Bates Nordic Skiing: Winter Break in the Northeast

After the rain washed away a bit of the wonderful snow in Vermont, the Grossman family decided to embark on a search for snow. We decided to go to a little ski area north of Montreal, called Far Hills, in Val Morin. We found out about this town because we went go-karting nearby this summer! First, before finding snow, we went exploring in Montreal for a morning, at my sister's request, who was much more excited for that than about than skiing. We went to a giant "open air market" that was like a massive farmer's market, but in the winter, and under cover. Montreal was covered in snow, and we all were thinking that this is probably what the race organizers envisioned Quebec looking like for the World Cup last December. It was beautiful. After being touristy for a bit, we went to Far Hills. We had a short family ski on Tuesday afternoon, where my brother quickly found the little kids hill, complete with stuffed animals in the trees. He had fun beating me down the hill and doing tricks.
We were staying with family friends, who we traditionally have spend winter break with in Mt. St Anne, so we went out to dinner with them. Finding somewhere to eat on Christmas Eve was a task, but eventually we found a restaurant and had wonderful dinners after deciphering the French menu.
Christmas Day dawned, bright and (really) cold. We were are all excited to use our polar wax. I did some exploring by myself and found some cool things. First, at one point I took my ski off and ended up in snow that was deeper than my knees! Second, I found a trail called Condor and a mountain called Mount Condor- who knew Connor had a mountain named after him?! Third, I went on a neat narrow single track trail, complete with steep downhills and hair pin turns. I've never skied in Europe, but it made me think of a trail in Scandinavia that could go on for kilometer after kilometer. In the afternoon, a group of us skied again and it was great, especially because it had warmed up a bit and it was really fun to ski with other people after a morning of skiing alone. My brother, sister, and dad carried on a family tradition of alpine skiing on Christmas day, finding on of the many tiny ski areas in the town we were in.
It was a short trip and I returned in time to do some lovely intervals and strength with Britta and Gracie at Rikert on Thursday. Rikert has awesome snow, especially considering the recent weather! At the gym, I met a guy who graduated from Bates a few years ago, and his parting words were "It's nice to see so many Bobcats around!"
ITS A GREAT DAY TO BE A BOBCAT!
Love,
Hallie