I'm a Lumberjack and I'm OK

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Boy Scouts a la Canada!

I thought my afternoon out at a University Lumberjack competition probably deserved an entry of its own because it is one of the most uniquely Canadian things I have so far witnessed. We drove out to part of the McGill campus just outside of the main city to see the 'woodsman' events contested by various universities in Eastern Canada and North Eastern US. The log chopping, log sawing, log throwing and log climbing events were joined by axe throwing, chainsawing, snow shoe running and even water boiling. The teams seemed to take it all quite seriously and we had to refrain from singing Monty Python too often as we were turning heads already. I have to say I was most impressed by the water boiling competition where they get given a big chunk of wood, an axe and 3 matches and it's a race to see which participant can make the water boil first. It is a highly skillful event and they were practically hyperventilating from needing to blow on their fires to get more and higher flames. Then their teammates would sit watching and chanting some kind of 'haka-like' song to egg them on. I have put a video on this site for you all to see! It looks pretty strange, to be honest, in the video as it is the last 30 seconds when he is desperately trying to get the fire to heat the water up but it conveys the crazy atmosphere at the place rather nicely!

Next stop is Mont Tremblant for 2 more weeks of skiing before a short trip to San Francisco. 4 weeks today I will be on the plane to Chile! I can't believe how quickly time is going and that I have already been away 2 months. It feels like half that. Anyway still plenty more stuff to see and do before heading homewards!

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