I woke up early this morning to a beautiful sunny bluebird sky, so I made the decision to head out to Mont Orford. The mountain had received up to 40 centimetres of new snow Friday and into Saturday, so today was the day to go and see what they had. I arrived at the mountain a few minutes after 8 and the main parking lot was already filling up. The...

Well I had an airmiles ticket for Tremblant burning in my pocket and figured Friday would be the day.  The weather was looking a little suspect but while it rained in Ottawa, Tremblant got 15cms over night.  Heading out in the morning it was raining pretty hard but just after the turn off north on highway 323 it turned to snow and would snow for th...

Wow bonus powder day. I went up to Fortune right after work and it was snowing a little. By 4pm though it was a white out and would snow heavy for over three hours dropping 10cms. Every run was refreshed. We may be at peak snow pack.  This may have been my best night ski in a long while.  Conditions we perfect, everything was open and zero crowds. ...

For some crazy reason we decided to pack three adults into a Nissan Micra with all our ski gear and a BBQ then drive through a snow storm to Mont Chilly in the Pontiac. Taking the Ontario side we crossed the Ottawa River at the Chenaux generating station.  We arrived at Mont Chilly around 10:30 and they were just firing up the T-bar which is powere...

With a sunny bluebird sky in the forecast for today, the place to go was Owl's Head. This would make my second visit of the season here. I arrived at the mountain at 9:00 with a beautiful sky and a temperature of -10 degrees. The main parking lot was already half full by then which was a sign that everyone else was going to take advantage of a nice...

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 loca...

Another beautiful day at Camp Fortune.  Full sun, zero wind and a temperature around -5c. Conditions are loose granular over a hard base. Fortune has done a great job of dealing with the rain then flash freeze of last Sunday.  The groomers are fast and smooth. By the afternoon some on the steeper runs on Skyline were getting scrapped down to the ba...

I was long overdue for a road trip to somewhere, so a couple of weeks ago I had contacted an good ski buddy of mine to plan something out, and we had decided on visiting Tenney Mountain, NH. Today was the day. I had been mentioning to him on a few occasions that I had visited Tenney late last season, and that I was impressed with what had been done...

I got in a quick morning ski at Mont Cascades which is about 20mins from downtown Ottawa on the east side of the Gatineau River.  The weather was perfect with a high around zero and the sun coming out around 10am.  All the main trails were perfectly groomed with soft snow under your skis.  Fun Run, Crazy Creek, Detour and the Facade were left natur...

Well, all the snow from the storm last Tuesday/Wednesday has held up great at Camp Fortune. The conditions are killer with nicely groomed snow, perfect for high angle carving at high speed.  We arrived in time to get a bunch of runs on Heggtviet and Duffy before the sun went down just before 6.  The bumps and cliff drops on Duffy were super fun. He...

Welcome to the white room. 35cms of fresh light powder had fallen over night and it was still snowing when we arrived at Mont Ste Marie.  Only a single run was groomed everything else was left as virgin powder.  Total nirvana.  The temperatures were mild at around -5c and hardly anyone had made the hour drive up from Ottawa. In fact the lifts start...

While sitting at my desk in the office today looking out the window, and watching all this white powder fall from the sky I knew a tough decision had to be made. Shovel the driveway when I got home or go skiing. Well you know what that decision was........and here is the report. I arrived at Bellevue at opening, 6pm, and the parking lot was already...

After the Edelweiss ice skating experience the previous evening and following the day's snow and rain, I was looking forward to hitting the hill with a bit more success on this evening. I packed up the car and headed out to Edelweiss. Once I got to the end of the 50 it took me a few moments to realize how dark it seemed. I mean, it's pretty desolat...

Tonight I had to travel from Montreal to Ottawa and was determined to get some quick skiing in along the way. I'd been to Saint-Sauveur the night before and it was decent "early spring" following all the rain and sleet this past week, but as the rain continued last night they closed at 5pm and weren't an option for my trip plan (Montreal - > Saint-...

We rolled into Mont Ste Marie just before 10 after a long drive that included being stuck behind plows, big trucks and driving in a white out.  Well the drive was worth it.  MSM with 1200ft vertical across two mountains was 100% open. The resort had about 10cms of fresh light powder and snow would continue to fall on and off all day.  In the mornin...

Boom! I woke to 15cm and it was still coming down hard.  Yes it was cold (-20c) but when it snows its a good day.  I managed to make it up to Fortune around 10am. Late maybe but I was hungover and got stuck behind a fleet of snow plows.  There was still lots of powder to go around.  First stop was Heggtveit.  After some fun on Skyline including Swa...

With a planned day off today, Mont Gleason was the mountain of choice for a mid-week getaway. I had received a message from a good friend of mine a few weeks ago that he was coming up from New York with his spouse for a week holiday to do some skiing in Quebec, and wanted to check out Mont Gleason. So we met up at the mountain at 9:00. Cloudy skies...

I rolled into the valley at Camp Fortune around 3pm. The parking lot was pretty full. I guess even though it was around -15c the sun and low wind had brought everyone out.  Bluebird days help a lot and everyone was enjoying the wintery Saturday on the hill. The conditions were a mix of packed snow on the valley side to hard packed base on Skyline. ...

A storm rolled in Monday night. I was night skiing at Camp Fortune and it hit hard around 8pm. By Tuesday morning, Tremblant was saying it had 17cm of fresh on the mountain.  We hit the road taking the 2 hour drive northeast. With over 2000ft vertical Tremblant is a leg burner when your used to smaller resorts in the Ottawa area.  Today would be a ...

This was a trip that I was going to make a bit later in the season, but curiosity got the better of me, so I headed to Owl's Head to see what had been happening lately with all the changes over the past off season. There is a long term plan in place for Owl's Head for improvements, and if they are anything like what saw today, it's going to be awes...

Pulled into Fortune Valley around 4 for my first night ski of the season.  The hill had gotten about 4cm over night and it was still lightly snowing.  The conditions in the valley were great with a soft layer over a hard base.  You could carve railroad tracks with ease.  Skyline on the other hand was a little crusty.  First there had been a NorAm M...

On the second day in January 2019 I went back in time, to review the abundance of photos from our NYE experience at Sommet St-Sauveur! The mountain was offering an NYE dinner at 7pm with limited availability on the second floor of the T-bar, I actually missed out on the opportunity for the $109 per person tickets for that back in November, but then...

After the previous evening's festivities, it took me a bit of effort to rally, but I finally talked myself into braving the dropping temps to head up to Saint-Sauveur, which would make up for my annual skipping of the Coney Island polar bear dip. Our day started with a 5pm brunch of mimosas, bacon, and eggs benedict (back story: Scott made a delici...

Happy New Year! and 2019 comes in with a roar. While Ottawa got a mix of snow (maybe 4cms), freezing rain and rain Camp Fortune got about 10-15cms! Anyway the best way to kill a hangover is to ski. I arrived around 9:30 with my sister in tow and almost got stuck in the Skyline parking lot which had not been plowed.  The place was a bit of a ghost t...

It's the final day of 2018 and wanting to end it in true skiing style, a ski double-header was on the menu. Mont Ste Marie in the morning and Camp Fortune in the afternoon. (Be sure to check out the other report here). I arrived at Camp Fortune around 1pm on the Valley Side. Saddling up my ski boots once for the second time today, I was off to the ...