toesalad

After an almost two week stint of no sliding on the snow (most of us were sick) and feeling cooped-up in the city, @reneetougas and I finally got out for a day of cross-country skiing. A nice 15km loop with some good downhill sections, and a fantastic amount of snow.

A quick lunch stop.

After a couple of weeks with no nature time, @reneetougas and I were able to steal away for a few hours of fantastic cross-country skiing in the Laurentiens. A new region this time, known as Val-des-Lacs.

One section of trail was not great for skiing without climbing skins. Thankfully the trail was packed enough that we could carry our skis and go on foot. This is the first time @reneetougas has used her new ski pack for carrying skis, and this was the perfect time to give it a try.

Exploring the region around Montagne Noir near Saint-Donat. Last week we came here for alpine touring and snowboarding. This time we decided to do a loop via cross-country skis.

First backcountry trip of the season with @reneetougas. Renee was on her backcountry skis, and I was on snowshoes carrying my snowboard. We explored a new backcountry ski area near Saint-Donat called Montagne Noir. The day did not disappoint!

After almost 10 years, I finally had to replace my Black Diamond Alpine Carbon Cork winter poles. I have been incredibly happy with Black Diamond poles, however this time I decided to give the MSR Dynalock Ascent Carbon poles a chance - for no other reason than to try something different. What I like about them: they are very light, they break-down super small, they have 20cm of adjustability, and the locking mechanism can be tightened without tools. All I hope for now is that they stand-up similarly durability-wise to the Black Diamonds... we shall see.

The first step in my transition back to snowboarding... a new pair of boots! I purchased these while on our family Christmas trip to the Eastern Townships. Super comfortable (much more so than my telemark boots in the previous post). The continuation of the black/orange theme is purely coincidental...

Despite the rain over the last couple days. there was still an opportunity for us to go for a hike before the end of the year. Back to our new favourite place (Saint-Donat) and a nice view on Cap de la Fée.