Campbell’s Bay native Katelyn Bertrand has spent most weekends this winter traveling to communities across the Pontiac with a single mission in mind: teaching people to cross-country ski.
She loads up her Honda Civic full with skis, ski boots and poles of all sizes, and braves the sometimes treacherous winter roads to make this equipment available, for free, to anybody who wants to give it a try.
Bertrand, who started skiing when she was seven years old, is now the Pontiac coordinator for Ski à l’école Outaouais. She’s one in a handful of people across the region working to help people enjoy the outdoors on ski and snowshoe through free equipment lending programs.
“I know that I was very fortunate, my godmother is the president of a ski club and I grew up in a place where I could do sports,” Bertrand said. “I know so many other people can’t, some people don’t even have snow gear.”
Since 2021, she’s been brainstorming ways to encourage more people to get on skis. While interest in the program was originally slow, her new approach this year – traveling to winter carnivals and outdoor events across the county to bring the skis to the people – seems to be working.
Always sporting a bright red coat and blue snow pants, she helps people find the right size equipment and offers tips and tricks to people trying out the sport for the first time.
“It brings me so much joy to be able to give back to a community that gave me so many opportunities,” Bertrand said. “The least I can do is help the next generation of kids have the opportunity to do something outside.”
Ski à l’école also has a partnership with the Salt and Pepper ski club, which organizes ski outings for people 55 years and older. Salt and pepper volunteer Deb Powell said that allowing people to borrow the equipment for free goes a long way in breaking down barriers to the outside.
“Part of the idea is to make it so that there’s no barriers,” Powell said. “You don’t have to buy equipment, you don’t have to pay for a membership; all you have to do is get yourself to wherever the activity is.”
Powell said that she started cross-country skiing as an adult and that it’s a good activity for seniors because it’s less challenging than other winter activities.
“It’s great to see people outside enjoying the winter weather,” Powell said. “It gets me out there and lets me share my love of skiing.”
Supporting ‘community spirit and wellbeing’
Elsewhere in the Pontiac, municipalities and recreation associations are also looking at ways to get people outside in the winter. With back-to-back snowstorms earlier this month reminding everybody what a real Pontiac winter looks like, loaning snowshoes is getting more popular.
“This is probably the most snow we’ve had in the last couple years,” said Christie Dennie, president of the Chapeau recreation association, which has been running a snowshoe lending program for four years. “So we’ve actually got snowshoes going out the door this year, which is great.”
Dennie said the RA hoped to offer something unique when they started the program a few years ago.
“Not everyone can have a snow machine or can do downhill or cross-country skiing,” Dennie said. “We wanted to offer something different.”
Dennie explained people can request to borrow snowshoes from her or meet them at the RA at set times. All they have to do is sign a waiver and they can keep the snowshoes for two weeks.
“It’s nice for families to be able to borrow these, take them out, and maybe fall in love with it,” Dennie said.
“That’s how I actually started with the RA and with snowshoeing. [ . . . ] I borrowed them for two weeks that turned into another two weeks that turned into another two, and I ended up purchasing my own snowshoes because I enjoy it.”
In Bryson, a similar program exists where people can borrow snowshoes from the rink at the Lions Park or from the municipality.
“It’s a reminder that we have a lot of stuff here in Bryson and in the Pontiac,” Griffin said. “You don’t always have to drive an hour away to enjoy different sports. I think it’s nice that you have an affordable option just to stick around here in town.”
She said that this gives people a chance to see if they like the activity before committing to buying a pair of snowshoes.
While snowshoeing is good for physical health, Griffin said that they also thought about mental health for this program.
“Winter can be long and cold,” Griffin said. “I think it’s more for community spirit and wellbeing.”
