Training Log Archive: 'Bent

Breaking trail in knee-deep snow yet again! Dogs were up to their necks.

Very blustery bitter wind so we only did a short ski in the shelter of the cliffs. My CSM frostbite on my face hurt in the wind, so we went back to snowshoe with the dogs.

Out with the neighbours and dogs.

Shovelled out my neighbour’s upper driveway when the massive tractor snowblower couldn’t make it up the hill.

Winter wonderland ski with Bash and CoachLD, breaking trail in deep fluffy powder on a perfect day.

No Starlink for us- once the Hitler memes show up, I’m out. Sorry Not Sorry, Elon.

C • Starlink 7

Snowshoe with the dogs. Any time they stepped off the frozen old track the poor boys postholed deep in the wet snow, but had a good hike where it was solid.

Dumping rain and howling winds- so glad I moved the CSM up from the original date - tomorrow.

C • Couch! 2

CSM day 2 -
We were pretty sluggish in the morning. We had to break trail in the new snow that had fallen, but at least it wasn't like yesterday's gritty ice.



We went up Mt Dhaulagiri to the lookout of course. You can see yesterday's distance and frostbite on my face.


We did all the Marc's Folly hills and I took my only fall of the CSM, being a smartass and trying to carve a telemark turn. I had to re-do the run to improve my score.
Hit the aid station at 25km and 45km this time. We were pretty tired but still gobsmacked at the scenery. So amazing to have nearly 20 hours of continuously spectacular skiing, and only a handful of people, half of whom are friends we know.


We bushwhacked the new Wild Mouse bypass, which Bash had kindly broken in for us, so we did all the existing trails and 2 future ones!

We met Chad and the Spence clan in the last 5 km.

Made it in before dark, despite the slow conditions and sluggish bodies.






Last time I did Gold was 15 years ago. This one seemed harder, but also more spectacular and adventurous, and fun to ski with Stephen. He's rock solid, knows how to set the perfect CSM pace, and will probably do 10 more of these.
Big thanks to Bash for the support and tracking, and the Good Samaritans who left us cookies in our food bin.

C • Congrats!!!!!!!! 12

Canadian Ski Marathon Coureur des Bois Gold virtual edition. Day 1

The CSM Gold is usually 160km over 2 days, where you carry all your gear and meals and sleep out overnight. They fully machine-groom the trail and have aid stations every 20km with hot soup, drinks, food and warming tents. At Gold camp they have fires already going, provide hot water and a hay bale as a seat and sleeping pad. The virtual edition is 120km due to lack of support.

This year Stephen Couchman was going for his 9th gold and I joined him for my second. We did it the hard way, 60km each day on the backcountry ungroomed Kolapore Wilderness Trails. We also had a secondary goal to ski every inch of the 50+km network, including the experts-only hills we usually only tackle with backcountry gear in ideal conditions, not on racing skis with a full pack on crusty snow.

We started day one in the dark under an extreme cold warning. Apparently it got down to -28 in the morning.



We had to break trail with a thin but grainy layer on top for the first few hours, very abrasive and slow.

I got a bit of frostbite on the long fast downhill into North West Passage, but sunrise was incredible.







Had to deploy hot packs for my hands, but we were enjoying the ski.
Barb met us at a road crossing as our GPS tracker had frozen.


Barb set up a box of soup, drinks and goodies at Bruce and Val's place at the far end of Kolapore, and we hit it at about 23km. We did a big loop in the opposite direction including Red Death and Paradise Hwy. We only saw 1 couple right near the parking lot all day.

The tracks finally got faster as we re-did the trails. Aid station 2 at the 44km mark, then back home via Wild Mouse and The Gulch.





Bash met us near the end.



Back home we set up Gold camp and toasted pizza from our packs over the fire for dinner.



Injured Ski Musketeer Kev W fatbiked over to join us for a slice of pizza at Gold Camp.


Phenomenal night under a brilliant full moon, then falling snow.

Jog/hike with the dogs. Cram taper day- we had to move the CSM to tomorrow as weather looks dicey Wednesday.

C • Have a great CSM! 3