By Jenna Thompson
If skiers get grumpy trying to book the popular overnight cabins in Gatineau Park, there’s an alternative.
At the Papineau-Labelle Wildlife Reserve in Quebec, two hours from Ottawa on Highway 321 north of Papineau, they can reserve overnight huts just weeks in advance instead of months ahead. This is where I enjoyed my very first overnight ski weekend with friends... >>>
Staying warm grandpa’s way
OLD-FASHIONED ADVICE STILL APPLIES
By Allen Macartney
During the 1920s and ’30s my grandpa was a farmer who sold his vegetables and meat at the Byward Market. In winter he would ride his horse-drawn sleigh from Ramsayville to downtown Ottawa and back – a long and uncomfortable trip on a cold and windy January evening if the temperature was nudging -20 C.
Once I asked him how he stayed warm for an hour and a half ride home on an exposed sleigh. He gave me these tips – which his own grandfather had told him in the 1800s. >>>
Ski weekend in Papineau-Labelle
QUEBEC WILDLIFE PRESERVE IS HUGE AND UNCROWDED
Cold weather running
Don’t let the Ottawa winters slow you down
By John Stanton
In the Canadian High Arctic, instructors in a survival course tell air force pilots that there is one thing they must overcome to survive in a world where temperatures of –70ºC are not uncommon. It is the psychological fear of cold.
They also teach that the heart is an efficient heater and that pilots can function comfortably with a little help from proper clothing. Instructors note that in high mountain ranges, tiny organisms survive on rocks warmed by the sun while temperatures around them are well below zero. The organisms have their own microclimate... >>>
XC-Skiing + Yurt camping in Gatineau Park
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Bushcraft - Essential Winter Fire Lighting Techniques
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Snowshoeing on a bike
FAT BIKES A FUN RIDE!
By Sheila Ascroft
If you’re toying with the idea of cycling off-road in winter, you’re soon up against the question of just how fat your mountain bike tires should be to float on snow. A monster-sized Big Fat Larry at 4.7 inches? Or an Endomorph at a merely tubby 3.7?
We’re not talking snowy roads, but fields of snow! Wherever you can snowshoe, you can ride a fat bike with fat tires. If you are environmentally careful, you can take this same “omni-terra” tire onto sandy beaches or mud, slippery rocks and roots, and anywhere else a depraved imagination can conjure... >>>
APRIL 18-19
Sat-Sun 10-6
Nepean Sportsplex
FREE Parking FREE Entrance