Twas the Night before Ski Camp not a Snow Flake was in the Air

Beware the writing contained beyond this point is not very good and may not be suitable for all to read. PS this is why I’m an engineer.

Twas the night before ski camp not a snow flake was in the air

The forecast was warm which caused us skiers to say our goodnight prayers

Excitement was rising since all exams were nearly written

Even though it was warm Coach Colin said “Don’t forget your mittens”

The day had now come when some athletes planned on arriving

It started with three men, Derek, Oliver and Glenn driving

The car was very packed, due to the amount of equipment

Many pairs of skies and clothes this was a large shipment

Normally at the corner of Singhampton snow can be seen

But not this December 15 nothing but the hideous sight of green

To the farm house we entered, unpacked and started to relax

Today sure wasn’t the day to be thinking about ski wax

There were two more skiers on their way

Both Colin and his friend Ursula were the only others for the day

The five got dressed and laced up their shoes

To the bush they disappeared ......(couldn’t think of word to rhyme, therefore you come up with one)

After dinner the schedule read a strength circuit

Everyone complained but that courageous Glenn R. Workit

When it came to push ups he did well over a hundred

Some say Chuck Norris got scared and wondered

The strength circuit pretty well summed up the night

Everyone soon was off to bed to rise early in the morning sun light

In hopes that snow would have scattered that ground

That way they could ski and not run around

Well rhyming takes a lot of time and so the remaining of the ski camp adventures will not be shared in such a way as the first day.

So day two of the camp soon arrived with a few centimetres of snow on the ground. The four guys unpacked their rock skies and set out for a morning adventure out on the white stuff. A few laps began around the lower field but soon their interest grew short and they began to trek through the ponds and mud puddles formed through-out the various trails leading up to Larry Glaciers. The snow was little nicer up top, or maybe it was the fact that the ground was not a marsh that melted the snow the instant it hit the ground. As you can imagine there was not a heavy amount of snow but we made the best of it by putting a few hours of striding in, with a hint of mud running and rock climbing. Yes that is right ladies and gentlemen some rock climbing was done while we were out for our morning ski. It may be a little painful to take in the fact that skies were being used for the pleasure of climbing over trees across beds of rocks and through patches of raspberry plants, but coming from the not so snowy city of Waterloo the conditions were not all that big of a surprise for any of us. A good few hours went by from the fun filled morning which made it lunch time and gave us some time to realize how much we all wished there was snow on the ground so there was no repeat of the morning. But lunch was finished up and the scheduled nap was disrupted to yes you guessed it go for another ski hike with skies on. This time around things were not near as fun since we came to realize this wasn’t the smartest and nicest way to treat ones skies. So the afternoon ski came to a close with the remaining afternoon work out to be done by playing some ultimate Frisbee. Due to the short turn out so far to the camp teams were broken down into the young bucks, strong accurate thrower rookie Oliver Conway-White and superior quick hands second year Glenn Hartman. These two men took on the old folks, butter hands Colin Rhodes, talented but short Ursula and lastly Sir falls a lot Derek Hartman. As you can imagine it was a blow out game with the young guns making some unbelievable plays leaving the old farts left behind not knowing what hit them. Day two soon came to an end which included the arrival of two more fellow athletes, Tim Hughes and newly comer Lucy.

Saturday morning came with a great surprise, nearly a foot of powder. Breakfast was quickly eaten since everyone was so excited to get out and experience the winter wonderland. Everyone strapped on their skies and set out for a morning of technique on the classic skies. The day consisted of skiing and lots of it. Most people remained with the classic since the snowmobiles had not yet had time to proper pack the trails and make the conditions suitable for skating. There wasn’t even time for a nap this afternoon because of the fear that the snow would soon disappear. So after long kilometres on out in the bush dinner was greatly appreciated by all. Joining us for dinner were a few extra Hartman boys Ian and Karl as well as some Guelph athletes Shaun, Laura and Mary. After dinner was complete the Waterloo team did the tradition gift exchange which resulted in a few laughs from some ridiculous gifts, may just have to come out next year to see what the gifts were since that sometimes becomes a routine of re gifting. Most hit the hay around 8:00 in order to be rested up for another great day of skiing and/or potentially racing in the Yuntide Blast.

Sunday came quick with only getting an 11 hour sleep, breakfast was eaten with hardly a word spoken (general case for tired, hungry skiers). The race today was going to consist of a 3 km loop from the lodge, out the green loop taking the short cut up to the first finger were the climb continued. Once the top of the climb was reached the remaining part of the race proceeded to be downhill, backwards on blue to Larry’s Glacier and a sprint down to the finish. For the men this was repeated 3 times and with the women doing 3 as well. Not too many Waterloo members participated in the race due to the fact of working extremely hard over the previous few days. Results available on Zone4.ca.

Over all the camp ended fairly well, plus I am getting really bored writing this blog so that’s all I’m writing. If you want more, it will be nice to see you all out next year that way you can experience in the excitement.

Merry Christmas Everyone,

Happy skiing over the break and I will see you out at the future races.