11-112 February 2023 Canadian Ski Marthon

 

The 57th edition of the Canadian Ski Marathon was held on Feb 11 and 12 and attended by Dorothy Coles, Daisy Greville, Alice Hawkins  and Birdie Munger . We were comfortably housed at the Motel Bel-Eau in Montebello by Friday evening and ready to ski the next morning. 

 

The CSM is a 160-km ski tour event, the longest in the world. It's not a race and skiers challenge themselves by skiing all or some of the 5 sections on each day. Those who ski all 10 sections achieve a 'coureur des bois' designation.

 

Our MBC party was headed by coureur des bois and 40-time CSM skier Dorothy Coles, with permanent bib number 2025.

 

Dorothy Coles en route

 Following Dorothy was 34-time CSM skier Daisy Greville. Her permanent bib #2023 was so appropriate in ...... 2023.

 

 

Daisy Greville proudly wearing permanent bib #2023

 Alice Hawkins has participated many times at the CSM, including skiing for coureur des bois “ for the beauty of watching the lines of skiers’ headlamps bobbing along the trails through the woods in the pre-dawn darkness, and the joy of skiing into the sunrise.” Completing the party was Birdie with 6 CSMs to his credit. 

 

Yo-yo weather created drama for snow conditions with pouring rain 2 days before the event followed by freezing temperature the next day. Luckily, there was a dusting of snow on Friday evening and glorious clear skies on Saturday with temperature hovering around zero 

 

So, we skied. Dorothy skied the final Section 5 on Saturday and the others skied Sections 1 and 2. Daisy remarked, “the first section we did from Arundel going along the Rivière Rouge was particularly attractive. Everyone I met on the trail was praising it.”

 

The trail passes over the Rivière Rouge on the old CN Rail bridge 

 

 

 Editor's note:  This is a popular place to take a photo. I took a similar one in 2019

 

And we skied on lakes too

 

 

We arrived back in Montebello refreshed after vigorous skiing. That was followed by a dinner with 12 skiers: both veterans and newcomers to the event. This marked a key element of the CSM which fosters making new friends and renewing old friendships.

 

On Sunday, Daisy and Birdie chose to ski the last two Sections 9 and 10. Misadventure struck! While among a group of about 15 skiers at a confusing intersection, we lost the trail! After a 2-hour and 8-km diversion we made it back to the official trail. The delay and disappointment cut our enthusiasm and energy for Section 10, and we bused back to the finish. Meanwhile, Dorothy skied Section 10 and Alice reported she “skied (and walked and slid) Sections 8, 9 and 10”.

 

My diversion on Section 9 also included some special moments. I met Pierre Lortie who was skiing in his 50th CSM at age 82. Betty introduced me to Aisling, the great granddaughter of Jackrabbit Johannsen, the wonderful energetic man who is credited with introducing xc skiing to North America and the founding patron of the CSM. Alice remarked with enthusiasm that on Sunday the buses were on time and arrived at the checkpoints, in contrast to Saturday.

 

The last words go to Dorothy who remarked, “The highlight for me this year was skiing both days with my friend Chris Busby. We started together in 1984 and shared a bed of hay at the (coureur des bois) gold camp several times.”

 

Daisy on Day 1 heading to Montebello

Respectfully submitted, Birdie