If you have ever been back east to Ontario or Quebec you would understand that winter is a very important part of the culture. Cross country skiing is one of the most popular winter sports in this part of the country, and there is good reason why. The consistently cold temperatures make the snow perfect for nordic sports, and the vast trail networks offer some of the most picturesque skiing anywhere.
The CSM is a two day classic cross country skiing event that covers 160 km. There are five sections to cover each day – the distances vary from 12 to 20 km, and each section is given a difficulty rating based on the terrain covered. Between each section there are fully staffed checkpoints. All racers have a bar code on their bibs that must be scanned both to enter and to leave the checkpoint – this allows the event organizers to track skiers safely. A word of warning though – you only have until 2 pm to get to the start gate for the 4th section, and 3:15 pm for the 5th and final section of each day. If you want Coureur de Bois status you will have to minimize stopping time to make the cut offs.
This event is powered by massive community and volunteer support. At each checkpoint you will find hot soup, Gatorade, honey water, and a variety of foods. The Canadian Armed Forces also man water stops between each checkpoint so that you never run out of liquid. There is a Swix sponsored wax tent that reworks your skiis for free while you refuel and have a bathroom break at each CP. I thought that this was great because it allows skiers to deal with the crazy temperature fluctuations of the Quebec winters. If you do not feel like skiing anymore there are shuttle buses waiting at each checkpoint to take you back to your accommodations – and they leave every 30 minutes. The event is so well organized that you can ski as little or as much as you want, or you can pick and choose which sections you want to ski. After 43 years they have got the formula right.
Base CampIf you are going to do this event do it right and stay at the Fairmount Chateau Montebllo. CSM buys out the accommodations here for this event and puts together an all inclusive package that includes 3 nights lodging and breakfast and dinner each day. The food is fabulous and there is no way you will go hungry. This beautiful log structure is a part of Canadian history and is nestled in a picturesque lakeshore setting. The views from the dining hall are spectacular – I highly recommend getting up early and watching the sun rise with breakfast. There are miles of cross country skiing right out of the hotel doors – and it is all free! The massive river rock fireplace tower forms the center piece of the lobby. It seems as if the rest of the hotel was structured around it – either way the eight fireplaces provide enough room for everyone to warm their backs while telling tales from the tracks. Stay a few extra days on either end to explore everything this place has to offer!
Day 1 – Lachute to Montebello, Distance 80 km, 5 stages
The first day of the CSM would begin at Lachute, a small village 45 km east of Montebello. Our category the Coureur do Bois Bronze had a start time of 5:50 am, and this meant we had to be on the shuttle bus by 4:40 am. Breakfast opened at 3:30 am – it was interesting trying to fuel up for a full day at this hour. We checked the weather on the way out of the hotel lobby – a balmy minus 25, but it was expected to rise up to plus 5 degrees. This meant packing a little extra gear. The most startling realization that morning was that we actually had to ski back to the hotel from what seemed like a lengthy bus ride away, and we had only been driven half of the distance that we expected to ski.
Day 1 Section1, 14.3 km
It was definitely biting cold at the start – Cindy, Catriona, and myself all put on our down jackets while we waited in the corral for our category to be released into the wild. We almost missed the start with the ladies waiting in line for the bathrooms. If there is one criticism I can offer up it was that there were not enough porta-potties for the volume of people attending – 3 per 1000 skiers was inadequate. We made it and lined up in the tracks to ski off into the darkness with 250 headlamps illuminating the forest. This was a very cool sight as some people had colored filters on their lamps to cut the glare. It created the effect of a string of xmas lights snaking through the woods. I tried to capture it on film but the photos do not do it justice.
The cold was making all sweat vapour freeze as it evaporated off your body – this gave everybody a frosty appearance with iced eyebrows, hair, and eyelashes.
Our first bottle neck was created by a single track descent with a sharp left hand turn at the bottom. It was taking everyone out, and we waited 20 minutes to tee this one up. If you do not get ahead of the pack in the downhill sections you will spend a great deal of time waiting and getting cold! Catriona and I got separated from Cindy here in the cue. There are literally so many skiers that you have to keep moving with the flow. We kept pulling over and waiting but she was not showing up so we pushed on to the next CP to wait. After watching a few people fumble down the hill we quickly learned the best method of descent was to attack the corner and jam your outside ski into the rut at the bottom and weight it heavily. This would boomerang you around the corner – most of the time! Once we got the hang of it became more fun than intimidating – these down hills were vastly different from the well groomed xc ski trail descents that we were used to. The single skier only width, twisting turns, and piles of loose snow from snow plowers certainly made for some excitement.
Day 1 Section 2, 13.1 km
Once the sun came up the temperature started to rise. The air still had a good bite, but the trackset was immaculate and the rolling terrain was beautiful in the first two sections. It was weird to be skiing in the woods with so few evergreens visible, but that’s what made the experience so other worldly. We were making slow progress because Catriona’s wax was completely the wrong temperature range – her hip flexors were working over time and she was battling cramps. A few salt tablets and some help from mother nature and her glide improved. We were had averaged 2.5 hours on each of the first two sections, and we still had not reconnected with Cindy. It was still about minus 15 so we decided to push on through the next section and wait at CP 3.
Climbing the foothills of Quebec
This section was deemed “Difficult” with black diamond status. It had some seriously steep climbs and descents over the 18 km distance. We were eager to get this one out of the way. The crux was a 520 m climb over 1 km up the only mountain in the area – it was nasty. Catriona and I were glad to have this behind us. It took a good mix of the herring bone and bunny run techniques to get up the hill, and it was taxing. I do not think that we were ready for what lay on the other side. The descents were crazy steep and shot across narrow bridges and frozen creeks and lakes, only to abruptly shoot up into more punchy climbs. It was pure madness – people were crashing everywhere or walking down. There were signs everywhere warning skiers- “bad conditions”. Catriona and I did not pay much attention to these and we just skied whatever was in the way. There were some comical falls. By this time we were being subjected to freezing rain, rain, then snow, and back to freezing rain again. The final descent to the checkpoint was single file only and seemed to go on forever. I have never been so happy to see lukewarm minestrone soup.
We planned to wait here for Cindy to catch up while we refueled. The last section had taken over three hours to complete and it was about 5 minutes to 2 pm. What we had not realized was that 2 pm was the cut off time to start section 4. The only cut off we had in our minds was the 3:15 pm time for access to the 5th and final stage of the day. There was suddenly a great deal of commotion at the CP as they announced that we only had 5 minutes to make the gate – which was 1 km away, or would we would not be skiing anymore today. The decision was made to make the push – we bolted along the road to make the bridge crossing in time for the 2 pm closure. Catriona and I would be some of the last skiers allowed to continue that day. Cindy decided to call it a day here as she had not been feeling well on the first two sections – she battled a bad migraine and some disorientation as a result. However, she toughed it out with some Advil and soup and completed the first 50 km of the day.
Day 1 – Section 4, 19.7 km
This stage turned out to be one of the prettiest – we followed a river under a canopy of birch boughs and skied into the waning hours of the day. Of course with only 5 km to go there were more climbs to be conquered. Out came the caffeinated chocolate bars and gummy bears!
Crossing the river for the final 10 km of the day
Skiing in the dark without a headlamp is definitely a Jedi experience – you have to go by feel. Cat had hers but I did not bring mine in the morning. The darkness did however make the last 2 km of the day feel like forever. At one point we thought that maybe they forgot about us and had packed up the CP and left. As we entered the last section of forested trail I caught a glimpse of lights and I knew they were still there. We rolled in for some hot soup at the end of a very long day – 66 km, 11 hours. We were so happy to see the yellow school bus that would take us back to the Chateau Montebello. Although we had aspirations of achieving Coureur de Bois status and finishing all 5 sections it had been a very satisfying day of skiing. Not to mention that we got to experience every variation of winter weather known to Quebec! Back to the hotel for a drink in front of the fire place!
Dark but done! The end of day 1.Day 2 – Montebello to Buckingham- 80 km
The start was more humane on day 2 – we were having breakfast at 4:30 am and then loading the bus for a short ride into the town of Montebello. The buzz was that the skiing was far easier today with a lot less elevation loss and gain. Plus the weather was forecast to be much more stable – minus 8 to 10 and sunny! It would be a lot easier to get the wax formula right. The day would start in darkness with the usual procession of Nordic skiers lining up in the trackset. This time I did not forget my headlamp. It was cold but not bone chilling, and it was snowing lightly as we made our way off into the dark forests of Montebello.
Getting ready to sneak off into the dark at the start of day 2.Day 2 - Section 1, 16.4 km
The biggest difference on day 2 was the terrain – we were gliding across endless miles of rolling farm fields. It was a very different experience. About 30 minutes into our ski we came across the Coureur de Bois Gold outdoor camp. This group is crazy – to achieve this status you must successfully complete all 5 stages on both days for 3 years in a row. If successful you earn the right to camp outdoors overnight, and you must carry all of the gear you need for this while skiing. It is quite something to see this group ski with huge packs. Everyone gets out of their way – and rightly so. They do not snow plow or slow down on any of the down hills, and the weight of their packs sends them wizzing by you on even the slightest decline.
Once dawn broke and we hit the wide open fields the wind began to bite at our faces. At one point I thought that the right side of my nose and my cheek were frozen. I even skied with the mitt of my right hand pressed up against my face for a while trying to thaw out the skin. The wind chill was causing the track set to glaze over making it difficult to get any traction on the up hills. It did, however, make for some interestingly fast descents. The only other memorable moment from this section was a Gold Coureur De Bois skier who pushed his way through the crowds at the drink table at CP 1. He was knocking everyone around with his pack and then giving the volunteers the gears because they had no warm liquids. He was very annoying.
Day 2 – Section 2, 20.6 km
The skies opened up to a perfect shade of blue and steady temperatures of minus 10. The snow was almost perfect for gliding. The rolling terrain made for a real roller coaster ride, and the farm house scenery was spectacular.
Catriona showing off her mad skills..One thing that you learn skiing through the back woods of Quebec is that the culture is all about cabins in the woods – they were everywhere and often deep in obscure places. On the secret single track trails through the woods that connected the farmer’s fields you would get glimpses of these wilderness hideouts. One of the highlights of this stage was the coffee and fresh baking that the residents of one of these cabins was handing out for the skiers. It’s surprising what you find in the middle of no where.
Cindy enjoying a climb in the sunshine!We arrived at CP 2 in the quaint little village of St.Sixte at the 116 km mark. It was so much nicer to refuel in the sunshine! After a 10 minute break the three of us departed to tackle stage three of the day.
Day 2, Section 3, 16 km
We spent a good portion of this section climbing logging roads through a hidden valley in the landscape. The only drawback to this stage was dodging the odd snowmobile ripping around the tight corners. Once we cleared this shared section the trail the skiing was spectacular. We were greeted with seemingly endless rolling sections of downwardly trending terrain that circumnavigated a beautiful lake. Gliding is good!
Proof that I actually skied!The snow and the temperatures were perfect for fast and efficient glide through this portion of the course. It inspired you to go fast! I think the most memorable moment of this day was Catriona’s attempt to race me on the steepest part of the downhill – she pulled out of the tracks on my left to make the pass and then lost it completely. She did a full blown head plant into the snow bank – I burst out laughing and nearly crashed myself. She was fine, and we laughed it off while we caught up with Cindy.
We were soon spit out into rolling farm fields as we approached CP 3. It was almost 2 pm which meant we could possibly miss the cut off for starting section 4. I picked up the pace and pushed ahead of the girls to get them moving a little faster. It was all up hill for the last kilometer into the checkpoint. I honestly did not think we would make it, but we got there with 50 seconds to spare. There was no time to stop and refuel if we wanted to ski another section. We were the last group allowed on this section, which meant we would probably finish the day with the ski patrol sweep.
Day 2, Section 4, 14.6 km
After checking out of the gate of CP 3 we made our way through a winding single track trail in the forest. These rare sections are quite magical – you almost feel like the real Coureur de Bois sneaking through secret forest trails to avoid detection in the fur trading days. Once the trail opened back up into rolling farm lands we stopped to refuel and wax the skis. The sun was warm at this point so we took a good 15 minutes to soak it all in. Then we began to ski off into the sunset planning how we would celebrate our accomplishment that night. The tracks wound lazily around ponds and abandoned farm house buildings, and there were no major climbs to conquer. When we hit the 5 km to the next CP sign we stopped to warm our souls in celebration with a sip of single malt. It was here that the ski patrol sweeps joined us and filled us in on how the gold Coureur de Bois are able to finish the full 80 km each day. The secret – try not to stop for more than 5 minutes, and no snowplowing on the down hills! Seems simple but 80 km is a long way on classic XC skis.
Catriona and Cindy approaching the end of section 4 on day 2We soon left the ski patrol behind as they stopped to collapse the volunteer road crossing stations as we passed. There was a short climb out of the valley to get to the finish of this section. The sky glowed orange as the sun began to set as we passed the 2 km to go sign. We jumped back into some twisting forest trails that wandered past lifeless cabins in the woods. It was not long before we rolled into our final check point of the day to be greeted by some ecstatic volunteers. They still had hot soup for us! Quebec hospitality is fantastic. We piled on to the shuttle bus back to the hotel eating every bit if fuel we had left in our packs. We had put in a 9.5 hour today and managed to finish 68 km! The three of us were ecstatic with this accomplishment. For the record not one of us made it past 9:30 pm that night – nothing like cool fresh air to put you to sleep! See you next year CSM….
Day 2 finished and it’s still light out!.
