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). Arriving at Mont Ste Marie just before opening at 9am, I was quick to get ready and start the day. Heading up Vanier Mountain, the ...
While in the Stoneham-Tewkesbury region this weekend for a family visit, I decided to take advantage of some time and head off to Station Touristique Stoneham for the morning to get some turns in. Staying at the Manoir Lac-Delage overnight, I was at most 10 minutes away from the hill. Manoir Lac-Delage is a popular hotel that had their own ski...
What an amazing day out on the slopes at Sommet Edelweiss this Christmas Eve. 7 trails were open, which included Easy Street, Chemin des Bois, Rockstar SnoPrk and Zoomer, as well as the Edelbahn Express quad detachable. After reading yesterday's report from Gordo, I knew that despite the rain, the conditions were very good, but it still didn't comp...
Did a quick mission up to Fortune to see how the hill faired from the rainfest of Friday. Pulled into Skyline around 9:30. Skyline had just opened for the season on Saturday and the base is looking great with Chute, Canadian, Bud Clark and Sparks open. The conditions were fast hard pack granular with little or n...
With the weather forecast looking bleak for Friday and Saturday in the Townships with a freezing rain warning and rain to follow, a visit to Mont Bellevue this evening was warranted. I arrived at the hill at 6:45pm to a half-full parking lot. Plenty of decent parking close to the chalet. Tonight was Thursday Men's Night where men 18+ ski free for t...
Hit the valley around 9:30 after passing a closed Skyline covered in whales of snow gun snow. I'm sure it will open next weekend or sooner. Regardless it was a beautiful day with temperatures hovering around zero. The entire valley is now open with the exception of the T-bar runs. Conditions were very decent for early season skiing with a good ba...
Well it has been some time since my last trip report! This is owing to having dropped my phone and cracked the screen, so it's not as easy to take photos when the snow is falling, risking the phone getting wet! I've actually been to Sommet Saint-Sauveur a few times a week since last month, and had the pleasure of seeing the openings of Nordique, 70...
Mont Orford was the destination choice today to start off the 2018-19 season. There were other options that were thought of that involved a bit of travel, however I decided to stick to something nearby. This would be Orford's second weekend of operation. With the dump of snow this past week Orford was a good choice. All of Giroux North was open cou...
What an exceptional start to the season this year at Camp Fortune. Thanks to an abundant supply of natural snow over the past couple weeks and very cold weather that allowed heavy snowmaking to occur, Camp Fortune launched its season this past Friday. Already on to Day 2, conditions are perfect, and you would be forgiven to think it was mid-Februar...
Not your traditional report per say, but more of a preview of what is happening in the mountains of the Townships. I was at Mont Sutton today visiting a long time friend of mine who runs the ski shop there for step one of my preparation for the upcoming ski season. It was a nice day for a change, and decided that a small road trip was in order to ...
This micro trip report is brought to you by a lack of sleep the previous night. Made it to the hill at 3:15 but I didn't read the fine print, closing was at 4pm! Just enough time for a few good runs on this snowy day with 20 cm of freshly fallen sticky powder. This is the first time so far that we had to wait in a line to get on the chair, there we...
I had initially planned to go to Saint-Sauveur on Saturday but the anticipated night skiing didn't happen due to the weather. So I headed up on Sunday afternoon, arriving around 3:30 to the beginning of sunset. Some people were still arriving and some were leaving and mentioned it was pretty icy, which wasn't surprising given last week's rain. I go...
Sommet Saint-Sauveur surprised with an early opening Friday, but it wasn't until Saturday evening that I was able to head up, and it seems as though I picked the perfect time! As I started walking to the car with all my gear, heavy and wet flurries were falling from the sky. So much so that I had to turn back to rescue my balcony herbs from certain...
I'll admit, I wasn't prepared for an early season start. My alarm went off at 9am and for a hot minute I contemplated nixing my plan for the day's mini road trip - I am not a functional morning person and the morning's first thought of a three hour long trip in the car was not altogether motivational. When my second alarm went off ten minutes later...
It's a story every Canadian has heard through their lifetime: An American family plans their summer vacation in Canada, looking forward to getting away from the sweltering heat. They pack up their skis and boards on their roof rack and head to the border. As they cross, they tell the border guy that the purpose of their trip is to go skiing/riding....
Now the season has come to an end! With the announcement a short time ago that Sommet St. Sauveur was extending their season to May 26-27, I wasn't so sure it was going to happen, but it did! It was pretty much a last minute decision to go as the long range forecast from earlier in the week didn't look too promising, but it changed, like it normall...
Finally some real spring skiing. With the sun out and blue skies in abundance, I set out to end my ski season in style at the one and only Sommet Saint-Sauveur, known for being the first to open and last to close in Quebec. Sommet Saint-Sauveur and Killington down in Vermont are the only two mountains still operating lift-serviced skiing, so the ex...
All good things must come to an end, and so it was with Jay Peak, or what was left of it. Apparently there were 26 "trails" open but this is probably the sum of many sections. When I woke up Sunday morning, I decided I'd have enough time to get down and ski for a few hours, which was just fine with me because I was aching from the previous day's hi...
The forecast was originally +16 and full sun, but of course things shift. I worried as I drove up that the sprinkles of rain would mean they'd close early, but I was pleased to arrive in the parking lot around 2:30 to one of the busiest afternoons I've seen in about a month! I fact it is the first day in about as long that I had to wait in a line t...
I checked my messages first thing when I woke up this morning at 11:30 to discover one from my snowboarding buddy telling me she was stuck at work but that Sauveur was open! I had a few things on my plate today but aimed to get up by 2:30. Of course the work day dragged on with one thing after another, but finally I made it out the door!! After a s...
Three trip reports rolled into one! Pics to follow since I have yet to download from my phone, but I didn't want this trip report to sit too long! I was delighted to learn that Sommet Sauveur planned to open last Friday, given the weather was supposed to be full sun and +16 or so. I made it up to the mountain by 2:30pm, and met up with some friends...
I had been thinking of skiing one more day and earlier in the week I was looking at the remaining available options in the province in which to go, and Massif du Sud was starting to look interesting. A buddy of mine texted me the next day, and was wanting to go out himself to end the season, and he told me that he was going to Massif du Sud and wel...
Not being an early bird type, I made it up to the hill just before 2. It turns out that at Tremblant there is a full day rate, a half day rate, and a why are you so late getting here rate of $27 that starts at 2pm. I got my warm up in by walking uphill to the Flying Mile lift as both the Cabriolet and main gondola were closed for the season. It's o...
The Spring Season began exactly one month ago, and yet today was the first day of skiing for me that actually felt very much like spring. While people may be disappointed with the late start, it has also permitted ski mountains to stretch their season even longer than average. Camp Fortune is usually first to open and last to close in the Ottawa-Ga...
I arrived at Sommet Sauveur around 3:30pm. It was warm enough to ski with my jacket open but not warm enough to switch to my spring hoodie. I managed to get runs in on Red Bird, Jay, 70 Est, 70 Ouest and Nordique, and I was surprised at how slushy conditions were for a day where it was still cool and not sunny. They must have gotten a lot of rain! ...