.: Ski XCOttawa.ca :: Skiing in Ottawa and Gatineau Park

2005 Silver Star Report - Part 1
By:  Craig Storey   (2005/11/23)

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Travel

The flights were good, the shuttle service easy to arrange and very convenient. You can arrive at SilverStar without the need to rent a car. Since you can ski from your doorstep, that's a good savings.

One intersting note about packing for ski trips. Wherever you go, it always seems that the minute you open your luggage you clothes expand and you bag shrinks so that you can never get all of well packed belongs back in the same bag.

Accomodations

To keep our budget in check we've rented a small A-frame cabin, called the Stellar Jay, which is a short walk up the hill between some trees with lots of its name sake flying around. It sleeps 7, all of us, comfortably without the extravagance or luxury that abounds nearby. The only ammenities missing are a phone and a shower. But we knew we were home when we read the sign on the door!

Weather

Skiers tend to watch and talk about the weather this time of year. The reason for this is that it's often unpredictable. So far the weather has been very stable and each day is a carbon copy of the last. It hasn't snowed, it hasn't warmed up considerably or really cooled off. The temperature has been very reasonably near zero in the shade and warm in the sun. It's been sunny without a cloud in the sky above us, they are all halfway down the mountain probably making Vernonites miserable but has made for some great pictures!

The Skiing

Skiing at Sovereign Lakes is good, they have just enough snow to have everything groomed but you have to watch out for the occasional stone so they could use more snow before the World Cups. With the temperatures near zero it makes for some tricky waxing conditions so we eagerly await the arrival of John Suuronen to make it all look easy. Until then we are slowly figuring things out for ourselves, remembering the combinations that work when the tracks very from the dry powder, glazing to sloppy slush. Tricky to say the least.

In the next instalment look forward to hearing how the team is currently preparing for the races, including our duathlon training day and lots more pictures!

 
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