Cross-Country Ski Trip Reflection by Sophia Li

On March 11, 2015, our outdoor ed class went for an all-day ski trip in Gatineau Park. It was an amazing experience for me. As a person who had no experience or time for skiing, I've got to say that I was missing out. The x-country ski trip was the first ski trip that I've ever took in my life. I was open to the beauty of nature, the fresh air in my face, and surrounded with things that made me smile so much that my face was hurting. To be kept away from all of that was really disappointing.

First, we started from the bottom of Camp Fortune and we skied through many hills and turns heading north. Along the way, there were many hills that I conquered and many slippery patches of ice that I casually went over without a problem. Soon enough, I came across the biggest, baddest looking hill there was. It was a very steep hill with an awkward rock centered sort of near top of the hill that was right to the hill so I had to just shuffle a little over there and a little over here but I made through!

Halfway in our ski trip, we all stopped at the lodge for lunch. Everyone was prepared so there weren't any complaints about being hungry. I had packed a sandwich that had lettuce, honey ham, and cheese, with some dried mango. And for snack I had packed two oatmeal raisin cookies. What I also had prepared were a Costco water bottle filled with water and 2 nature valley bar. I fueled myself up for the rest of the ski trip.

Afterwards, we continued to the Champlain Lookout, which was absolutely gorgeous, everyone rested and took pictures of the scenery. Me being the person who likes to try new things, tried to follow in Mrs. Trumpower's nice thin steps up the small hill but what I didn't know was that it was filled with soft snow underneath. So when I took one step, down went my ski! Anyways, near the end of the ski trip, it was so much easier because the trails would be either flat or downhill. The last 2 km of the ski trip was pretty easy for my legs. On the last downhill slide to the bus, it was going super fast and there was a patch of snow from the sun, so soft snow and it slowed me down a lot and eventually I fell, which was not fun but totally worth the experience. 

The one challenge that I found really unpleasant was the fact that the snow that was in the sun was slowing me down when I was skiing down hill. The soft snow really ruined the speed of the downhill ski but overall my experience was enjoyable and relaxing and I would love to keep on going on trips like these. 

Overall, the ski trip was awesome.