Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Trails are Groomed; Ski Hills are Open

Winter has settled down with no more storms, but a very white world. The temperature continues to hover around -10. The cross-country ski trails are groomed and ready for use. There are two beautiful areas of ski trails near the valley, the Glenelg and Kolapore trails, featuring many more kilometres of trail than you can probably ever ski, mostly through beautiful rolling hardwood bush, making for wonderful skiing.

The snowmobile trail is in business too. The whine of distant snowmobiles sounds in many corners, but there is one major long distance trail network to be followed, taking you into the backwoods where otherwise humans would never pass. These are the Klondyke trails (not to be confused with the Klondike trails in the Yukon!).

At the same time the downhill ski hills are open for business, and the winter weekenders have started to arrive. Some of them will stay for the entire two-week school holiday, and then be back every weekend until March Break. The many people who come to ski in the valley in the winter mean that winter is the second busiest season to summer around here. More traffic, more business in local stores, more lights on in homes at night. And a number of jobs important for locals running the lifts and lodges.

If you're prepared, and enjoy being active outdoors, winter is a great time in the valley! As soon as Christmas is over, I look forward to getting out on the trails!

Stopped by the church today to donate a little to support their Christmas hamper program - they delivered hampers to 58 families between here and Owen Sound yesterday.

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