Today was parent volunteer day for my son Lukas' ski outing for school, and of course I couldn't pass on this opportunity to go with them. We met at his school for us to board the bus to head out. We arrived at Orford just a little after 9:30 to a bluebird sky, and mild temperatures. There was a good group of students that came along for the trip with a few teachers, and parent volunteers. We got settled in the chalet in our area, and got ready to go. After helping some of the students for their rentals, and their boot fitting, it was time to meet up with the group instructors. Once everyone was grouped up, it was pretty much free time for us to enjoy the morning. By then it was about 10:15. I met up with my long time best friend Christian, and spent the morning skiing....

School Break in Quebec is now upon us. Abby, Lukas, and I headed off to Mont Orford for a special day of skiing today to start off the week. Certainly a change of scenery from Mont Bellevue these past few weekends. We arrived at the mountain just before 8am to sunny skies. This trip would be Abby & Lukas' second visit at Orford to ski. Once we got dressed, and got their RFID cards it was go time. The Hybrid, Giroux North & East along with the Alfred Desrochers Quad were in operation. The Rapido Triple was not.  There was a line up before opening to get first tracks at the Hybrid, which thinned out by the time we were ready to go. The first runs were for the Magic Carpet for Abby & Lukas with a warm up, then over to the Hybrid on the 4km, an Easy trail as...

Taking the day off work, Mont Orford was the "office" of choice for the morning. I arrived at about 8:15 and the parking lot was already filling up. The temperature was a fresh -18 degrees under partly sunny skies which cleared out during the morning. 26 of 43 trails were open with the Hybride, Giroux North, and Alfred Desrochers Quad in operation.  I started the day off with the a couple of runs up the Hybride to ski the Trois Ruisseaux, and Maxi trails to get fresh tracks early. The conditions were great with a groomed packed powder over a firm base. I got the tough stuff out of the way first. A great warm up to begin the day.   The Trois Ruisseaux & Maxi: Once the tough stuff was done, I made my way over to the Alfred Desrochers Quad. This is my favourite sector of the mountain especially...

The 2022-23 season has finally begun. I arrived just before 8:30, and the temperature was already just above 0 degrees with a mostly cloudy sky. Four trails were available today, along the Giroux North quad, and the Magic Carpet. The Familliale, Magog, Jean d'Avignon, Mitaine were the choice of runs. Mother Nature hasn't been great to us to start off the season, but that will probably change for tomorrow. It's supposed to snow....finally. What we skied today was mostly machine made snow. The mountain ops team has done a great job to get what was open! Coverage was really good for the start of the season.  The first run of the year was down the Famillale, a nice easy Green run. Coverage was great, and no ice or obstacles to avoid. At the top of Giroux it was a touch foggy, but not socked in. The fog had burned off by...