Mont Gleason - December 27, 2021

[Paul]

With the day off today, I managed to get away to Mont Gleason for the morning. I arrived at the mountain at 8:45 with the temperature of -9 degrees, and no wind. It was supposed to be a partly sunny day, however it ended up being cloudy. Oh, there was about 10 minutes of sunshine that did manage to poke through! I purchased my ticket online last night as this is the only way to reserve your place if you do not have a seasons pass. You get your confirmation via email with a QR code. Upon arrival at the mountain you are required to pick up your lift ticket at an outside ticket window by showing your confirmation QR code. You are also required to show your Vaccine Passport, and one piece of photo ID to complete the pick up. A 3 step process that is very easy to complete. I was on the lift at 9:05. 8 of 20 trails were open, no glades yet as it is still pretty thin in the woods. The conditions were great with groomed machine made snow over a firm base with a light cover of natural snow that fell overnight to throw into the mix. Both Quad lifts were running along with the Learning Area Magic Carpet. What was open today was well covered.

The first runs of the morning were down the Cascades Trail, and the Cote a Georges. A good combination to warm up first thing. It was pretty quiet early on, and absolutely no wait at the Mylene Laroche Quad. This is the Dopplemayr Quad that was installed a couple of seasons ago. The other fixed grip lift, the Laurent Lemire Quad was started up about 9:30 or so. It was pretty much ski down and right onto the lift after your lift ticket was scanned. 

The Cascades Trail:

From here it was on to the Gaudreau, a nice long easy trail, and then onto the MRC Arthabaska, a Black Diamond run, and then the Ling another Black Diamond run which runs under the double chair. Coverage on these trails were great along with the other trails as well. The Mountain Ops team has done a great job on the snowmaking to provide excellent conditions, and super coverage.  

The Top of the Ling:

When the new Quad was installed a couple of seasons ago, the old t-bars were removed which created a new run along with a route for uphill skiers to use for their ascents appropriately call the T-Bar rated as an Intermediate trail. This is a nice short run that connects back onto the bottom of the Cascades. There was one ride up the Laurent Lemire Quad. I stuck pretty much to the Mylene Laroche Quad for riding.

The T-Bar Trail:

The day ended at just after 12:00, and about 12 runs as I had only purchased a 4 hour block ticket. The conditions were great, and no wait in line for either Quad lift. There was only one time where there was a bit of a line up of about only 2-3 minutes max. It was pretty much ski down, and ski onto the lift after a ticket scan. Everyone was well spaced out with plenty of room to ski, and with both Quads running, this helped out a lot. Mont Gleason is one of my "go to" places to ski at least once a season. I missed out last year skiing here, and today reminded me of why this is a "go to" place. The conditions are always excellent here, and never disappoints. Excellent morning, and I hope to be back later in the season once everything is open. 

Here are a few more scenes from the morning: