Jan 10, 2015 Bittersweet ski report

 

The temperature was a balmy -28 when Fred, Di, Judy and Carol met Saturday morning to carpool to the Bittersweet trails near MacGregor, Manitoba.  Fortunately, weather was a bit warmer farther east, and the mercury had climbed a few degrees by the time we started skiing around 11:00.  

 

Di and Fred set off at their usual jack rabbit pace in the morning, while Carol and Judy explored the trails a bit more leisurely. As usual, trails were beautifully groomed, and though Charleswood Ski Club had arrived by bus from Winnipeg, there are so many trails that they were far from crowded.  Fortunately, we did meet up with skiers occasionally, who were able to point us in the right direction, or we might not have made it in for lunch.

 

After lunch in the lovely, warm nordic center, the sun was warm on our faces as we headed out again, this time with Di skiing with Judy and Carol, hoping that a slower pace would ease the pain from her new-ski boot induced blisters.  Armed again with the trail map, we endeavored to find our way through the maze of trails.  Bert likes to say that "in the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king". If a sense of direction were akin to sight, it was apparent that between the three of us we didn't have even a one-eyed king (or queen) and we spent the afternoon skiing, studying the map, skiing, backtracking, studying the map, backtracking....  

 

We arrived back at the nordic center somewhat later than we'd anticipated (and from another direction) to find Fred chatting with skiiers from Charleswood.  He'd hung up his skis at least an hour before after skiing out to the far reaches of the trails.  As usual, a cheerful Ardyth McMaster was serving up coffee and cookies as she chatted with the skiiers.

 

When one travels an hour and a half to a ski locale, it is wonderful to be able to stop for lunch in a warm environment before hitting the trails again, and really make the most of the day.  The Bittersweet area offers 20 km of beautifully maintained trails of various lengths and difficulties to meet the needs of skiiers at many levels. The only challenge with the area is that the many intersecting trails are not always well signed, so orientation can be a challenge.  Although, Fred didn't think so.  Wonder what that means?

Judy