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Edelweiss Valley - New chairlifts and trails 2000-2015


Shane

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Edelweiss was the creation of Andy Tommy, also known as one of the owners of the Tommy and Lefebvre ski and sports stores. The mountain was a racer's haven for many years. In the end of the 90s, Edelweiss went through tough financial times and was sold to Mont Saint-Sauveur International in the year 2000. Over the past 15 years, MSSI have invested money into all sorts of projects, to improve and update Edelweiss.

From adding two additional quad chairlifts, high performance snowmaking and a snow tubing park, the mountain is constantly evolving.

The following are photos showing the three double chairlifts that were in place in the early 2000s.

The first is the Heron double chair, serving the lower beginner slope of Easy Street. This lift as well as the Yan double chair (located right next to the Edelbahn Express detachable quad) were removed and replaced with a quad chairlift called the Meister 4000. This new lift started at the same point as the old Heron lift, but finished at the summit of the Yan chair, following a hybrid path of those former lifts. Some monkey trails and a small glade were expanded and removed, to create a second beginner trail called Chemin des Bois, that begins at the top of the Meister lift.

Heron double chair

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Yan double chair (notorious for a very high degree of swinging)

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The new Meister 4000 quad chairlift (replacing the Heron and Yan double chairlifts).

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After 2010, the final Poma double chairlift, located to the right of the detachable quad was removed and another Quad chairlift was installed. This lift has the advantage of being able to access all the same terrain as the detachable quad, further assisting with long lineups on weekends.

Poma double chairlift

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The new Strief quad chairlift. This chairlift actually comes from Stratton in Vermont, previously installed as the Kidderbrook chair. The chairlift runs slightly higher than the detachable quad, but serves all the same trails, making it the perfect alternative to the detach on busy days and weekends.

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Wow this is great seing older pictures of Edelweiss.. 

I was talking with a ski instructor last year and they wished that the Heron double chair would have stayed there that way it would have been easier when starting kids on the bigger hill instead of going all the way up.

Lets hope now that MSSI will invest in the chalet a bit in the futur that would would be nice ! :) 

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Hi Stef, I do agree. The Heron chair should have been kept. It was perfect the way it was. Easy Street and Chemin des Bois from the top of the mountain are nice however the pitch half way down is quite challenging for beginners. The old Heron avoided this as it brought you to just below the pitch so much easier to handle for beginners. 

I'm sure based on all that's been done so far the next project would be on the Chalet. Not sure what else needs improving at this point. It is the next logical step. 

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