Station Touristique Baie des Sables - March 4, 2019

[Paul]

Station Touristique Baie des Sables was today's destination, and also was a re-discovery for me as the last time I had skied here was back in 2014. I left Sherbooke at 9:30 and took my time getting there and arrived at the hill at 10:45 under mostly cloudy skies and a nice temperature of -4 degrees, and snowing very lightly. Baie des Sables is located at the top of Lac Megantic, a drive of a touch more than an hour. The trails here are narrow with one wide trail with a snow park. The hill is not very large, and the only lift available is a t-bar. All trails and glades were open today. The conditions were fantastic with groomed packed powder over a firm base all with natural snow. There is no snowmaking. The first laps were down the main trail the Megantic, located at the skier's left as you ride up the t-bar. I noticed this trip that the trails now are named. They were only designated numerically in the past.

The Megantic beginner trail with the snowpark to the left side looking uphill:

The next runs were off to the right of the t-bar, down the Gosford, Saint-Joseph, Saddle, the Sainte-Cecile trails. These are the narrow trails that cut through the spruce trees, and are rated at an Intermediate level. The glade trails, The Belanger, Scotch Cap, and the Marbre are rated as a difficult single diamond level. The coverage on these trails was complete and excellent. 

The Gosford:

The Saddle:

The Sainte-Cecile with the d'Urban crossover trail to the right:

It is the start of the March break here in Quebec, and for the first day there were a lot of people. Baie des Sables not only has downhill skiing, they also offer cross-country skiing, tubing, snowshoeing, and even you can ice fish on the lake just off shore from the chalet. Most of the people that were in line waiting in the chalet were for rentals of snowshoes and cross-country skis. There was a line up at the t-bar however the wait wasn't more that 3 to 5 minutes. There were quite a few kids from the area as the hill serves the town of Lac Megantic and surrounding area. 

I skied for a couple of hours and had done at least one run down the trails staying out of the woods on all but one run. I left at 1:30 to head back home after about a dozen runs. The skiing was great, the the grooming as well. Another pleasant day of skiing, and again on all natural snow. Nothing like doing laps old school by t-bar at the very affordable rate of $11.50!

Here are some additional scenes from the day:

The Glades at Baie des Sables:

 

[Gordo]

Looks like a great little hill and the snow looks prefect.   I couldn't find a trail map online though.

[Paul]

Here's is a photo of the trail map that was located just outside the chalet from my first visit in 2013. Back then the trails were designated by number and no names. I was wanting to find an updated one but haven't found one yet.

 

[Shane]

Quite impressive. Especially the wooded trails. 

How much vertical would you say it has?

Definitely can't go wrong for the price. How far is it from Sherbrooke?

[Paul]

They have a vertical of about 295 feet. The there are multiple routes to take to get there and, each route takes just over an hour from Sherbrooke. My preferred route to take is the 108 out of town to Stornoway, then route 161 to Lac Megantic. There is plenty to do there if you are not into downhill skiing.