I finally understood cross-country skiing: not so much as a sport but as a means to travel, discover a landscape and, in the Laurentians, tap into history.
The yin and yang of being both in the wild and yet close to all modern comforts embodies the appeal of Les Routes Blanches.
We skied in single file through the woods, then spread out across the lakes, where snow flurries spiraled skyward.
For three days we forgot the rest of the world, concentrating on the snow, the trail, the forest, the deer tracks, the squawking nuthatches, the pecking woodpeckers.
Before skiing Les Routes Blanches, I couldn't imagine for a single second that it was still possible to ski the old-fashioned way, from village to village, in the vast Laurentian wilderness, in the Pays-d'en-Haut.
It's truly extraordinary!
