Charlevoix Traverse - Day 5

February 25, 2015 - 16 km

We awoke to a beautiful sunny day again, but fairly cold still at -25 C. It warmed up significantly during the course of the day though, so it ended up being one of the best skiing days of the trip. A tricky descent down to a river crossing was followed by a long ski along the river valley. Great snow conditions made travel fast. There were no huge elevations to be surmounted today, but a 300' ascent to a lookout for lunch had us put on the skins for the climb. We had a long break in the brilliant sunshine, looking out into the many mountains, gorges, and hydro cuts across the landscape. A long traversing descent followed and the group began to spread out. Deb, Marc, and I were in the lead and skied some lovely ski tracked terrain at fairly high speed. Just as I was cruising down a long gentle descent and was thinking how great it was that the trail had not been walked on, I rounded a corner and suddenly was bumping through some massive postholes courtesy of the local moose population. I managed to keep control, and fortunately not too far down the trail the moose herd had turned off into the forest. The rest of the day was simple terrain. After speeding along for a while, we came to a nice spot in the sun so sat down to a long break and waited for the others. It was now warm enough that I felt like taking a nap, but then the rest of the group arrived. There was a brief bit of tension with some that felt the pace was too fast, and then we split officially into two groups for the last four kilometers to the hut. Another fantastic bit of skiing in rolling terrain brought us to a lovely little cabin, where we set about getting the fire going and water on. Shortly after, the others arrived and we spent the rest of the afternoon drying gear and socializing with the last of the whisky.

Along the river valley in the gorgeous morning light.

Approaching a lookout, half way up the climb.

Count-down to the hut.

Approaching the summit. Also a good place for lunch in the sun.

Marc, just before launching into another speedy pitch downwards.

Something got ate.

Deb in a winter wonderland.

Chalet Coyote.

A rack of skin.

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