Dave and Lexi's Adventures
Canadian Ski Marathon
February 12-13, 2005
Lachute-Gold Camp-Buckingham, Quebec
The snow in Vermont this year was remarkably lousy. Either the weather was warm and rainy or cold and dry. On top of that, we took two weeks off in January. Before doing our Bronze Courer de Bois in 2003 and our Silver Courer de Bois in 2004, we had skied between 400km and 500km. We were lucky this time to have done half of that training. To a large degree, we were hoping that residual fitness from our PCT hike, improved skiing technique, and confidence from having succeeded twice before would help us to complete our first Gold Courer de Bois.
Jill and Rick dropped us off at Gold Dorm (the Lachute elementary school) at the refreshingly early hour of 5PM. We were practically the first people to claim a spot on the floor of the gym. We had a relaxing evening eating our pre-made pasta dinner and chatting with Ferd and Robert. Most of the other skiers rolled in between 8 and 9 o'clock. By some small miracle no one snored, and we had a reasonably restful night, at least until 3:30 when the lights came on.
Shortly after wolfing down the standard eggs and pre-buttered toast breakfast, we boarded schoolbusses for the short ride to the start. Already a large crowd of skiers were in the starting pen, eager to begin the day's 85km ski. We turned on our headlamps, tightened our pack straps, counted down in French, and were off down the congested trail. Icy conditions made for a rather substandard track, and staying in control was often difficult. After less than 10km, most of the wax was scraped off. It wasn't long before I realized that it was going to be a rough day for wax.
The Quebecois officiant with the old fashioned wolf hat had warned all of us at breakfast that portions of Section 3 were dangerously icy and thin, so with some apprehension I headed into its unrelenting hills. Up high, there was quite a bit more snow, and the skiing was fabulous. However, when we got to the series of descents known as the 'Bobsled Hill', the situation changed. Yellow signs warning us 'Danger' and 'Mauvais État' were reinforced by CSM volunteers instructing us to take off our skis and walk. The trail was so icy you were virtually assured of wiping out, and given the heavy skier traffic, and also of crashing into someone else.
It was a long road walk along the Rouge River to the start of Section 4. It warmed up a bit and became less of an icy grind, but the time was on everyone's minds. We had enough time to make the 3:15 cutoff, but with conditions so variable, and increasing fatigue, we kept moving. Being quite a bit faster than in previous years, Lexi was always close at hand. With about 40 minutes to spare we reached the start of Section 5, and ate and drank well before the last push of the day.
Usually Section 5 to Gold Camp is shorter than going all the way to Montebello. Due to recent logging activity, we had an excrutiating 17.5km instead of the regular 9km. The snow was nice, but I was deleriously tired, and there were no kilometer markers to tell you how much more to endure. As daylight faded, we saw smoke in the distance. At 5:30, after nearly 12 hours of skiing, Lexi and I arrived at Gold Camp. It was quite the organized place. Give your number to the guy with the clipboard, and he'll give you a bale of hay to use as a seat. Wait for the farmer to tractor in enormous rolls of hay, and grab some for your bedding. Get boiling water from the Boy Scouts with huge propane burners. Grab firewood from the pile and a Boy Scout with a flamethrower to light your campfire.
Lexi and I shared our fire with Brian and Wendy, a couple from upstate New York, Ferd, and Olivier, a young Quebecois guy. It was dramatically nice to sit down, put on our down jackets, and start eating chocolate. We tried to dry out our gloves and boots, but an annoying light snow seemed to moisten everything. I shoved two sheets of newspaper into each boot, and buried them in the hay beneath my sleeping bag. Dozens of other campfires spread into the night, a peculiar kind of refugee camp. The murmur of conversation quieted down towards 9 o'clock, and we enjoyed an evening far more comfortable than the high school in Papineauville.
At 4:15 AM camp came back to life and we enjoyed our oatmeal while sitting in our warm sleeping bags. Our bags had gotten a little damp and frosty overnight, but the temperature bottomed out at a mild -13°C, so we were quite content. Just before 6, we stuffed our bags and jackets into our otherwise meager packs and joined the line of headlamps filing out of Gold Camp and on down the trail. The line of lights undulating over smooth open fields was a beautiful sight.
Midway through Section 7, I realized that I had not eaten enough breakfast to get me through the day and was forced to stop and eat my entire reserve of 6 homemade Davey Bars. I limped the last couple of kilometers to the checkpoint, donned my down jacket, and stuffed my face full of cookies and soup. Unfortunately, the soup filled me with mostly liquid. I recovered well enough, but next time I plan to bring a pound of fudge. At midday our exhaustion from Saturday's effort began to come through. This year, Lexi skied about 1/2 hour faster, so we saw each other frequently throughout the day, and encouraged each other to keep on moving. Ferd and I skated clear across the large lake in Section 9, gunning for the critical checkpoint and avoiding the kick and glide on lightly disguised ice.
It was a great relief to arrive at the final checkpoint with a half hour to spare. Shortly thereafter Lexi rolled in and we snacked on broken cookies before entering Section 10. Moderate temperatures, a brilliant blue sky, and a golden late afternoon sun made for thrillingly pleasant skiing. Perhaps because its the last one, Section 10 westbound is one of my favorites. Numerous lengthy moderate descents make for a satisfying conclusion to a long day of skiing. At one point we walked, skis in hand, for several hundred yards over ground that was barely covered with snow. But for the most part, the snow was nice. Generous cheers at the Arrivée/Finish were quite welcome.
Much to our glee, Rick was waiting for us at the door of the school in Buckingham. Even more welcome was the beer Robert gave me in the shower room. Waiting in line for the banquet was a bit of a bore, but we eventually found piles of food, and ate until falling asleep in our chairs seemed like a fine idea. With Jill behind the wheel (we never would have made it ourselves) we rode to western Montreal and the home of Veronica and Robert. Oddly enough, extreme exhaustion and aching feet made for light sleep.
Monday morning we dropped Rick off at work in Montreal, and stopped at a bulk food shop, a fabulous bagel shop (Montreal bagels are truly great, and that's coming from someone who lived in Brooklyn for three years), a snazzy bakery, and a fromagerie with a nice selection of Quebecois beers. Back in Montpelier, we tried not to look at our beat up ski bases too closely. Of course all sorts of people asked whether we'd be returning next year. We'll wait until October to worry about that.
Dave
Dave's Coureur de Bois Gold gear list (totals ~17 pounds)
Backpack
Ridgerest pad
Winter sleeping bag
Down jacket with hood
Down booties
Plastic spoon
Large plastic mug (for soup at checkpoints, and for dinner)
½ liter screw top Gatorade bottle insulated with aluminized bubble wrap
Dermatone
Smartwool socks (2 pairs)
Windproof underwear (2 pairs)
Long underwear bottoms & tights (2 sets)
Long underwear tops & wind shells (2 sets)
Other insulating layers depending on weather forecast
Gloves (2 pairs)
Fleece hat (2)
Lightweight balaclava
Sunglasses
Petzl Tikka headlamp
Wax/cork
Bib attached to back of pack
4 sheets of newspaper to dry off boots at gold camp
3 large garbage bags in case of rain at gold camp
Digital camera, spare battery
Skis, poles
Dinner (9 oz potato flakes, 4 oz cheese, butter, spices, 7 oz veggie sausage)
Breakfeast (5 instant oatmeal packets, butter, brown sugar)
Hot chocolate mix
Chocolate (8 oz)
For Friday night at school
Thermarest
Summer sleeping bag
Ear plugs
Gold Dorm in Lachute
Breakfast, 4AM
about to start Section 3
the local farmer delivers hay for our beds
Boy Scouts using a flame thrower to start our fire
Brian, Wendy, Lexi, Ferd, and Oliver around the campfire
Ferd Lauffer ready for a comfortable night
