Loch Lomond report

Written by admin on 12 March 2010

Lloyd, Matt and Emeraude ready to hit the hills at Loch Lomond.

Recently I spent a weekend in Thunder Bay thanks to the Kiwissa Ski Club in Manitouwadge. The package included a two-night stay at the Best Wester Nor’ Wester, a $50 gift card at the Nor’ Wester and 4 full day ski passes at Loch Lomond. Lloyd invited along Matthew, a long time family friend, plus Emeraude and I rounded off our foursome. We arrived late Friday night, eliminating any activity options for that evening; Saturday morning the kids were up bright and early to take advantage of the hotel pool while I rested a little longer.

We made it to Loch Lomond around lunch and promptly hit the hill. I had hoped we could all go up together and then choose where to go from there, unfortunately the hills are divided up so that all the advanced runs are accessible from the 4-person chair lift; the beginners access one run via a 2 seater chair lift also shared with the tubing tracks (there are two) and then there is what the boys referred to as the ‘terrain park’ where there are plenty of jumps, bowls and rails for snowmboarders and skiers to play on.

Matt & Lloyd riding up the hill, chair lifts are a treat for us as Kiwissa has T-bars we can't sit on.

Lloyd and Matt spent the majority of the afternoon using the runs from the 4-person lift believing they had found the perfect runs, full of moguls (much like Kiwissa here at home but longer)and challenges, with about 20 minutes to spare they decided to join Emeraude and I for a few runs which was great. We had spent our afternoon enjoying the run next to the tubing tracks and Emeraude was doing great! Plenty of opportunity to practice her skills had her feeling quite confident. They did manage to try the ‘terrain park’ just a little near the end of the afternoon and they were immediately hooked. The four of us ended the day with a try on the tubes, Emeraude was quite uncertain but definately ended up enjoying it and I am really looking forward to going back to enjoy tubing next year (we had our ski boots on which limited what we could do).

Emeraude strikes a fierce pose.

We fit in some emergency shoe shopping before picking up Mikey D’s for supper. Emeraude was treated to some more swimming with Brother while Matt enjoyed the weight room. The day had flown by; after swimming we headed back to the room where it was bedtime for Emeraude and the boys were due to catch a shuttle ride courtesy of the Nor’Wester -a nice added touch which went a long way towards compensating for some confusion the day prior- back and forth to Loch Lomond for night skiing.

Night skiing was a hit, the boys had a blast, most of their night was spent at the terrain park which was packed with teens, the chair lift was not lit adding to their fun as they and other kids yelled back & forth to each other.

Emeraude & I on 'our' hill, the chair lift offered a view of the hill Emeraude really enjoyed.

Emeraude concentrates on directing Rain, little hands tight on the reins.

Sunday I arranged for Emeraude to visit Dreamfields for another riding lesson. This was incredible and I will write about it in a future post, she learned many new skills, practiced those she had learned on her first visit.

We finished our weekend racing around Intercity to do some very necessary shopping, Easter clothes for Emeraude, gym shoes/clothes and skateboarding shoes for Lloyd. I definetely enjoyed our ski weekend, next time I am not sure I would bother upgrading the suite and I would try to fit in a 2nd day at the hill, one just wasn’t enugh to enjoy everyhing the hill had to enjoy.