Our Outdoor Education
class went for a cross-country ski in Gatineau Park on March 10, 2015. We
started at the bottom of Camp Fortune and we skied through the hills and the
parkway heading north. We ended up
at Huron cabin for lunch. Then we continued to Champlain Lookout, and finished
the long stretch down the parkway to return to P10.
I really enjoyed exploring the Gatineau Park and obtaining
this new trail and map knowledge. I often have gone to Gatineau Park in the
past, but this trip was new territory for me and it was the first time I have
been there in the winter.
On the day of our trip, the weather was really warm and it
felt amazing because I had the right layers on. I had one base layer, one
lightweight fleece and a windbreaker. I packed a small day pack in the morning
with pasta, vegetables, and fruit. For snack I took a bag of roasted peanuts
and a cliff bar. I also brought two water bottles, and even with them I ran out
of water.
In terms of my skiing experience, I felt awesome going up
and down through the small groomed trails with the trees on either side. I
didn’t really like the parkway because the lanes were so wide and it seemed
like they took forever to climb. I think that I was one of the faster classic
skiers. I would have liked to skate ski because I noticed that my classmates
who were on skate skis quickly overtook the classic skiers by taking the lead
on the wide open, hard-packed snow trails. It was hard seeing how fast the
skate skiers were going compared to my pace.
One of the main
challenges that I found annoying and not very enjoyable about my skiing
experience were the wide, long and sticky snow climbs I had to make on the
parkway. On these trails, I learned that if the snow was in the sun for a while
it was hard to ski on. So I tried to increase my speed to work rate by finding
patches of shaded snow, where I could double push to gain more speed.
I would definitely go cross country skiing again. It was a
great experience and an excellent day to go on. It makes me want to cross
country skiing with my dad more often and try skate skiing out to go faster.
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