Skiing At La Ronge

FTLComm - La Ronge - March 7, 2001 Pictures by: Judy Shire

La Ronge is one of the prime locations for cross country skiing in Saskatchewan with groomed lighted trails and a large number of enthusiasts who keep the sport growing and alive. This past weekend the community celebrated the "Lopit" which attacks both competitive and recreational skiers across the prairies but that is only one of the many competitions that occur in the community each winter as school and club events are a regular occurrence in this boreal forest town by the huge lake. The picture at the top of the page shows the ski trail right near town as it looked Wednesday afternoon. The fresh snow fall from Tuesday night had covered in the normally meticulously groomed trails and made it tough going so Wednesday afternoon skiers had to shorten their outing for the day. Cross country skiing is really a late winter and early spring activity as most sensible folks prefer not to get out there when the temperatures are below -30 and the late winter always brings the best and most varied snow conditions of the year. From the picture above you can see that ski trails of this era have to be a little more flexible than they once were. Certainly there are still a lot of people who ski in the convention inline track style but a growing number of people and not all of them competitors are taking to "skating". Using a slightly shorter narrower ski with sharp inside cutting edges this style of cross country allows the skier to get some impressive speed but it also demands a well groomed and smooth ski surface where as the traditional inline skier can still trudge along even if the snow is a bit heavy. Though less glamorous than blasting down hillsides cross country still attracts a huge following in Saskatchewan with some outstanding places to practice the sport. Besides the outstanding trails around La Ronge Cypress Hills provincial park and Kenosee Lake at the Moose Mountain Provincial park have amazing trails that are at their very best at this time of the year.