Etobicoke X-Country Ski Club
for active seniors 55+
for active seniors 55+
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What are you Waiting for?
You have probably heard all the classic endorsements for cross-country skiing: the extraordinary exercise it provides (never jarring
the joints, yet straining the heart and every other muscle in the body), the ability for all ages to enjoy the sport together, the relatively
economic nature of the activity (compared with other winter sports), the camaraderie and easy ways of its adherents.
Have you travelled those parallel winter trails, some broken by foot and ragged like two scissor cuts through the snow, others
groomed by machine to perfect corduroy?
Are you among those silent figures floating through forests or bounding across local golf courses and city parks?
Do you know mornings so frigid that each breath freezes the nostrils? And early-spring days so warm that a T-shirt and shorts suffice
as you slosh on skis through corn, listening as chickadees and newly awakened chipmunks serenade your passing?
If this all sounds foreign to you, let's start with the simple reassurance that cross-country is not the exclusive realm of the uber-fit or
technically perfect. It has nothing to do with speed or flashy suits. The spirit of cross-country skiing lives in that fraction of a second
when you let go of everything and simply glide across the snow. A moment with arms swung outward, as you stand tall, muscles
paused, when you magically and effortlessly float onward. In the enduring words of cross-country skiing's greatest ambassador,
Jackrabbit Johannsen (a man who lived and skied past his 111th birthday): “Running is an act of will; skiing an act of spirit.”
Extract from article by Bruce Kirkby originally published in the Globe & Mail January 7, 2011. Used with permission.
You have probably heard all the classic endorsements for cross-country skiing: the extraordinary exercise it provides (never jarring
the joints, yet straining the heart and every other muscle in the body), the ability for all ages to enjoy the sport together, the relatively
economic nature of the activity (compared with other winter sports), the camaraderie and easy ways of its adherents.
Have you travelled those parallel winter trails, some broken by foot and ragged like two scissor cuts through the snow, others
groomed by machine to perfect corduroy?
Are you among those silent figures floating through forests or bounding across local golf courses and city parks?
Do you know mornings so frigid that each breath freezes the nostrils? And early-spring days so warm that a T-shirt and shorts suffice
as you slosh on skis through corn, listening as chickadees and newly awakened chipmunks serenade your passing?
If this all sounds foreign to you, let's start with the simple reassurance that cross-country is not the exclusive realm of the uber-fit or
technically perfect. It has nothing to do with speed or flashy suits. The spirit of cross-country skiing lives in that fraction of a second
when you let go of everything and simply glide across the snow. A moment with arms swung outward, as you stand tall, muscles
paused, when you magically and effortlessly float onward. In the enduring words of cross-country skiing's greatest ambassador,
Jackrabbit Johannsen (a man who lived and skied past his 111th birthday): “Running is an act of will; skiing an act of spirit.”
Extract from article by Bruce Kirkby originally published in the Globe & Mail January 7, 2011. Used with permission.
Monday Morning Skiing
Members who wish to practice skiing can meet at the Etobicoke Centennial Park
Ski Chalet on Monday mornings at 8:30, starting January 4, 2011.
You can get some helpful hints to improve your skills or just ski around
the park, through the bush or around the ski hill.
There is always snow at the foot of the hill – artificial snow if the weatherman
does not cooperate.
Wednesday Trips
On Wednesdays we gather in the chalet parking lot where the bus leaves
promptly at 9:00am to take us for a day's skiing up north. We bring our lunch or
buy our lunch at the resort cafeteria.
We leave the ski area at 3:30 p.m and arrive back around 5PM.
Trips cost $40.00 when prepaid and $45 if paid on the bus. Price includes bus and trail fee. Cheques can be mailed to the Treasurer or
paid on the bus for the following weeks trip.
