Laurentian ( Quebec ) Tremblant to MSSI Report

[Anthony]

Spent the day skiing the small local mid Laurentian (Quebec) hills. Can report that conditions are uniform between Tremblant and MSS. Limited operations on machine made snow that firmed up like poured concrete last night with minus 16 C temperatures. 4 to 5 inches of natural snow fell last Thursday and light snow fell today with no noticeable accumulation. Still waiting for the first big snowfall to get the natural snow trails up and running (Mont Alta, Quebec). Looks like VT /NH are getting all the snow so far.

[Patrick]

Looks like VT /NH are getting all the snow so far.

Ottawa is getting pretty white. 10cm on Thursday, light snow all day today.

I've been swamp at work+sick the last few days, I tried to get to Fortune this afternoon but one car family issue. (I knew my daughter music lesson was doing to affect my skiing independence).

Shouldn't have that problem tomorrow, so I'll be out for sure. I don't want to let let my skistreak stop at 1 month after bagging October (just in case).

Don't know if it will be Tremblant (2 hours away and 100 miles) or Fortune (15 minutes and only 15 miles), depends how I feel tomorrow morning.

[Anthony]

Just a note to advise fellow skiers/riders that the Quebec (Laurentian area) with only about 4 to 5 inches of snow on the ground before the rain started is completely down to the grass again with more rain in the forecast. Take a look at the forecast posted by Environment Canada.

Laurentians
3:14 PM EST Tuesday 29 November 2005
Heavy rain warning for
Laurentians continued

30 to 40 mm of rain are expected over these regions. Rain has begun
over western areas but will begin this evening over the easternmost
areas. Rain should be accompanied by thunderstorms at times.
Precipitation will end tonight or Wednesday morning.

[Anthony]

Finally I can report that conditions are improving in the Laurentian zone as about 6 inches fell last Thursday and about another 3 inches today. Made it out after wrestling with the Thule ski box that wouldn?t open after a pole or ski jammed the lock. Ended up taking the whole case off on an angle just to open the box. Ventured out on natural snow trails (ones that didn?t contain rocks) as cover was thin but nice turns in comparison to skiing on machine made concrete. One good storm will do it now. Hopefully Alta?s all natural trails will be up and running soon.

[Frankontour]

Hopefully Alta?s all natural trails will be up and running soon.

Opening is scheduled on december 24 !

With the snowstorm predicted for this friday, the 24 opening is getting extremely possible, as the mountain has already a good 8" of snow base.

I may be there with a little luck on the 24, as I'm leaving for La Malbaie only on the 25th. I would like to be there for the first day of the season. Still a bit of work to do in some trails too bad we didn't get able to do that during the fall...

[Anthony]

Well this is it ,major storm pounding away at a rate of 2 to 3 inches a hour . Hopefully keeps up as radar pictures show heavy snow for the next few hours at least . Powder days coming up that's for sure . in the Laurentian zone no rain no sleet just snow . Yeah

[Patrick]

There was 10 inches and still snowing in central Ottawa this morning as I was driving .... to work.

[Anthony]

Snow still falling at a good rate in the Laurentian zone ( The best thing no freezing rain or sleet all snow event ) Powder! even had work cancelled first time in 23 years. About 12 inches of accumulation with temperatures at minus 7 C .

[Patrick]

Snow still falling at a good rate in the Laurentian zone ( The best thing no freezing rain or sleet all snow event ) Powder! even had work cancelled first time in 23 years. About 12 inches of accumulation with temperatures at minus 7 C .

Same in Ottawa... still falling at a good rate, no sleet (last nght or this morning). Only Snow.

Where I work, nothing could cancel work, yeck...they even cancelled Christmas this year.

[Anthony]

The Fiday storm ended up at about 15 inches of snow over the laurentian area with no rain or sleet , which is good as there was only about 8 inches on the ground before the storm . Spent Saturday making first tracks at the by- passed small Laurentian areas in knee deep snow . Today traveled north east to La Reserve where the steep terrain with massive rocks had most of the 15 inches scraped off that had fallen on Friday . Still some goods turns to find if you looked for them .Very small crowd for a opening weekend for $10.00 and a 1000' vertical .

[Anthony]

Today's snowfall added about 4 to 5 inches across the Laurentians with maybe another inch or 2 tonight from South to North on a hard packed base. overall should be a OK Weekend could use some of that 9' from California.

[Patrick]

Today's snowfall added about 4 to 5 inches across the Laurentians.

Not the Laurentians, but the skiing in the Gatineau Hills was great last year.

It's always a good sign when it takes 70 minutes to drive to go skiing when the normal driving time to get to Edelweiss is only 30 minutes(further of the 4 in the Gatineau's). Traffic was a mess with the mixte between rush hour traffic and snow.

[Anthony]

Time for some no bull reporting, the Laurentian ski area and basically all of the east skiing has changed over to wet granular after 2 days or rain and warm temperatures. Rain is forecasted right through Saturday where there is the possibility that things could change over to snow as temperatures drop. Of course this is wishful thinking as we might just end up with flurries as everything freezes up by Sunday morning. Ski Canada Magazine just showed up in the mail with those core western action shots just to make things worse.

[Patrick]

after 2 days or rain and warm temperatures.

My weekly wednesday night race in the Gatineaus was cancelled at Mont Cascades. How different it was from last wednesday night.

[Anthony]

Temperatures soaring and now Plus 7 C for January 13. Unbelievable as the meltdown continues. Lots of Quebec centres are about to start the CSIA S.T.E.P. instruction programs tomorrow so this weather will definitely be a set back. Planning our first road trip to Jay last week of January and starting to think about the loss of the natural snow pack as this warmer weather is to continue next week after a quick freeze this weekend and they back to our thaw.