Mont Orford - December 14, 2023

It's the start of the 2023-24 at last, so off it was to Mont Orford for the morning. The kids tagged along for the ride. We arrived at a little after 8 to get ready for the day. It was a beautiful sunny day with the temperature at around -11 degrees. We got dressed, and headed outside. There were 16 trails available with two lifts. The Giroux North Quad & the Alfred Desrochers Quad were in operation. We headed up the Giroux North Quad for the first run of the day. It was fairly breezy on the ride up, however we were dressed for it. At the summit, the was a steady   wind. As you descended the trail it was more comfortable. We headed down the Familiale and the conditions were really decent. Groomed packed powder with a firm base was awaiting for skiing. We have had a couple of dumps of snow recently but of the wet variety. Great for building base. It's been fairly warm for December. We did get about 5cm of actual fluffy snow the night before which made for a nice topping.

Then we headed over to the over to the Alfred Desrochers Quad for a few runs up there. This is the earliest I've skied the section as it had been an all natural snow area that now has snowmaking. The Grande Allee, Casacades, and Toussiski were skied. Majority of the Alfred sector was opened. This is my favourite sector of the mountain to ski. The brooks were still open and flowing which made for a comforting ride up. Conditions here were really nice. The lower section of the Toussiski past the junction with the Cascades was a bit thin but still very skiable. Just had to watch for a couple of spots.There was hardly any waiting to get on either of the lifts.  

After a few more runs we took a break inside to warm up from the breeze. Then more turns on the Giroux North and the Alfred Quad to complete the morning. It was an easy first day as both kids skied with me. This is their second season on skis, and still learning the art of the snowplow with turning, and not just heading straight down on the snowplow. We ended the day at Noon quite satisfied with what we accomplished. With the investments over the last few years in snowmaking is making quite a difference. The ops team is doing a great job for what the weather has to offer early season. Well done!

Some Other Scenes of the Day: