Nordic Pulse

Saturday 7-Mar'26 8:00 AM

SHORT VERSION:  --  +0.5 °C @ 8:00AM  Cloudly, near calm.  Check Report for today's skate lane grooming with skidoo/ginzoo. 

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LONG VERSION:  Overnite temperatures hovered just above +0. °C, & slowly creeping upward at 8:00AM. Just cold enough to put a slight icy glaze on the snow surface, and harden the ski ruts from yesterday. The ginzoos did a decent job of smoothing those out. Perfect? No. Skiable? Yes. Faster in the morning, and slower in the afternoon as the snow surface warms, which it will, with today's forecast of +10 °C.  (Likely translates to +7° C at Otway).  Skate sking might be a better choice than classik.  The tracks will be hard (as in ice) this morning, likely softening up late afternoon.

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WEEKEND EVENT: The biathlon competition continues today & Sunday. That means the usual race trails will be reserved for competitors until about 1:00 PM each day, while they glide around looking impressively fast, focused, and only slightly out of breath.

But fear not, recreational skiers!   21+ km of the recreational trails were lightly (& repeatedly!) massaged with skidoo/ginzoos this AM.  Don’t skip skiing at Otway just because there’s a display of athletic excellence happening nearby. In fact, it’s a great chance to ski and enjoy some free, high-quality entertainment on the side.

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NOURISHMENT:  As usual, B & E Good Eats will be feeding the masses upstairs in the main lodge from about 11:00-ish until roughly 2:30-ish… or longer if everyone shows up hungry (which, let’s be honest, they will). Members get the VIP treatment with free coffee—because caffeine is basically a membership benefit.

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PARKING: If you roll into the main parking lot during prime time, you’ll be greeted by our cheerful Meet & Greet volunteers, who will happily point you toward the preferred parking areas and generally make you feel like the skiing royalty you clearly are.

However, if there’s even a remote chance your chauffeur might become slightly flustered while attempting to tuck your oversized stretch limo into one of our carefully assigned parking spots, fear not. There’s plenty of additional parking available in both the Barking Lot and the overflow lot, conveniently accessed via Dog Trails Road. Your limo & your chauffeur’s blood pressure will thank you.

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In short: come ski, bring your sense of humour, and take a few minutes to enjoy the fantastic show competitors from all across Western Canada will be putting on. Enthusiastic sideline cheering (using both lungs and your favourite noisemaker) is not only allowed, it’s strongly encouraged!

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