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For the last exercise of the Wilderness First Aid-course there are three victims at once. I broke my leg in a bad way, and my partners are panicking and suffering from hypothermia. It’s bitter cold today, with a strong wind so they almost have a real case of hypothermia. The ‘rescuers’ move me from the place of the accident, but manage to get my foot stuck in the deep snow. I cry and shout apparently quite convincing and get a compliment from the teacher for my acting. They put me in a ‘burrito’ made of a tarp, a sleeping bag and foil blankets to keep me warm. I can attest it wasn’t really warm, so I decided not to have a broken leg when there is a -35 wind-chill warning.

After that we had to make a multiple-choice test of all the theory we learned over the course of this weekend. I just pass the test. My learning-from-a-book capabilities are not as good as they where when I was a student.

Another problem is that I now have to take a much bigger First-aid kit with me than before. Not being ignorant has its drawbacks. I hope i don’t have to put anything I learned this weekend into practise.

I attend a ‘Wilderness First Aid’ course in the Laurentians. I’ve never done any first aid course before, since I never saw much point in it when I still lived in the Netherlands. But here in Québec (and in the US) a hike in the forests is usually a bit more remote and help is further away.

So yesterday I did a CPR course and today we learn about all kinds of rescue techniques and ways to keep people alive until the professional rescuers arrive. We take turns in being the victims and play dead (well wounded actually) outside in the snow. It’s very warm today but raining, so it’s a wet and cold endeavour. To make things worse I forgot my rain-proof pants in Montréal so I only have a normal pair of pants. It took a while before my rescuers found me, and after they treated my head wound I’m glad I could get back inside.

It’s BTW totally coincidental that two of us wear a T-shirt with ‘chaos’ on it.

During a sunday stroll on the mountain with friends and Poupoune we see a fresh snow angel alongside the path. I’ve never heard of, nor saw a snow angel before I came to Québec. Probably because there is not often enough snow in The Netherlands for them to surface.
So I decide to make my first ever snow angle. After two tries I got more or less the hang of it. The result was not very good, I know, but I’m just starting to learn the tricks of the trade.

Today I went for my first telemark skiing this season. Although my technique still is far from perfect, I was happy that I hadn’t completely forgotten how to do it. It’s funny, normal skiing just goes automatically, but to telemark I really have to concentrate.

In the afternoon, when I got tired it became even harder. Telemarking is really tiring because you’re always skiing halfway squated, while keeping pressure on the bend leg. You use muscles that you don’t use in any other sport. At least not in one I’m practising.

Around sunset the lights switched on. It was the first time I was skiing in artificial light. I’ve seen the slopes illuminated like white highways when I passed them driving on the real highway, but never actually skied on them. Usually the lights are not on during the week, because they close at 4:30, but since it was still holiday season (and my just bought season pass wasn’t valid yet, but I did get a large discount on the day-rate) so there was night skiing. In Europe, were I skied before, they don’t have illumination on ski slopes (at least not in the places I’ve been) probably because the descents are much longer, and the price of electricity is much higher. It’s also a big waste of electricity, of course, and probably shouldn’t be encouraged.

But nevertheless I stayed, and skied under the stars, on these brightly lit, white, artificial, well groomed slopes.

It felt strange, almost unreal, also because most of the other skiiers had left and I had virtually the whole piste for myself. I did a couple of runs and then I left. It had been a nice day, I was tired and it was getting much colder without the sun.

This is not the first time we’re going cross-country skiing, but on both previous occasions I forgot my camera. This time we went to ski along the ‘RiviËre du Nord’, the small, winding river that stretches along the Laurentians, north of Montréal. Of course there are lots of rivers that are far more northern, but they weren’t named yet when this one was named.
We looked at the map and were heading to a trail a few kilometres north of the parking lot. In order to get there we could either drive to another parking lot, or ski a few kilometres. We decided to ski. After a steepish descent, the trail was going over a bridge and the slightly up and down but reasonable flat until we reached the old railway bed.
The trains are gone a long time ago, the rails removed and used for other things (maybe even for building our house, the main beams in the basement are supported by ‘columns’ made of old rails) but the old railway bed has been converted into a hiking/cycling path in the summer, and a ski-trail in the winter, named “Le P’tit Train du Nord”. Because the trail is slightly sloping upward, without any steep descents or climbs, it’s ideal for people who practise cross country skiing in skate style, on much shorter skis with stiffer bindings and using longer poles. It is however a total bore for us, who ski in the classic style, with both skis parallel to each other. But it was only for a few kilometres and then our trail would go back to the other side of the river again and was going to be a bit more interesting.

When we reached the intersection of the two trails however, we found out that the river crossing was over the ice, and since the ice wasn’t thick enough yet, was not yet open. So we couldn’t reach the other side of the river and couldn’t reach the nice trail. So after a short break, during which Alison burned her tongue by drinking tea straight out of the thermos bottle, we returned over the boring train track towards our car. It had been okay, the weather had been better than predicted and we had been out in the fresh air, but of course we should have gone to the other parking lot. Next time we will.

[Click to see movie (1.4 MB QuickTime)]

Bonne année deux mille six!

Alison made some improvements on Poupoune’s winter boots, so now Poupoune has not only boots, but also socks (or leggings; whatever you prefer). We try them out on a new years’s walk. The boots stay better on this way and she looks even cuter. Just as with garters and stockings they also draw attention to her behind. Watch the movie to see the effect.

Bertha is showing that the mitten holder (Yeah, it’s finished!) can also be used as a nice dress.

We tried to have a little less presents this year but didn’t totally succeed. Audrey wants to unpack the all, and it a little disappointed when she finds out that not all presents are for her.

[photo: janet agulnik]

The moment we arrived at Alison’s parents’ house in Ottawa, niece Audrey asked if we brought the ‘doggies’. She saw them last summer and they apparently made a deep impression. Every-time she sees us, when we walk in and out the house doing errands, she repeats the question. To satisfy her curiosity I show her pictures of the doggies on my laptop.
Her brother Simon is less interested in doggies, but he really likes the glowing Apple logo on the back of my laptop’s screen. Especially when I turn it on and off when he touches it. He thinks it’s magical.

Alison goes overboard with one of her Christmas presents and spends a couple of days to make a mitten holder for her sister Bertha and her family. It is going to be a haute couture mitten holder, with carefully selected color scheme (she use Excell to design it!) and carefull crafted details. Hopefully it’s ready before Christmas, because, as always, she started late.