We had a great season of cross country skiing at Mount Washington

by Keith and Heather Nicol

   It was a sad day when we cleaned out our ski locker at Raven Lodge on Sunday, April 7 to end the

A ton of snow for the last day of skiing-Raven Lodge deck chairs

2019 cross country ski season. Especially given that overnight 12 cm of snow fell and close to 50 cm had fallen in the last 48 hours - it was looking more like mid winter at Mount Washington rather than the end of the season. We joined some friends for a tour of the upper trails and I even jumped on the Hawk Chair for a ski down “Upper West” – my first time on that trail all winter!!

        Raven Lodge is the base of operations of cross country skiing and snow shoeing at Mount Washington near Courtenay, B.C on Vancouver Island. The year saw lots of relatively cool weather (especially in February and early March) which was perfect for us since we like to classic ski and this meant we could use grip wax for much of the winter. Often temperatures at Mount Washington are around zero and this means that waxless skis work best for those people that don’t like to get into finicky waxing conditions. But waxable skis are faster and more enjoyable to ski on so this was a real bonus. 

Heather skiing on the "Ponds" trail

      I was involved in teaching cross country skiing and this year seemed to have more people from Victoria and Nanaimo than usual. Skiers can get a variety of lessons at Mount Washington from “Discover Classic” lessons for people who have never been on skis before to skate lessons for advanced skiers trying to improve their time in the “Snow to Surf” Relay. Either way a lesson will help you enjoy the sport a whole lot more. So next year if you have thought about trying cross country skiing or snowshoeing then check out Raven Lodge at Mount Washington. They have over 50 km of trail groomed for skating and classic skiing as well as many snowshoe trails. Raven Lodge has great mountain views and inside you can have a bite to eat, book rentals and lessons, buy day tickets and even have a sauna.  And new this past season was fat tire biking. Lets hope next winter brings the same great skiing to Mount Washington.  For more information see: https://www.mountwashington.ca/ 

 

Keith skating along the "Ponds" trail