I had thought that Friday evening would be my last decent ski session for some time - I headed to Saint-Sauveur to catch the last few hours of the day after work. It was delightfully slick, soft with a thin layer of chill on top like the frosting on a cake, and oh, so fast. Not to mention it was full moon Friday! As viewed from halfway up the Somme...
Soft turns and fog was name of the game on Friday. We rolled into Tremblant around 9am after a easy two hour drive from Ottawa. The place was busy with almost all the parking lots at capacity. The temperature was around zero and with no wind the top third of the mountain was a total white out. First off the lineup at the gondola was insane because ...
The new year at Camp Fortune rolled in with 25cms of snow over 24hrs. Fortune must have groomed after the snowfall as everything was perfect corduroy. Skyline is open with Bud Clark, Canadian, Chute , and Sparks. Heggtveit was getting setup for snowmaking once the temperatures drop. The ropes have not dropped yet on Swan Dive or the glades, maybe a...
With the forecast for the next couple of days not being the best it could be, I decided to take advantage of a sunny day to head down to Owl's Head. I woke up to a beautiful sunrise, and I left Sherbrooke at 7:15 for the hour drive. I arrived at the mountain at a touch after 8, and got ready to roll. Got my RFID card reloaded then it was go time! T...
Day 2 of the season brought me to Mont Orford today. I had heard of the major construction project on the chalet, snowmaking system, and the new domed double magic carpet for the beginner's area that was installed, and has some finishing touches to go before it is up and running. I needed a sneak peek at what was done. I arrived at the mountain jus...
Quick update on conditions at Camp Fortune. Saturday was grim, cold rain all day but as the sun went down we had a switch over. The snow started around 6pm in Chelsea and 8pm in Ottawa. The result 12cms at Camp Fortune! Instant winter wonderland with the sticky stuff clinging to trees and chair lifts. Note to self I need better ski pants. Anyways, ...
Wow, what a killer weekend at Mont Tremblant! I drove up late Friday to meet some buddies from Toronto who had a hotel room a few minutes from the resort. Our expectations were not high as it was early season and there was the 24hr relay race on the south side. Tremblant brought the goods though. They had just gotten 10cms and on Saturday they open...
Today was my friend's birthday, and what better way to celebrate than riding down the mountain! Bromont opened the Versant du Village on Saturday, and I was excited to try some new terrain after having spent the previous 15 sessions at Saint-Sauveur. As I was having a long day at the office, I didn't arrive until quite late, with everyone else arri...
Five and a half months after the end of last season, the 2019-20 season began today with a trip to Mont Gleason. A buddy of mine contacted me to see if I was interested in going, and we decided that today worked with our schedules. So road trip it was. It was Gleason's opening weekend, as they had opened yesterday. We arrived at the mountain around...
Opening day at Camp Fortune was a crisp (-12c) bluebird day. This is the 100th season! and people are pumped. Two runs, Pineault and Allen's Ally were open and the conditions were great. The trails are covered in perfect machine made corduroy with about 20cms of natural snow along the edges. There are also a few rails and small jumps setup for the ...
Skison 2019, day 2! After our late night at Brasserie Harricana, we got a late start to the day, made some breakfast sandwiches (thanks mom for the homemade bread!), and took our time heading up to the mountain, running some errands along the way. We got there around 6, I picked up the skis and board I'd dropped at the atelier mise au point the pre...
The long awaited day has finally arrived, exactly five months to the day that we rode L'Etoile for the last runs of the season. Saint-Sauveur had been teasing an opening for days now, and with Killington's Rime and Reason already in full force as of last Sunday, it was a pretty safe bet that Friday would be the day: TGIF, amirite? The opening was a...
After a late-night Friday, we took it easy Saturday morning and I didn't get to the Nikita Girls Who Ride jam, which was from 1-5pm, a shift from last year's evening session, one that offered perfect daytime conditions. We got to Saint-Sauveur around 3:30, just in time for the deluge of rain falling from the sky. Due to the severity of the weather,...
It barely feels like a month has passed since Sommet Saint-Sauveur's skison ended....because really it's only been 21 days! And yet the AKAMP hype is real! AKAMP, now in its 12th year, is a mirage of a snow park in the heat of the summer. This year for the first time, the snow park is located next to the Babalou chairlift on Mont Avila right in fro...
At the end of the day on June 8th it seemed certain conditions would still be great on the 9th especially with the anticipated high of 30C! I spent much of the day relaxing before heading up to the mountain for late afternoon. This time, I figured I'd just stay on the top section and practice slide turns on what was left of the 70 Ouest top. It was...
After skiing down the 70 Ouest the night of the 6th, I was pretty sure all our hopes and dreams for a June 8th opening alongside the waterpark opening were dashed: The top pitch of the 70 Ouest had a narrow path remaining between the only break in the trail, and half the bottom pitch was missing entirely, having sadly melted away. To my absolute de...
Following the June 2 "last chair in Quebec" party, I did a couple of hikes to take advantage of the still unbroken trail. On June 6th, I arrived a bit on the later side so instead of hiking up and skiing down, my strategy was to park at the top of the road running along side of La Plagne and hike in to the top of the 70 Ouest, and then take a taxi ...
Hiking season has begun! As Saint-Sauveur's lift-serviced operations came to a close on Sunday afternoon, I had grand confidence that the hush-hush whisperings of a surprise June 8th opening would materialize. Never before in recent years had the 70 Ouest and Nordique (top) been open together for the final day of the season. Surely the base would h...
Maybe this report should be posted in the Summer Experiences section since it is June 1st! When I heard that Sommet St-Sauveur confirmed their opening for this weekend, I couldn't pass up this opportunity to ski in June. I had never done that before. Last year was close, at May 27th. I left Sherbrooke at 6 and arrived at the mountain at 8:20. I jus...
To end the 2018-19 season, a trip to Sommet St-Sauveur was in order today. Leaving Sherbrooke at 6am with overcast skies, I actually drove through some snow by Mont Orford and there was a dusting on the ground. We have not had the best of weekends in the townships lately, and the 4 major areas are now closed. It was a smooth drive through the city ...
Yes Camp Fortune is closed for the season but there is still loads of snow on the hills even after the rainfest of the last couple days. Since I missed the last official weekend I figured I better get my fix. Taking my snowshoe skis which have a built in skin under foot I climbed Sparks on the Skyline line side. The main runs still have plenty of...
SURPRISE!! It's unexpected powder day! I woke up far too early this morning and saw some fat flakes falling but kind of assumed it was just a tease. The snow continued falling and picked up in intensity. So much so that my partner called me from the office just to tell me how much it was snowing!! I had returned my (compact SUV: snow driving appro...
Made it up to Mont Ste Marie for one last spring rip. The hour drive north from Ottawa was an easy one, though many fields were full of deer. The coverage on the two mountains is still impressive with all of the 20 groomed trails still open. Even the off-piste runs had good coverage but they were mostly closed. The snow was just to sticky in the...
Well this weekend was almost a mirror of last weekend. Ottawa got mostly rain while the hills north of Gatineau got mostly snow. Camp Fortune got only 5cms but Mont Ste Marie got 25cms over two days! On Sunday, I made it as far Edelweiss as the roads were not great. They got 10cms of fresh snow overnight with only a couple trails groomed in the...
I had based this trip on the long rage forecast about a week ago where it was supposed to be a mostly sunny day and mild, so I planned to have the day off. As the week progressed I watched the forecast deteriorate day by day to a mild day of mostly cloudy and rain. Well at least that part the forecasters got correct! I had gotten in touch with a fr...