Search the Community

With night skiing coming to a close in the region, a few friends and I decided to go night skiing one last time. We went to Sommet Edelweiss, as I had not been in 2 years, and always loved the Swiss Vibe, long runs, and fast chairlift of the hill. That Sunday night was set to be the last night of night skiing at the mountain. I initially was expecting a large crowd, due primarily because of it being a weekend, as well as it being the last day of night skiing. However, the fact the rain led to a last minute cancellation of the prior night’s night skiing, coupled with the warm and rainy weather in the Ottawa valley, led to the hill being almost eerily quiet. The conditions were extremely slow and slushy. Snow coverage was pretty decent, with all trails off the Edelbahn Express lift open. The black trails were the only ones with some dirt patches. We started with skiing Streif, then Shotgun, two of the hill’s steepest black runs. While one side of Streif had excellent coverage, it was my first time on shotgun (a natural snow trail), and the conditions there were fair to poor. However, I’ll take thin snow over ice any day;). Streif: Shotgun: After skiing the black runs, we stuck with the greens and blues for the remained of the night. The slushy snow made for some perfect carving conditions. After taking a quick supper break at 7, one of my slight worries about the conditions was confirmed. The slushy, Spring conditions quickly hardened after the sun set behind the mountain… The last two hours were very bumpy, and led to extremely sore muscles/joints! The conditions were likely my worst this season, with the slushy grooves becoming icy grooves that shuddered and jolted my skis and body around. Not to say we didn’t have a good time. As the beautiful sunset faded, the night lights were switched on. To cope with the hard and bumpy conditions, we stuck to the green cruisers, and took our time descending. In all, we still managed to ski nearly 20 runs in 4 hours of skiing, breaks excluded, (the most this season), thanks to the high speed lift. Throughout the afternoon and evening, less than 30 cars were in the parking lot (similar to my opening day experience at Pakenham), leading to no lift lines and runs to ourselves. We left at 9pm, glad despite the conditions that we were able to night ski on the last night of this amazing season. Cheers

What a fantastic day out on the slopes at Sommet Edelweiss. Horray! It is the Quebec March Break and the weather couldn't be more perfect. Bluebird skies and all slopes are open with full complete snow coverage. On this day, there were many U-12 competition teams from Quebec ski areas present at the mountain. They were doing some training and exercises at Edelweiss. This likely contributed to there being more people on the mountain than likely would have been otherwise, but with two of the three quad chairlifts running, the wait times were fairly short and reasonable. At the detachable Edelbahn Express, the wait varied from less than 1 minute to no more than 5 minutes. At the Meister 4000, it was always less than 1 minute. The Streif quad was not operating and seems to only run on the weekends when it is busiest. Conditions were fantastic, all trails were perfectly groomed. If you didn't know it had rained a week ago, you would have never known by skiing the slopes. Any effects from that lousy weather are completely gone now. A nice soft base and surface on all trails, with Shotgun and Descente Telesiege being a bit more hard-packed and firm than elsewhere on the mountain. Hard to say which trails were among my favourites today as they all offered something nice to experience and enjoy. While I do enjoy Streif, the big pitch can be quite challenging and intimidating as it really drops off. If you go down on skier-left, it feels much steeper than taking it on skier-right. Streif Streif (Left) and Shotgun (Right) Since it has not yet been reported on this site to date, the new chalet extension really adds a lot of extra space to the base chalet. Both levels are very open and spacious, and the windows are floor to ceiling, which can give a great view of many of the trails at Edelweiss. While the old roundhouse was fun, with little to no windows present, it was always dark and dingy feeling, as well as not the most efficient use of the space. The new extension really fixes all these issues in a great way. The windows are also in the form of "garage doors", meaning they can open up entirely to expose the inside to the outdoors in warm weather (not quite something for the present weather but something to potentially enjoy later on in the spring. Another change I noticed is the customer service area and ticket counter have moved into the rental building. This helps free up some space in the main hallway of the chalet and makes it feel less busy. Also new this year is the GoPasse gates, prevalent at all the other Sommet mountains. Re-loadable RFID cards allow quick access to the lifts and can be reloaded online at home, avoiding the ticket counter lineup when you arrive. The magic carpet and beginner zone have been set up for Intro+, a novel concept for offering all sorts of terrain, each focusing on a different aspect of skiing, while still offering a safe and comfortable environment. From banked turns, to rollers, and a mini-flattened half pipe and more, there are 5-6 modules and terrain features to work through to get you ready for the main mountain. Overall, a great day on the slopes. Happy to see Edelweiss and Les Sommets investing in the mountain. They took over ownership around 20 years ago and have been making steady improvements over time. Here are some more pictures from today on the slopes! Rue Principale Trou du Diable (Left) and Rockstar Snoprk (Right) Top Notch at the summit of the Meister 4000 quad Chemin des Bois The big pitch on Easy Street Zoomer Panorama of Zoomer, in which you can see the summit to the right and the base to the left. Shotgun, lots of zig zags before the culminating big drop The magic carpet and beginner zone featuring Intro+ Profiled and banked terrain for Intro+ The new chalet extension The first floor of the extension The second floor of the extension The connecting hallways and ramps from the existing chalet building The classic lower level of the main chalet The upper floor The cafeteria The new customer service area located inside the rentals building Happy skiing!