Ottawa, Canada Travel Guide

Ottawa, Canada Travel Guide

Cinderella’s pumpkin coach, before midnight, at Winterlude.

The Best Winterlude Ever

When it’s Winterlude in Ottawa
and gentle breezes blow,
about twenty miles an hour
It feels like thirty-five below!

In spite of the deep freeze, the 25th annual Winterlude – North America’s largest winter festival – was a rousing success. Unlike last year, when El Niño hit us with an unseasonable heat wave, this time the weather was perfect. We enjoyed blue skies, bright sunshine, very little snow, two feet (0.6m) of ice on the Canal; and every one of the storms that ravaged North America passed us by. An estimated 650,000 visitors took in the ice and snow carvings, recreational and figure skating on the Canal, formal balls, concerts, bed racing, snowboarding, waiters’ obstacle races on skates, the “Ice Hogs” mascots, and snow mountains for the kiddies. All the details and much more can be found here.

‘Wild and Woolly BC’.

Competitive sports were prominent too. A new triathlon on February 2 combined 5 mi. (8 km) of skating, 4.5 mi. (7 km) of cross-country skiing, and 3 mi. (5 km) of running. Later, the Canadian Ski Marathon attracted some 2,000 skiers. The 30 mile (50 km) Keskinada Loppet across the Ottawa River in Quebec was one of eight elite cross-country races of the FIS Marathon Cup series, and attracted top skiers from around the world. And last but far from least, the Senators are on top of the NHL, and are even having technicolor dreams of maybe adding another Stanley Cup to the nine Ottawa won long ago.

This year’s ice sculptures were the finest ever, done by carvers from as far away as Peru and Korea. In addition to smaller individual works of art, there was a new Master Ice Carvers Invitational which attracted teams of the finest artisans from around the world. Each team had two days to create a masterpiece of their own choosing. Both the Judges Award and the People’s Choice Award (voted by visitors), went to the same work, Japan’s “Angel Melody”, an eight (2.4m) by twelve (4m) by three foot (1m) angel playing a harp. The intricate detail was incredible! Worthy competition was offered by the USA’s “Cinderella’s Coach” and France’s “Moonlight Fantasy”. They all looked most spectacular when lighted at night, as the photos show.

‘Moonlight Fantasy’.

The snow sculptures looked great too. Starting with twelve-foot cubes of densely packed snow, each of the thirteen provinces and territories carved one representing various aspects of Canadian life. The Judges Award went to Prince Edward Island’s interpretation of Canada’s huge World War I memorial at Vimy Ridge in France. The People’s Choice depicted a beautifully detailed mountain with fir trees and bighorn sheep done by British Columbia’s carvers.

All in all, ’twas the best Winterlude in memory!

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