Orford, QC - March 18th 2005

Patrick

Active member
I remember my last visit at Orford. It was the first time that I took my mother's car to go skiing alone with a friend. I was 16, the car was a Buick Skylark 1976, this was way back in April 1981.

I remember having enjoyed that day very much and mentioning that I was definitely going to return. How times flies, the following visit happened 24 years later!!! Why did it take so long?

Vertical 540meters
Eastern Townships

Mommy stayed with Tara, Morgane's (oldest daughter) ski pants stayed at MRG. Who will come ski with me? Caroline (my wife and mother of my daughters) suggested I call a certain friend at 7:30am. At that time, this friend was leaving at work, but the devil :twisted: played with her mind. Work or Skiing?

A few hours later, we were skiing trails like:

L'écureuil (Squirrel): a crazy twisted glades runs with cliffs. A fun trail, probably one of the hardest in the East in non-powder conditions. Unfortunately there were rocks, branches and other hazards that you had to be careful with. This trails was definitely skied too much for the type of trail it was. I still had a great time.

L'intrépide: not as hard as l'écureuil, but steeper and more wide open. The run is not as long and consist of a steep pitch at the top of the mountain. Great conditions. Best run of the day.

Super: top to bottom run under the hybrid lift (gondolas and 6-pack chairs on the same cable). The top pitch (next to l'intrépide) was great fun, but coverage was not as good.

Passe-à-l'ours (Bear Pass): Same type as run as l'écureuil with similar conditions. Pretty rocky on the last two pitches.

Contour: this a classic black-diamond run I skied in 1981. Many rolls, bumps and pitches, twisting across the fall line. Great trail. Very good coverage.

Lloyld Langlois on Giroux Mtn: lower attitude glade and it showed. Bad coverage and rocky at the bottom.

Orford is definitely a fun mountain, among the best in Quebec for glades and twisted :twisted: runs. Steep runs are a bit short on vertical when compared with Stowe, MRG and other big ones of the East.

Overall, it's was a great week. Best snow of the week was found where the lift capacity is the lowest (ie. MRG and Spruce).
 
I skied Orford once in my life back in 1987 before the last expantion. I was an intermediate skier and thought Orford had some of the steepest stuff I had seen up to that point. I had a blast and really credit that mountain and trip as a major jumping point in my skiing ability. It was there that I really broke through and learned to ski mouguls. It was also the first time I had ever seen and skied a glade. I've yet to be back.
I diddnt ski the double diamond(extreme)trails so I am anxious to get back as I'm sure i'll be able to appreciate them now. I've heard they have some fun stuff (Frankontour are you still out there?). I'll have to hit it sometime when i'm at Jay for a few days.
I almost skied Owls Head last wednesday when the Jay lifts were down. They were spinning all of thiers but I opted to drive to Montgomery to get D-rings for my skins. My 122mm tips on my new Pocket Rockets wouldnt fit in the D-ring I had. When I got to Firsttraxx the 8" rule was in effect and the shop wouldnt be open til 2:30 as the boys were headed to Big Jay for some windloaded fresh =P~ . I was out of luck though and moped back to Jay and rode the Metro for $20.
((*
*))NHPH
 
Hi NHPH,

Not sure if you saw my response regarding Orford and Frankontour before the forum was hacked. If you didn't see it, I will retype it.
 
Patrick":12wdejm2 said:
Hi NHPH,

Not sure if you saw my response regarding Orford and Frankontour before the forum was hacked. If you didn't see it, I will retype it.

I actually saw him enter Liftlines this morning as I was cleaning up last night's damage.
 
i remember skiing orford in about '96, and thinking that they had some pretty good terrain, stuff that could really challenge me.

as for franko, it's been a while since i've seen him lurking here... (Admin's comment notwithstanding).
 
Jonny D":1tsux6ww said:
as for franko, it's been a while since i've seen him lurking here... (Admin's comment notwithstanding).

Was Marc talking about frank or NHPH? As I mentionned yesterday regarding Frank, I believe that he's no longer a student and single. :lol:

He still find time to write on http://www.zoneski.com , but not as much as before.

Orford as many twisting, challenging glades. I enjoyed my trip back, however the greater capacity (hydrid 8-gondola and 6-chair) and accessibility (on the map) of certains runs can leave these runs pretty skied off and rocky. It was my impression. Snow quality was definately better at MRG.
 
Patrick":1dnv03w6 said:
Was Marc talking about frank or NHPH? As I mentionned yesterday regarding Frank, I believe that he's no longer a student and single. :lol:

Frankie.
 
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