Tremblant - March 21, 2004

Patrick

Active member
It snowed lightly all day Saturday and Sunday in Ottawa. The ski season was getting old and Spring was here, so I decided to head off on 100 miles of snow covered road to Tremblant to use one of my too-many pre-paid tickets. Tremblant's closing day was only four weeks away.

I had a hard time getting out of bed on Sunday morning (Frank, I guess it doesn't help when you are busy at work and you only start your weekend at 10:30PM on Friday night. Eh, at least I didn't go to work on the weekend - not for now at least). I knew I was not going to get first tracks, so I didn't really hurry. I eventually left Ottawa at 8AM to finally arrive 2:30 hours later (it normally takes 2hours). I opted to drive an extra 15 minutes past the Zoo on the South side and head to the North side parking lot.

Tremblant was reporting 10cm new snow (4 inches) at 7AM (I think), but it was still snowing heavily. This was only my third time at Tremblant this winter, the first being in November. Started my first run of the day from the top on CBC, which was closed on my previous visit two weeks ago. The new trail "Superieur" cuts part of the original trail. CBC definitely Tremblant's narrowest and twistiest trail (I think that some trees on the sides of the trail were also cut, so it is more forgiving that before). For some reason, the snow was not the greatest, I guess too many people side-slipping.

I had to figure out where there was less skier traffic while trying to stay more or less on the trail. Tried the old-t-bars lines, better but not great then I started getting serious (I must have been powder snow deprived). Skiied I few runs of part of abandon trail (old Grand Prix's two options) or access trail (t-bars access-this is the deprive part) from the 70s. The snow was great.

I was skiing with my Atomic GS skis, the perfect ski for Tremblant on most days. On my first runs to the bottom of the South side, there a Rossignol Demo tent. Spoke to the rep and 30 minutes later he had a pair of B1s- 176cm waiting for me. Perfect day to test these skis, unfortunately the South side didn't have any moguls, not even on the steeper Vertige and ZigZag which were skiing great nevertheless. So I decided to go to Tremblant's ultimate black run, Dynamite!!! Testing the B1s full speed to the bottom of the North Side via Tunnel. Dynamite had been closed at my previous visit, the bumps big and soft in powder (no one ever ski this run). The last pitch (which is a steep rocky drop was closed, like most times) so I cut across to reach the middle of Expo. Expo had I nice patch of ice (30 feet across), skied it, skis held fine, I was impressed. This is not a race ski and it holds!!!

At the bottom, MMMhhhh!!! Let's go for seconds, I sure the B1s would agree. For the ride back down to the South side, Vertige was the choice run. Top was very edgeable, ice started showing in the middle. Those 4 runs were great, I returned the Rossignol B1s one hour later, took back my 10.22s and heading back to the North for lunch, it was already 2PM. Those Rossi would be great at Mad River Glen.

After lunch, I had to try Dynamite again, even with the 183 GS skis, still had a great time. Also returned to the old Grand Prix, however it was all tracks up now, I guess I wasn't the only one that skied it that day. I was able to take the last chair at 4:15PM (three or four ahead of the ski patrol).

Not a bad day of skiing, starting at 11AM, I managed to get 18 runs in, regardless of a 45 minutes lunch and time spent at the Demo tent. To complete my day, at the end of the day, I gave a ride for a poor boarder from NYC who ended up on the wrong side of the mountain.
 
Thanks for the report Patrick ! <BR> <BR>CBC has never been interesting this year ! <BR> <BR>The Supérieur really killed it... too bad <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/sad.gif" ALT=":("><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/sad.gif" ALT=":("><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/sad.gif" ALT=":("><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/sad.gif" ALT=":("> <BR> <BR>Anyway, it's tough to have some powder at Tremblant. Was the Edge open ? If so, the SBHT glade is about the best place to find some untracked powder on the mountain. <BR> <BR>Of course, there is some off-piste trails to ski, but they're not all easy to find !
 
Edge was open and I was planning to go, but then I saw the Rossignol demo tent and wanted to maximize the number of runs with the Rossi B1. <BR> <BR>I had powder and there was lose powder everywhere, but everything on the main trail is skied off fast (I guess that it doesn't help when the area has a ton of HSQ). <BR> <BR>Dynamite was amazing. Powder (oh yes), bumps, steep, no one!!!! Not all what Intrawest has been bad. There was also the old abandon trails that were also great. <BR> <BR>There is some places you can ski in the woods (a few places that I know of), but I generally don't go because I rarely use my old skis at Tremblant plus skiing in the woods is forbitten at Tremblant. So I rarely feel the urge to go in and explore...unless!!!??
 
Edge was open and I was planning to go, but then I saw the Rossignol demo tent and wanted to maximize the number of runs with the Rossi B1. <BR> <BR>I had powder and there was lose powder everywhere, but everything on the main trail is skied off fast (I guess that it doesn't help when the area has a ton of HSQ). <BR> <BR>Dynamite was amazing. Powder (oh yes), bumps, steep, no one!!!! Not all what Intrawest has been bad. There was also the old abandon trails that were also great. <BR> <BR>There is some places you can ski in the woods (a few places that I know of), but I generally don't go because I rarely use my old skis at Tremblant plus skiing in the woods is forbitten at Tremblant. So I rarely feel the urge to go in and explore...unless!!!??
 
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