Category Archives: What’s New

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

Today’s session is on!  Yes, “Sunday Session (8)”, for  Sunday, 11 January 2015 will indeed run.

Yes, you are right.  The latest weather forecast is predicting a -23 degree Celsius air temperature, and 10 kmh winds from the southwest, for a -31 degree windchill, at the start of our skiing session (https://spotwx.com/products/grib_index.php?model=meteocode&zone=r1.15&tz=-6&title=FPWG11&lat=49.89975&lon=-97.13749).

And yes, you are right, this is colder than our published -27 degree windchill outdoor activity cutoff (https://assiniboineparkjackrabbits.wordpress.com/about/is-it-too-cold).

However, we are going to run the entire session in a very wind sheltered area that will also let the sun shine in to keep us warm.

We are meeting  and skiing on The Hummocks in the Nature Playground at 13:30.  We will not be skiing the Lyric Loop nor anywhere else.

As such, we are not meeting before the session at the Duck Pond Shelter.

Regardless, no skin should be showing (balaclavas, neck warmers, buffs, and so on).  Snow suits are encouraged.  Mitts instead of gloves.

Kids who do get cold will be able to return to the Duck Pond Shelter to get and stay warm.

We will have hot chocolate and wagon wheels likely in the Duck Pond Shelter after the session.

So, your call as to where to park your car.  It can be on Assiniboine Park Drive.  Or, park your car in the Nature Playground parking lot just north of Pavilion Crescent (west of the Pavilion).  The rectangular patch in the satellite imagery southwest of the “Nature Playground” icon is where you want to go (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Nature+Playground/@49.872217,-97.232062,713m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x52ea74a63956c015:0xc311873f39af8afb).

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

Whew!  Saved by Mother Nature!

With a -24 degree Celsius air temperature and a -32 windchill forecast for 13:00 tomorrow, Saturday, 10 January 2015, the Assiniboine Park Jackrabbit excursion to Fort Whyte Alive for Snow Trek is hereby cancelled.

Confused by the “Whew!”?

Turns out that cross country ski trails will be found only on the exposed lakes at Fort Whyte Alive tomorrow, rather than through the fabulous forested trails of previous years.  So, the session would have been not as pleasant as we originally had hoped.

So, as of now, “Sunday Session (8)” has been rescheduled back to Sunday, 11 January 2015, from 13:30 to 15:00, at Assiniboine Park.

Of course, we will confirm whether Sunday’s session will run or not by 09:30 Sunday morning.  Currently, the forecast indicates a -21 degree Celsius air temperature with a -28 windchill (which is 1 degree colder than our cutoff).

We have been told that we should expect mechanically groomed, flat packed, ski trails in The Hummocks area and in what is to be our terrain park area for Sunday afternoon.

Stay tuned.

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

The information in this post will be confirmed via another post to this website no later than 09:30 this upcoming Saturday morning.  Don’t show up for skiing without seeing the Saturday morning post!

Yep.  We call them our “Sunday Sessions” because we hold them, uh, on Sunday.  Except this weekend coming up.  Possibly.

“Sunday Session (8)”, scheduled quite clearly on our official schedule as to be held on Sunday, 11 January 2015, from 13:30 to 15:00, now likely/possibly needs to be moved to Saturday, 10 January 2015, also from 13:30 to 15:00 (or cancelled).

There are two reasons for this day of the week change:

• Latest long-range weather forecast is indicating that we will possibly have to cancel any outdoor session on Sunday, 11 January 2015 due to the windchill being colder than our -27 degree cutoff (-23 degree Celsius air temperature).  See https://spotwx.com/products/grib_index.php?model=meteocode&zone=r1.15&tz=-6&title=FPWG51&lat=49.89975&lon=-97.13749.
• Our official schedule also indicates that we were tentatively to be at “Fort Whyte Alive” for “Snow Trek”.  Except that this year Snow Trek at Fort Whyte Alive is not on a Sunday (like previous years), but rather on Saturday, 10 January 2015.  This change of day was published well after our official schedule was made (http://www.ccsam.ca/snow-trek-2015).   Oh, by the way, the latest forecast is indicating a warmer -18 degree Celsius air temperature (but still with a -27 degree windchill) on Saturday at skiing time.

So, the latest plan (weather dependent) is that we will be skiing at Fort Whyte Alive.  Meet at the Fort Whyte Alive Interpretive Centre at 13:30 on Saturday, 10 January 2015.

Admission for everyone will be free on Saturday only because Fort Whyte Alive is hosting the “6^th Annual Snow Trek:  Winter in Motion”.   Fort Whyte Alive indicates:

“Get in motion for Snow Trek! Try x-country skiing with free equipment rentals and instruction all afternoon. Join a guided showshoe hike through our forests, and bring along your skates for a spin on the rink. Cap off your day with a cup of hot chocolate and marshmallows by the fire.  FREE admission all day!” https://www.fortwhyte.org/event/snow-trek/

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

Tomorrow’s (2015-01-08) scheduled session of “Fast Rabbits Thursday 3″ will indeed run:

• Just not at Windsor Park Nordic Centre.
• Nor will it be outdoors.

Latest weather forecast sees Mother Nature giving us a -21 degree Celsius air temperature with a -33 degree windchill at what would be skiing time (https://spotwx.com/products/grib_index.php?model=meteocode&zone=r1.15&tz=-6&title=FPWG11&lat=49.89975&lon=-97.13749).

So, the revised plan is that Coach Ihor’s older kids group and Coach Rob’s not quite as old kids group will meet at 18:30 inside (not outside!) the likely-to-be-deserted Assiniboine Park Duck Pond Shelter ready to:

• Exercise indoors (need long pants and top that can be removed when kids get warm).
• Stretch indoors (need to put long pants and top back on).
• Ski wax each kid’s skis (Coach Ihor supplies everything except skis).

Besides leading the exercising and stretching session, Coach Ihor indicates:  “We are going to wax like crazy.  It will be the best waxing sticker that has ever been generated.   No fewer than 3 irons will be running, I hope we don’t pop a breaker! We will even do a klister ski!”.

Session to be finished about 19:45.

Hello Jackrabbit Managers!

Yippee!  We (finally) have snow!

Bleech!  It’s too cold to ski (without significant concern of your children suffering frostbite)!

As such, tomorrow’s “Sunday Session (7)″, for 4 January 2015, in Assiniboine Park, is now cancelled.

The latest weather forecast is predicting a -28 degree Celsius air temperature, and 20 kmh winds from the west, for a -38 degree windchill, at the start of our skiing session (https://spotwx.com/products/grib_index.php?model=meteocode&zone=r1.15&tz=-6&title=FPWG11&lat=49.89975&lon=-97.13749).

This is colder than our published -27 degree windchill outdoor activity cutoff (https://assiniboineparkjackrabbits.wordpress.com/about/is-it-too-cold).

However, if the Environment Canada weather forecast published at 11:00 on Sunday were to radically change for the better (possible but not likely), I will send out another notification that the session is back on again.

And, no, we still awaiting receipt of the paperwork to allow us to do indoor sessions as previously posted (https://assiniboineparkjackrabbits.wordpress.com/2014/11/30/a-limited-future-for-cancellations/).

Hello Jackrabbit Managers!

The last three weeks have been bad for skiing, even for our keen-to-try-racing Track Attack skiers.

As I surmised in my last post (2014-12-15), “Wednesday Night Race #4″ was cancelled, as Windsor Park Nordic Centre was closed down due to lack of snow (see http://www.ccsam.ca/trails-closed-now).

Also, today’s “Provincial Sprint Championships (Manitoba Cup)” was at first to be moved from Morden’s also suffering from lack-of-snow Minnewasta Golf and Country Club (http://www.ccsam.ca/provincial-sprints-relocated-mount-evergreen-kenora) to Kenora’s Mount Evergreen, but was then outright postponed to some other month (http://www.ccsam.ca/sprints-cancelled-tomorrow).

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

Short version:  Not much is scheduled.  And even if it was it would likely be cancelled!

Long version:  According to the official club schedule (https://assiniboineparkjackrabbits.wordpress.com/2014-2015-schedule/) our last whole-club session was Sunday, 14 December 2014 (“Sunday Session (6)”).  And we will not meet again — as an entire club of Bunnyrabbits, Jack Rabbits, and Track Attack skiers — until three weeks has passed, on Sunday, 4 January 2015 (“Sunday Session (7)”).

Now, for those interested Track Attack skiers looking for formal racing experiences (yes, please self identify), the proposed schedule is a wee bit different:

• Wednesday, 17 December 2014:  “Wednesday Night Race #4” at Windsor Park Nordic Centre was originally to be coached by Coach Ihor (just like Wednesday Night Race #1, 2, and 3), but due to the continued lack of snow at Windsor Park Nordic Centre these races have been mostly, or will likely be, cancelled.  See http://www.ccsam.ca/trails-closed-now/ for details.
• Saturday, 3 January 2014:  “Provincial Sprint Championships (Manitoba Cup)” at the Minnewasta Golf and Country Club (in Morden).  Again, scheduled to be coached by Coach Ihor.  If the snow conditions greatly improve and it looks like this race will be run, we will post an update to see which Track Attack skiers would like to race for Manitoba Cup points.  Perhaps a practice session or two for those kids prior to the race?

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

Today’s session, “Sunday Session (6)”, Sunday, 14 December 2014, is indeed running as scheduled.

But there is a (slight) venue change:  We are meeting and skiing on The Hummocks in the Nature Playground.  We are not meeting at the Duck Pond Shelter nor skiing the Lyric Loop .

So, don’t park your car on Assiniboine Park Drive.  Instead park your car in the Nature Playground parking lot just north of Pavilion Crescent (west of the Pavilion).  The rectangular patch in the satellite imagery southwest of the “Nature Playground” icon is where you want to go (https://www.google.com/maps/place/Nature+Playground/@49.872217,-97.232062,713m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x52ea74a63956c015:0xc311873f39af8afb).

Sorry for the late post.  We were concerned we wouldn’t have skiable snow, but we found some!

Mother Nature will apparently be nice to us during our session.  Air temperature is expected to be 0 degrees Celsius (yes, that is warm), with winds north at 20 kmh, and 100 percent overcast, with 80 percent chance of drizzle and/or freezing drizzle (http://spotwx.com/products/grib_index.php?model=meteocode&zone=r1.15&tz=-6&title=FPWG11&lat=49.8963&lon=-97.297).

Today’s session will be a free technique (skate) session for Bunnyrabbits, Jackrabbits, and Track Attack skiers.  Otherwise, Coach Ihor indicates that we would have to use not-fun klister as a grip wax.  Or, if you have them, bring waxless skis.  This is temperature range in which they work best.

Perhaps most importantly, bring a reusable mug for hot chocolate and an appetite for Wagon Wheels.   Coach Ihor promises that there will be plenty for everyone today!

Tomorrow (Thursday, 11 December 2014) night’s scheduled session, known as “Fast Rabbits Thursday 2″, has now been cancelled due to a lack of snow.

Yep, the air temperature will be a delightful +1 degrees Celsius with a -5 windchill on Thursday night.  We sure like that.

Unfortunately, as of 20:00 tonight, Windsor Park Nordic Centre (WPNC) staff are reporting that “The Grid” is the only place that is suitable for skiing for people who have new skis and want to keep them from instantly becoming “rock skis”.  Furthermore, skiers would have to carry their skis from the clubhouse to The Grid to avoid the new gravel laid down on paths.

Even tonight’s race at WPNC had been cancelled due to lack of snow (http://windsorparknordic.ca/news/).

The Assiniboine Park Jackrabbits ski at WPNC on Fast Rabbit Thursdays so as to ski “far” and get more vertical relief (both relatively speaking).  Tomorrow’s session would not provide either.  The Grid will likely be congested with dozens of other skiers and there is little vertical on The Grid.

Hello Jackrabbit Managers,

Tomorrow’s session, “Sunday Session (5)”, for Sunday, 7 December 2014, is indeed running as scheduled.

What a difference a week makes!

Mother Nature will apparently be nice to us during our session.  Air temperature is expected to be -1 to 0 degrees Celsius (yes, that is warm), with winds south at 20 kmh, and 100 percent overcast, with a light snow fall near the end of the session (http://spotwx.com/products/grib_index.php?model=meteocode&zone=r1.15&tz=-6&title=FPWG11&lat=49.89975&lon=-97.13749).

Sunday’s session will be for sure a classic technique session for Coach Ihor’s and Coach Rob’s Track Attack groups (because of the existence of days-old skier-made classic tracks in the hilly area).

Plan for classic also for Coach Katherine’s and Coach Jeff’s Bunnyrabbits and Jackrabbits.

No mechanical grooming has been done as yet so free technique (skate skiing) will likely not be as fun as it normally would in these air temperatures, hence the classic skiing planned for tomorrow.

Coach Ihor will supply the classic grip wax-of-the-day-er-hour for those of us who may not know which wax may best work at this tough-to-wax temperature.  Find a coach at the start of the session and let us know that your skier will need grip wax of the day.

If you have them, bring waxless skis.  This is temperature range in which they work best.

Perhaps most importantly, bring a reusable mug for hot chocolate and an appetite for Wagon Wheels.   Coach Ihor promises that there will be plenty for everyone tomorrow!