa are jam-packed with urban adventures (ha!), my falls and winters are spent in Kingston. However, I was so in love with writing regularly this summer, I made it my New Year's resolution to try and do a little more of it. I'm pretty confident about my chances of success now that I have an iphone; I can so easily take pictures and have them pop-up on my computer. Honestly, carrying around my big camera and the struggle to transfer pictures from it to my computer was a major impediment to my blogging this summer. Hopefully, iCloud means problem solved. But I digress...

Given I am in Kingston eight months of the year, I had to give some thought to whether I would expand my mandate, if you will, to Kingston. After some contemplation, I have decided to remain a solely fixed on Ottawa for the time being. This blog started as a motivation for me try new things over the summer. Unfortunately, these days, those goals have been replaced with finding time for the things I've already taken. Therefore, I'll keep it up in 2013 but only semi-regularly. 

Winters in Ottawa: Rideau Canal 
Onwards! One of the great things about my home town (and there are so many!) is that just because it's below freezing (or way way way below freezing), doesn't mean there aren't things to do outdoors (as long as you have right the attire).

Case in point: THE CANAL. Last Friday, the CNN opened 2.2 km of ice between Bank St and Pretoria Bridge. Is it just me or has it been opened extra early this year? Was it just last year that there was a risk it wouldn't be open in time for Winterlude in February? Exciting stuff! And here's something else that's exciting: there's a Rideau Canal Skateway APP. I know! How cool is THAT!? I just downloaded and I can tell you that the Canal is "Partially Open" with conditions that are "Good" between Pretoria and Bank St, conditions that are "Poor" beween Bank St and Hartwell Locks, and then "Fair" at Patterson Creek. Oh wow, just saw that there's a map:

All I need to do now is figure out if there's a way that this app will tell me where the Beaver Tail stations are! 

Winters in Ottawa: Skiing 

Tomorrow afternoon, Chris and I are heading to Ottawa.

To ski (and maybe skate, now that I have this sweet sweet app).

And I love to ski! I grew up skiing every Sunday with family, even raced for a while. I have the fondest memories of causing havoc with my best friend Morgan and my sister on the hills, generally after having ditched our ski class. At lunch my parents would bring out their amazing homemade chilli and we would sip hot chocolate. Skiing really is my family's thing that we do together... notwithstanding that my sister defected and took up snowboarding.

But, have you been outside this week?

It's HELLA cold. I think Sunday, they're calling for -22. Brrrrrrrrr.

On the other hand, Chris has a pair of skiis that are awfully lonely in his basement and my parents are very excited. I might just do two runs and snuggle in the lodge with a blanket and a book. We'll see how it goes.

Our plan is to head up to my family's most frequented ski-hill, Mont-Ste-Marie. According to Google Maps, it takes 1h40 to get there from my house which makes me wonder how on Earth my parents had the energy to do that weekly with two kids. I wonder that a lot about my parents. I'm also going to go out on a limb and say that it's the furthest hill from Ottawa that is accessible in a single day. There are two big lifts, a smaller "bunny hill"and two lodges. The best part is that the hills range of difficulty and pitch. However, when I was there last winter, I noticed new condos had been built close to the hill. In my opinion, that's a bit much. I don't think there is a large enough quantity of hills that you wouldn't get bored if you had property there. Lastly, of course, I should mention that a regular adult ski lift will set you back $39 for the day and a booklet of 5 runs at $149. Costco sells tickets at a much cheaper price (about $29).

Since I'm on the topic of ski hills, this is a great advantage of living in Ottawa (another one! yay!). Decent skiing is pretty close, and you have lots of choice. Here are a few, just off the top of my head:

Camp Fortune
Edelweiss
Vorlage 
Cascades 
Pakenham

Am I missing any? Does anyone have any childhood anecdotes about skiing? Did you ever yell at people from the chair (Morgannnnnn)? What are your favorite things to do when it's -22 outside?

Have a nice weekend & stay warm.
xo OC