Sledge 2008

During the Winter Olympics tournament, the Canadian alpine ski team lost a second racer to injury. Allison Forsyth of Nanaimo, British Columbia, who is one of the country’s top medal threats in long-track speed skating failed to live up to expectations.

The athlete shredded her left anterior cruciate ligament during training for Wednesday’s downhill therefore she had to be treated in a hospital and returned to Sestriere where the Olympics team is staying. She will fly to Calgary where she will immediately have surgery. But she is not giving up, the 27-year-old plans to compete at the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

This is the second disappointment for the Canadian alpine team. Erik Guay of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, a medal contender, missed Sunday’s men’s downhill with a leg injury.

Canada stood ninth in the standings at the end of competition Monday, with gold and bronze medals.

The results for Canadians in the pairs figure skating competition were: National champions Valerie Marcoux of Gatineau, and Craig Buntin of Kelowna, finished 11th overall, and the No. 2 entry of Jessica Dube of Drummondville, with Bryce Davison of Cambridge, allowed them to take 10th spot among 20 pairs. Reigning world champions Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marinin of Russia won gold.

Tags: betting odds, medal betting, winter olympics 2006

Yes, its cold outside, but don’t stop your dog’s agility training.  Depending on where you live, there might be snow on the ground from November through March, but thats no reason to give up your agility training. Bring your training indoors, right at your own home.

Get creative with your training locations.  Do you have a hallway, basement, or garage?  Then you have a place to train!  Before it snows and your equipment is frozen to the ground, store some in your garage, shed, basement, or put a tarp over it.  Bring in one piece of equipment at a time, and begin your indoor training.

We do a lot of indoor training with a Pause Table.  In fact, we keep one in our living room for both obedience training and agility training all the time.   The Pause Table is a great obstacle for developing your obedience behaviors and teaching agility directional commands

Don’t forget to work on your contacts.  It’s easy by having a Contact Trainer indoors. A 3-Piece Contact Trainer offers you versatility; you have an A-frame side, the Pause Table, and a Dog-walk plank.  Practicing your two feet on and two feet off is convenient and quick when you have indoor contacts, only a few minutes a day to steady your dog’s behavior.

Indoor jumping must be approached carefully.  If you don’t have indoor matting, don’t jump.  You don’t want your dog jumping on concrete or wood floors.  But you can use the uprights or posts to practice your handling.  Use your Sit-stay or Down-stay and practice your lines or dogs path with no jump bars.

Weaves can be practice indoors.  Are you training with a weave-chute or straight line weaves?  Five minutes a day of weave training through out the winter will have your dog weaving smoothly by springtime.  You can practice weave entries and weave sends or weave recalls.

There is also a variety of mini agility equipment that can be purchased, and don’t require the same space as standard equipment.  There are mini-teeters, mini-dog walks, and mini-A-frames.  These are great obstacles for puppy training or indoor winter training.

So, during the cold winter months, don’t give up on your agility training. Whether you are starting a young pup, working a novice dog, or an experienced titled dog there is always something that you can do indoors with your agility training.

Tags: agility equipment, dog agility, dog agility equipment

Do you recognize the names Giant Slalom, Luge, and Curling? Yes? Then you must be ready for the Winter Olympics! Here are a few suggestions to make them more meaningful to your children:

1. Let each child or small group of children choose an event to research. The events may be their favorites or ones they would like to know more about. (NOTE: A list of Winter Olympic events is at the end of this article.)

2. Tell the children what you want them to find out…the history of the sport, the rules of it, the equipment needed, people who have performed that event in past Winter Olympics…whatever you decide. This will keep them focused and help them write their reports using main ideas.

3. Classify the Olympic events into categories. Which take place on the snow? On the track? On the rink?

4. Make a video collage with snippets of each event.

5. Hold your own Winter Olympics! If you live where it does not snow, use props that can substitute for skis (shoeboxes, foil), ski poles (broomsticks), and whatever else you can find. Amend the rules for your age group. For the Medal Ceremony, use gold, silver, and copper pens to make the ribbons. Have your children sequence the activities in which they participated.

6. Alphabetize the names of the Olympic events.

7. Use a TV Guide to practice reading schedules and find the days, times, and channels for specific sports.

Here is a list of Winter Olympic events:

Giant Slalom, Luge, Curling, Speed Skating, Ski Jumping, Freestyle Aerials, Biathlon, Super-G, Ice Dancing, Cross Country, Combined Downhill, Slalom, Short Track, Bobsleigh, Nordic Combined,

Figure Skating, Freestyle Moguls, Snowboarding, Ice Hockey, Downhill, Skeleton

Enjoy the Winter Olympics!

I hope these ideas are useful and inspire your own creative thinking.

And remember…Reading is FUNdamental!

Tags: teaching tips, winter olympic events, Winter olympics

Cold weather camping is much more harsh on your body than camping in warmer seasons, so it is important to place extra attention on taking care of yourself by staying warm and eating the right foods.  If you are camping in cold weather, you should allow yourself an additional 1,000 calories per day in your diet.  Winter camping meals and snacks should be very high in carbohydrates to fuel your body through the extreme cold and should also contain plenty of fats and proteins.

Winter camping trips offer more flexibility for the types of foods you can pack because the cold temperatures are much friendlier to foods that may spoil quickly in the heat.  Cooking and preparing your camping meals in the cold, however, is much more difficult.  You will want to plan winter camping meals that are easy and quick to prepare and that are just as simple to eat.  Plan on packing a good bit more food when camping in cold weather and pack several emergency meals as well.

Instant soups are simple winter camping meals that help warm you up on a cold night.  Bring along plenty of hot drinks, like cocoa or coffee, and a Coleman 14 cup percolator to keep your body temperature higher before you wrap up in your sleeping bag for the night.  Lunch will most likely take place on the trail so plan easy to eat foods that are high in carbs and proteins to keep your energy and strength throughout the day.  It is important to continue to eat all day long because your body will be burning calories at a rapid rate, not only trying to keep your body warm, but to produce energy to hike as well.

High protein snacks like jerky, nuts, and trail mix are great for eating throughout the day regardless of the type of weather conditions you are hiking in, but are especially important winter camping foods.  Dried fruits are also very beneficial to your body during strenuous cold weather activities like backpacking and hiking.  Bring along plenty of raisins, trail mix, and fatty type snacks.  Chocolate is even a good snack for winter camping and backpacking trips and it won’t melt along the trail!

Camp cooking in the cold can be a tedious task, but it is very important to eat well and to stay warm.  Plan your winter camping meals ahead of time and consider the fact that things take longer to heat in cold weather.  Avoid raw vegetables because it will be nearly impossible to cook them at camp.  You can prepare vegetables at home and simply warm them to save time.  Always cook with a covered pot or pan to retain more heat in the cold and warm your meals faster.

Consider hearty winter camping meals that can be prepared in a single dish and eaten with little effort.  Prepared canned foods, like beef stew or chili, are great energy providers, but can be heavy to pack.  Vary these heavier foods with light winter camping meal selections, like foil packets of tuna, pasta, and bagels, for a healthy menu for your cold weather camping adventures.

Tags: amping equipment, coleman tent, cooler, equipment, gear, grill, heater, lantern, sleeping bag, stove

As winter is approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, many people from all over the world will be planning winter vacations. What better way to enjoy a winter vacation and yet having a healthy full body workout instead of gaining winter weight by going on a skiing vacation?

In this article, we will be taking a look at two of the more popular ski resorts in France and if you are heading to Europe for your winter holidays then the information here may come in useful.

The ski resorts of La Plagne and Les Arcs in France are surrounded by breathtaking white capped mountain ranges. Both resorts attract skiing enthusiasts mainly from France and Europe. However in the past few years, the resorts are also attracting more and more Asians and American skiers and holiday makers.

La Plagne is one of the largest single ski areas in the world, with 212kms (about 132 miles) of pistes served by 144 ski lifts and is linked to Les Arcs by a four minute cable car ride. This ski resort is made up of 10 villages and is probably the most visited ski resort in the world.

In additional to skiing activities, visitors can also indulge in other activities such as bowling, working out in a fully equipped gym and sports centre, get away from the winter chill by taking sauna baths, go hang-gliding or ice-skating.

For a family outing, there are more than 200 shops to go shopping in or dine in La Plagne myriads of restaurants. Bars and dance clubs light up La Plagne by night.

La Plagne is sometimes billed as the ‘third generation’ French ski resort with its futuristic architectural designs has probably also influenced other ski resorts in France such as Flaine, Avoriaz and Les Arcs to go for the new world space age architecture and abandoning the charming rustic designs of traditional ski resort architecture.

Skiers in La Plagne will encounter various permutation of piste and off piste, from exhilarating steep descents on the huge glacier at Bellecote(3,000m or almost 10,000ft), then cruising delightfully down quiet meandering larch lined avenues to the charming villages of Montchavin-Les Coches, Champagny-en-Vanoise and Montalbert.

Now let’s take a look at Les Arcs. This resort has a Eurostar train terminal connection at Bourg Saint Maurice and thus making it the most accessible high-altitude ski resort in France.

Les Arcs is also known to have pioneered the so called ’ski evolutif’, which is a technique used for fast learning by progressing quickly from short skis to longer skis.

Les Arcs is also the homeground of the “Kilometre Lancee” in which daredevils on huge 237cm or 8 ft skis, clad in thin aerodynamic plastic suits and donning ‘Darth Vader of Star Wars’ style visors, speed down the specially designed track at exhilarating breakneck speed of up to 240kph (150mph) or more.

Just like La Plagne, Les Arcs ski resort has acres and acres seemingly never ending good cruising ski terrain and its off piste opportunities are simply fantastic.

Take for example, the Aiguille Rouge, which dominates the resort has many challenging runs down its front face slopes. The Aiguille Rouge is also the starting point for one of the longest skiing descents in the French Alps. The largely black run down to the charming village of Villaroger is over 16km or about 10 miles long. Whew!

With such fabulous skiing opportunities, it is therefore not surprising that La Plagne along with Les Arcs ski resorts in France is able to attract so many skiing enthusiasts from all the world, isn’t it?

Tags: france ski resorts, la plagne, les arcs, ski vacation holidays

For those interested in an exciting outdoor adventure in the cooler weather, winter camping may be the choice for you. Winter camping brings an entirely new element to the activity of camping. Not only do you see the great outdoors in a totally different light, it also offers different challenges from summer camping.

Winter Camping Supplies

It is important to have the correct supplies for winter camping, as this is can, at times, have a level of danger not present at other times of the year. Things to bear in mind include rapid changes in the weather the weather may be fine and sunny, although cool, when you leave to hike to your destination and within minutes a winter storm can blow up. Dress appropriately in layers for winter camping. Avoid wearing cotton. Cotton does not dry quickly and retains the water against your skin causing you to become even colder with the added risk of hypothermia developing.

For winter camping trips always wear nylon or wool clothing … wool should be used for socks. Dress in layers starting with a thin layer of clothing against your skin. There are some sportwool fabrics that are used in long johns, next a warm layer of clothing that may be a fleece type material and finally a quick-drying outer layer from a material like nylon or goretex. Always wear woolen socks to keep the feet dry and comfortable.

Make sure you have appropriate boots for winter camping. Boots must be water repellant or have a protective coating to keep them from absorbing water. Always wear a hat or a woolen beanie and bring an extra one just in case. A great deal of body heat can be lost through an uncovered head.

Wear or carry gloves and have them attached to your jacket to prevent losing them. Light weight glove liners can be added for extra warmth.

Winter-weight camping tents can be purchased, although sometimes they can be heavier to carry. Depending on where you are going and how far you are hiking, you may be quite comfortable in a three-season tent. A four-season or winter tent will stand up to strong winds, will repel all forms of precipitation and be able to withstand a heavy fall of snow.

If you do not have a tent you may be able to build a snow shelter for protection, however, you’ll want to practice building a snow shelter before you actually need to spend a night in one during a winter hike.

Make sure to bring a sleeping bag that is made to withstand the deep freeze of winter. There are many mummy-type bags that are extremely warm and designed to withstand temperatures of 10 degrees and below. A foam underlay may also be a useful addition to keep the sleeping bag off the ground and away from moisture. The pad can also be used to sit on during the day.

When winter camping make sure to bring food that may be eaten without heating up. Although there are water proof matches, sometimes it can be difficult to find tinder when winter camping. Have a supply of food that you carry with you when winter camping, in case you loose your original supply.

Winter camping is an exciting outdoor activity; however, it is imperative that the camper has the appropriate equipment for this venture.

Tags: camping food, camping food ideas, camping food recipe, freeze-dried camping food

Snowshoeing is a fun winter recreation activity whose popularity has stayed strong since its inception and right up through today. It’s also a popular and easy way to get around in snowbound areas during the winter. Nowadays, there are many types of snowshoes for many types of activities. Here’s a rundown of each type to help you choose the right snowshoes for your lifestyle and activity.

The three main types of snowshoes are:

Running & Aerobic Style

These snowshoes were built with lighter weight materials than normal snowshoes to allow for faster movement. They also feature an extra cleat or cleats for additional traction while you are running or walking fast. Also, the bindings will allow for you to insert running or athletic shoes, so they lace up and cradle as well. There are actually snowshoe races, and this is the type of snowshoe that is used in that type of race. This type of snowshoe is right for anyone who will need to move fast or just wants to walk around their town. These are not appropriate for snowshoeing in rugged terrain.

Mountaineer Style

Mountaineer style snowshoes are built much tougher and heavier than, say, running style snowshoes. This is for added traction and stability on steep and icy hills. They typically include larger crampons to achieve this added traction. The binding will also be able to accommodate larger shoes including climbing shoes and boots. Extra heavy duty material is used to create mountaineer style snowshoes, for better performance during different types of weather situations and various types of terrain. This also makes mountaineer style snowshoes the best choice for walking in deeper snow. Mountaineering snowshoes are the right choice for any serious snowshoeing enthusiast.

Hiking/Recreation Style

This type of snowshoe tends to be the most popular as it is appropriate for hiking, backpacking and light to moderate terrains. Recreation style snowshoes are made to be comfortable, with ease of use and value as a big selling point. This type of shoe is excellent for all around use, light use and the occasional hiker.

Sizes

This is an easier choice as there are only a few sizes of snowshoes available. They are 6×15 inches, 7×18 inches, 8×25 inches, 9×30 inches and 10×36 inches. The smallest snowshoes are usually for children and the middle sizes are usually best for women. Your weight will also be a consideration, as the heavier you are, the larger size of snowshoe you will likely need. You should also consider the weight you will be with your other equipment, skis, snowboard, backpack or other supplies you will be carrying.

Bindings

There are two types of bindings available, the free rotation and the limited rotation. In the limited rotation style, the toes do not go below the decking. In the free rotation the toes are more free. Free rotation bindings are preferred for running, racing and sometimes hiking. It’s best to try both styles and decide which is more comfortable for you.

Whatever size or style of snowshoe you choose, have fun on the trails!

If you are planning a ski trip look no further than Winter Park Resort in Colorado.  Sure there all lot famous resorts here in Colorado that are household names across the United States, but these well-known resorts are plagued with crowded ski slopes and lift lines.  Which is why Winter Park Resort is known as “Colorado’s Favorite”.  Coloradoans frequent this ski resort more than any other in the state, due to the fact that it is one of the biggest resorts, with the most snow and fewest tourists.  It also helps that it is only 67 miles from Denver.

Winter Park Resort is also the home of the legendary Mary Jane.  Mary Jane was named as one of the top 5 resorts in North America for bump skiing according to Snow Country Magazine.  It is not for the faint of heart, as there are no green runs anywhere on the “Jane”.

Parsons Bowl takes you above the clouds… and the tree line.  The bowl offers intermediate to advanced ski runs, and happens to be a favorite of the locals.  Once you get to the top you will be looking for your camera, and a warming hut.

Ski Magazine ranks the terrain parks & pipes of Winter Park Resort in the top 10 of the nation.  The Railyard is one of the longest terrain parks in Colorado, and covers 15 acres over a 3,650 foot stretch of rail-grinding madness.  For beginners there is the Jack Kendrick, which has extra wide rails and non-threatening jumps to help advance to the next level.

There are plenty of great restaurants and bars on the mountain, and like the lift lines, the crowds never seem to be a problem.  You can also head to the actual town of Winter Park after the lifts close.  It is a quaint little strip of restaurants, bars and shops.  There is actually a very good sushi bar in town that often surprises people with its great food and reasonable prices.

Round off the day with a trip to the lighted tubing hill in Fraser.  They provide a lift, warming hut and the tubes.  And if you would like a day away from the slopes, you can enjoy a snowmobile tour up to the top of the Continental Divide, or get down right old fashioned and jump on a dog sled.

Ski-in lodging can be found just a five minute walk from the base of Winter Park Resort.  Slope View Bed and Breakfast offers views of the Continental Divide, unique amenities and a knowledgeable staff.  970-531-2386

Tags: colorado, ski, ski-in, skiing, snowboarding, Winter Park

Catching fish couldn’t be any easier than here in the Fraser Valley.  You can wade 1,000 miles of streams, wander around 1,000 acres of high mountain lakes, or troll 11,000 acres of reservoirs.

Whether you’re fly-fishing or have a night crawler on the end of your line, you can find many different species of fish throughout Grand County.  Rainbow, cutthroat, brown & brook trout can be found in most of the rivers, while mackinaw and kokanee salmon cruise the depths of the larger bodies of water.

The Colorado River offers gold medal trout fishing with some of the biggest browns and rainbows found in the state.   The Fraser River runs through the town of Winter Park, as well as the resort, and is fed by many other great little secluded creeks with hidden pockets of trout.  St. Louis Creek and Willow Creek offer brookies, bows and browns with scattered creek-side campgrounds.

The four major lakes of the area are located in the Granby area, and offer plenty of ramps & marinas for boating enjoyment.  With 7,250 surface acres and 40 miles of shoreline, Lake Granby is known for its big mackinaws.  Grand Lake, the largest natural lake in Colorado, and adjoined Shadow Mountain Lake can also produce 20 pounds macks.  The lakes of the area are also well known for great ice fishing in the winter.

You just never know what the snowmelt will do in the high country, but one thing is for sure, it will produce an abundance of streams and lakes to choose from.  The seclusion and surrounding wilderness will make you feel like an early American explorer, discovering your own trout paradise.

Stay just a five minute walk from the base of Winter Park Resort.  Slope View Bed and Breakfast offers views of the Continental Divide, unique amenities and a knowledgeable staff.

Tags: colorado, fish, fishing, salmon, trout, Winter Park

Outdoors sport in winter and, generally speaking, exercise during this season should be regarded more trustfully by sedentary people as well as by gym-addicts. Advantages such as reinforcing, maintaining and increasing health, characterizing outdoors exercise, do not cease during winter; on the contrary, they can acquire new values.

If winter sports amateurs do not need any pleading, there is a big mass of people who would like to exercise without skis, skates or sleighs. The common reflex is to assault the fitness, body building, aerobics, tae-bo etc. studios. Of course, in this period, force training largely depends on gyms – in the other seasons the push-ups, pull up, squat are much more easily practiced outdoors.

Meanwhile, endurance (aerobic) exercise, which should always accompany anaerobic training, can and should be done outdoors even during the cold season. Fast walking, running and cycling are most recommended. In the case of people who haven’t trained in winter but are used to practicing exercises such as these in other periods of the year, we must stress that dosage of effort should be done more prudently than in the warmer seasons.

The superior as well as the inferior parts of the respiratory apparatus aren’t used to the cold air flow; thus, they need to be trained step by step in order to avoid laryngitis, trachaeitis, bronchitis etc. As pulmonary ventilation increases during aerobic effort, the air flow cannot warm up sufficiently while passing through the respiratory apparatus – thus alternating lower effort periods or even taking breaks is recommended – in order to allow warming up again.

When the body has been trained for winter conditions, the timing of a usual effort session can get close to the one habitual in warmer seasons – a bit reduced. Thus for rapid walking it can extend to an hour, an hour and a half; for running, to 30-45 minutes.

The sports gear is a most important aspect: it must assure thermal protection without overheating. Up-to-date research recommends using three clothing layers which create two successive air layers.

For the first fabric layer, touching the skin, cotton (most recommended in summer) must be avoided. Here synthetic fabrics such as Goretex, Polarteck and Lycra are used – they do not retain perspiration and do not transform themselves into cold wet compresses for the chest and back.

For the second layer, warmer materials – such as wool – can be used; the fabric for the last layer has to be water and windproof.

One must give special attention to protecting the head, neck, hands and feet. Especially the head must be covered with a hat made of the same types of fabric as the first layer: scientific studies have proved that the skull allows the greatest heat loss. For protecting the neck, it is good to wear polo necks or scarves made of the same material as the clothing’s last layer. Leather gloves must be avoided: they forbid eliminating the perspiration – as wearing several pairs of cotton socks does, too.

Last but not least, we must mention the body’s hydrating level: cold as well as heat tend to make the sportsman dehydrate.

If these recommendations are respected, we can train and enjoy exercise also during the cold season.

Tags: exercise, outdoor, sports, winter