Remember to renew your membership and encourage others to join our Outdoor Enthusiasts! Club.

Welcome friends and ski fans! Thank you for visiting our "Outdoor Enthusiasts! Website." Here you are able to review where we have been, what we have done and our 2012 schedule.

We are very excited about our upcoming events and have been planning for a great time outdoors.  We hope that you can make it to some of our events.   Our  executive is working hard to make your dream come true!


Contact us at:

P.O. Box 254
Moncton, N.B.
E1C 8K9
This page was last updated: February 13, 2012
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Cross-Country Waxless Skis

The Karhu Gazelle Multigrade was the best ski overall in 1986.  What is the best ski overall today?

Choosing a waxless ski can be a complex business.  Selection is best on a case-by-case basis, so your ski dealer may be able to give you some advice.  But before you buy, study the brand, price, type of base, materials, core base, method of construction, camber, stiffness, force required to flatten ski, impact resistance, performance in use, glide, and kick. 

What is your skiing ability?

If you're a novice, a ski with a soft camber will give you good grip while you're developing your technique. 
Take a Hike by Paul GaudetColumn 15Bound for Shediac Island

This week's column will cover two recent snowshoe outings, but first I would like to mention one of the members of the Outdoor Enthusiasts Club who is an inspiration to us all.

His name is Derek Gardner and he attended both of the long snowshoeing excursions that I will be writing about today.

Derek completed them both, on consecutive days, despite undergoing chemotherapy sessions regularly for skin cancer and recently having a stabilizing pin surgically implanted in his arm.

I am amazed at his strength and stamina and his resolve not to be left out of an activity that he so enjoys.  As I was tiring on the second day, I looked over at Derek chugging along without any visible signs of fatigue and asked him how in the heck he could manage, all things considered, and he simply said "Oh, I will probably be tired tonight when I get home."

If only we could all have his attitude and resilience when facing adversity.

The first trek on the Saturday was kind of a 'getting back on the horse'  type of excursion led by an Albert County lady who wishes to remain anonymous.

In a recent column I mentioned getting off track (euphemism for being lost) in the Memel Road area.  Well, this hike was in that vicinity, partly on a certain blueberry field which I should have crossed on that last excursion.  Now I know.

We started on the Albert Mines Road where we went sashaying along the edge of a cemetery and up a hill through a cleared satiny snow-covered field.  The snow on this day was almost perfect.  It was deep enough for a true snowshoeing experience, but not deep enough to make the trip totally exhausting.  It was also dense underneath and powdery on top.  The brigh sunshine and temperature around -3 C. made for an almost perfect day.

We went through beautiful open fields, stately stands of maple and thick stands of conifers, not to mention several impressive vistas overlooking Albert Mines, Shepody Bay and the Riverside/Albert marsh area.

It was a fairly long day and we covered about 12 km (7.5 miles).  Pleasantly puffed out, we got in our cars and descended on the poor unsuspecting souls at Caledonia High School in Hillsborough, who were having a roast beef supper as a fund raiser for their sports teams.

What a job they did dealing with a bunch of ravenous snowshoers!  We barely had a chance to dig into the delicious rolls when our roast beef arrived with all, and I do mean all, the trimmings.

Within two minutes of finishing dinner; coffee or tea was offered along with the choice of about 10 different kinds of pie, all for a mere $10.  Fighting drowsiness, all 10 of us left for home, tired and content.

The next day, many of the same people plus many more went out to Grand-Digue to a beautiful house on Shediac Bay which served as the launching site for a march across the bay to Shediac Island, quite a contrast to yesterday's hike in the hills of Albert County.

Readers of this column will know that the people I hike with are, so as not to overstate, fond of eating.  So with a potluck supper in the offing after the hike, there were 26 people ready to brave the crossing.

Paul Gareau was the leader as we set out across the bay on another perfect winter day.  There was only a breath of wind, the sun was shining brightly and the temperature was downright balmy for this time of the year, as we soaked up the vitamin D.  The crossing from this point is about 2.2 km (1.3 miles) and was most pleasant.

When we arrived, Paul asked me to assume the role of leader and I assured him I knew the way to the trail that would get us to the dock on the Pointe-du-Chene side of the island.

Well, after leading the faithful on a lengthy, meandering, circuitous route through brush and bramble, it turns out I did indeed know the way to the trail, just not the easiest, most direct way.  Once on the trail, it was smooth sailing all the way to the dock where we stopped to languish in the sun while nibbling, drinking and discussing which route we should take to return.

I took a poll to see which way the remaining 16 hearty sould would like to return to the mainland.  There were three choices, including taking the most direct route along the shore and directly across the bay.

Well, the vast majority were not long voicing their preference: "the shortest way," they said, almost in unison.  Off we went the shortest way, which still was in total about an 11-km (6.8-mile) trek, five of which was on the frozen (we hoped) bay.  We got spread out coming back, there was a gap of almost an hour between the first people back and the last people.  As I was fulfilling my leader's role by waiting on the shoreline to make sure everyone got back safely, I became terrified that the food would be gone.  I needn't have worried as there was plenty of food at this most tasty eclectic potluck feast.

To sum up, this past weekend was the nicest weekend of the winter so far.  We covered 23 km (14.5 miles) snowshoeing over the two days, and got nice facial tans as a bonus (should always wear sun block on these sunny winter days).  As we wearily drove home, we had no regrets about having spent our time in the great wintry outdoors.
Skiing in Iceland is for the hardy.
It is home to amazing mountains and unlimited ski-mountaineering potential.  You have to try Arctic Heli Skiing.  Snowboarding and skiing are expensive in Iceland.  Arctic Heli Skiing is operated by Bergmenn Mountain Guides on the Troll Peninsula in Northern Iceland.  The country has a wide choice of downhill resorts and also offers extensive cross-country skiing with hundreds of kilometers of prepared trails. It has an excellent snow record with good skiing conditions.  Plan your tour in Iceland.  There are lots of ways to ski in Iceland.