Lay of the land: Where to get your cross-country ski on in Manitoba
Manitoba boasts 100 trails in 13 provincial parks, and scores more in Winnipeg and surrounding area
It isn't always easy motivating yourself to get outdoors in the middle of Manitoba's chilliest months, but there's certainly no shortage of options when it comes to embracing the cold through cross-country skiing.
There are about 100 groomed trails across 13 provincial parks, and about 40 other sites with their own networks of cross-country ski loops scattered around Manitoba, including six in Winnipeg municipal parks and several more within or near city limits.
"There's lots of ski trails in Manitoba and they're easy to find," said Karin McSherry, executive director of the Cross Country Ski Association of Manitoba. "Every place has its own flavour."
The network of trails snaking through Birds Hill Provincial Park gets the most traffic by far, McSherry said, followed by the Windsor Park Nordic Centre.
The latter functions as the ski association's hub, where newbies can rent equipment and take lessons to get the basics down.
Closer to the outskirts of Winnipeg, Beaudry Provincial Park, just west of Headingley, offers a tour through forests of tall and gnarly cottonwood, basswood and maple trees along the edges of the Assiniboine River.
La Barriere Park offers a similar glide through trees and over the frozen La Salle River, just to the south of the Perimeter in the rural municipality of Ritchot.
Boreal bogs of the east
Farther afield, many ski trails offer entry to places that aren't accessible in the summer, said Sloan Cathcart.
"You get a totally different perspective on a park in the winter," said Cathcart, head of interpretation for Manitoba parks.
"You get into some really unique backcountry."
Those backcountry excursions take skiers across frozen boreal bogs of the Canadian shield in eastern Manitoba — like on the trails in Whiteshell Provincial Park, Falcon Ridge, Whitemouth Falls and Seven Sisters — or over ice-covered wetlands in the southwest Prairie pothole region.
Rustic overnights in the west
The west includes the lone national park in Manitoba with a network of trails at Riding Mountain.
In southwest of the province includes two longer trails for anyone wanting to brave the cold and overnight in a rustic cabin.
One such cabin is about seven kilometres down the James Lake trail in Turtle Mountain Provincial Park, nestled next to the U.S.-Canada border, while another is located 20 km down a trail just to the northeast in Spruce Woods Provincial Park.
Both cabins have wood stoves to keep warm, but skiers have to pack sleeping bags and cooking utensils, said Cathcart.
The Pembina Valley offers a variety of terrain for those wanting to get a little elevation.
Shannondale, Ski Birch and Pumpkin Creek all have hills to climb and valleys to coast down. The same goes for Bittersweet.
"That's one of the reasons people want to go there, because they do get kind of tired of going on the straight, flat trails."
Northern exploring
Those in the north or wanting to venture out that way will find trails near The Pas at Clearwater Provincial Park, as far north as Paint Lake Provincial Park — just south of Thompson — as well as some community trails north of the city.
There are some hilly sections through more Canadian Shield in Cranberry Portage, and trails in Flin Flon range in difficulty — from easy to advanced — and include a 2.3 km loop that is lighted for night skiing.
Accessible and affordable
McSherry said there are many great reasons to take up skiing in a place like Manitoba. It's great exercise, and the learning curve isn't that steep.
"You can just go out for a shuffle, but … if you want to go hard and fast it is a very difficult sport, so there's that physical challenge that's appealing," said McSherry.
"There's not too many places where if you go there, you best be expert if you're going there at all."
For beginners, a single ski lesson can go a long way, and they're offered at Windsor Park, McSherry said.
Getting gear is also pretty cheap in the long run: you can buy a basic set up of equipment — poles, boots, skis and ski wax — for about $300, said McSherry.
"I still have a pair of skis that I raced on 20 years ago, I still have them, they still work just fine," she said. "You can literally buy yourself a pair of skis and have them for the rest of your life."
Ski equipment can also be rented at some trailheads in the city — including Windsor Park and Harbourview — as well as through many sporting goods stores.
For the beginners out there or anyone who hasn't strapped on skis for years, McSherry said the easiest thing to do when starting out is to find a friend, invest in some new or used equipment and find a trail that's near you.
"Then just get out there and you'll realize what you've been missing, and the winters will seem that much more pleasant."
A list of trails is available on the Cross Country Ski Association of Manitoba website.
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