Mont Ste-Anne 5/3/2003

Sorry for the late report. <BR> <BR>Ste-Anne had great conditions for it's last weekend of skiing. More coverage than last year at the same time (actually, last year was below freezing and had fresh snow). 17 trails were opened. Most of the North side (9tr.) and 8tr. on the South side which required some walking to get back to the lift). What was amazing was that some of the great Southside black runs were skiable and opened (LaCrete, L'Espoir and Super S). These trails required some short walks at a few places if you valued your skis + 300ft. to reach the Gondola. Pretty good considering that these runs vertical is 2025ft. The other SouthSide runs only required walking to reach the lift. No walking was required on the North side which probably had enough snow to last a few more weeks. Some people would ski only the North side then ski the last run on the Southside (Gros Vallon, Familiale or Pichard) or download on the Gondola. <BR> <BR>All in all, a great day of skiing. It is unfortunate that the only areas left to choose from in the East are K at $39US and St-Sauveur next weekend (maybe?). The Ste-Anne cost me $36 Canadian, which is a great deal when I compare with the others. <BR> <BR>On the other hand, there is always Tuckerman.

Good that the conditions were still good, Patrick. Last year, I went to MSA on april 20 and there was already about the same open terrain than for you on the last weekend this year. la Crête, Super "S" and l'Espoir were already pretty thin with certainly a 300' walking on Super S, for the ones who cared for their skis. <BR> <BR>Went to La Reserve today (details to see this evening on no-bulls) and it looks to be the only ski area with Saint-Sauveur still interesting to ski. (Ok, I didn't look to Tremblant Nord) <BR> <BR>Garceau looked pretty dramatic, with more green than white... <BR>Chantecler : melted a lot since 2 weeks, just little patches remaining <BR>Gabriel : just few patches remaining <BR>Olympia : very less than Gabriel... almost nothing <BR>MSS : Looking a little bit dirty in the "70 ouest" and Nordic, but I'm 99% sure the mountain will be in operation this weekend, with the grooming to erase that, at least on 70. <BR>Avila : still tough to believe coverage on "Express Ouest" It's skiable full width on about 1200' long but the mountain is closed for now 1 month. <BR> <BR>Details to see later about the incredible Reserve... of snow.