A Winter's Ski Worth Celebrating!

It was definitely a winter's day worth celebrating. By lunch it was bright sun and a deep blue sky, with comfortable temperatures at about -10°C.  A perfect day for our first organized cross-country ski group outing of 2014.

The trails at Glenelg Nordic were beckoning, freshly track-set after the past two day's storms; the snow conditions were perfect.

My compatriots demanded a photo from the skiing photographer doddling at the back of the line, so we stopped for a moment while I arranged them to face the right direction.  The result was good, don't you think?  It was nice to be out with the group again after 10 months since last year.

The trails at Glenelg are wonderfully varied.  We chose a flatter route for the first outing, here running through part of the hardwood bush.  You couldn't have asked for a better day for skiing!

One of the group with keener eyes than mine spotted this red squirrel  apparently just sun-bathing, fifty feet up a tree beside the trail.  This photo has been heavily cropped to change the brown blob into something recognizable!

After half an hour we came out to the edge of a farm field to the south of the trails, the snow sparkling in the sun behind this row of big old maples.

And then the 'Long Piney Woods Trail', straight through the 30 year old white pine plantation, with a nice run downhill as you get to the end.  My kinda trail!

Today the pines were magical, coated in white in every direction you looked.  It truly was a winter wonderland.

The end came all too soon as we crossed the field, passed the row of beehives sleeping for the winter, and back to the road.  This was one of those rare perfect winter days for skiing that was truly worth celebrating!