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Posted on Dec 3, 2013 in Business & Politics, Featured

Ski season underway, but is it here to stay?

Ski season underway, but is it here to stay?

By Roberta Bell and Sarah Turnbull Early snowfall “takes some of the pressure off” the Ottawa area’s main ski resort, Camp Fortune, but owner Peter Sudermann says it doesn’t guarantee prime skiing throughout the season. Camp Fortune, in Chelsea, Que. just outside Gatineau, opened one of its 23 runs on Nov. 22 and two more last Friday. It will be open daily as of this Friday. The resort plans long-range, Sudermann said, but once ski and snowboard season begins, unpredictable weather patterns means ski conditions vary “week to week.” Last week, about 25 centimetres of snow fell, which gave people “the perception that everything’s open,” Sudermann said. “When they call up and you say, ‘Well, we have two lifts and it’s really three runs open,’ they kind of wonder what’s wrong.” The answer, Sudermann said, is nothing. It takes about 900 hours, or 38 days, of snowmaking to open all of the runs at Camp Fortune. “It is very much a science,” Sudermann said. During ideal cold and dry...

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Posted on Dec 3, 2013 in Featured, Sports & Recreation

Rink of Dreams gives Ottawa skaters another refuge

Rink of Dreams gives Ottawa skaters another refuge

By Ariana Armstrong and Fangliang Xu While the Rideau Canal slowly succumbs to the winter freeze, local Ottawa skaters can already zip around the ice at City Hall’s Rink of Dreams. “I love skating,” said Annalise Mathers, a third-year science student at the University of Ottawa who took advantage of the fresh ice last week. “I’ve been waiting for the canal to open all year, so the fact that the Rink of Dreams is open already just gets me right out here.” The Rink of Dreams officially opened its third operating season last week. For Mathers, who jumped at the opportunity for a good skate after its official opening, the return of an operating Rink of Dreams couldn’t come at a better time. “I skate almost every day in the winter, either on the Rink of Dreams or on the canal, whichever is open,” she said. “When it’s all lit up at night it’s really pretty and it’s just a great way to get exercise without actually feeling like...

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Posted on Dec 3, 2013 in Featured, Sports & Recreation

Ravens pressured to stay on top

Ravens pressured to stay on top

By Philippe de Montigny and Kiran Rana The Carleton Ravens men’s basketball team is going into the holidays undefeated, but the break from classes doesn’t mean a break from practice. Dave Smart, the coach of Carleton’s team, will hold his team to a strict training schedule throughout the holiday season. “We’ll practice pretty hard through December,” said Smart, who will run practices until Dec. 21st. “Then we go to Florida and have a 10-day training camp.” Players will get a six-day break, regrouping on the 27th for two days of practices and then leaving with their coaches and therapist to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Being first in the Canadian weekly standings and with a decade-long reputation that includes nine national championship titles, the Ravens are constantly reminded of the stakes. “Our coaches make sure we don’t get complacent,” said Philip Scrubb, Carleton’s star player and fourth-year commerce student from Richmond, B.C. “They remind us every day that other teams are coming for us and they try to make our practices...

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