Canadian Ski Resorts and Snowmaking
- Thread starter jon1233
- Start date
Frankontour
New member
Hi Jon
I guess this conversation is more appropriate in the eastern section of the forum (EDIT : thanks for the move, Marc or Tony), but here is my thoughts at this level.
Most of the eastern canadian ski areas have some snowmaking, but it's not something necessary everywhere, no matter the annual snowfalls.
About the Valinouet, without snowmaking and with a low snowfalls season last year (about 200 inches), the conditions were still very great on mid-may... while chairlifts were closed for 3 weeks, due to lack of skiers. So it's not a problem for that mountain. This year, with already about 250 inches received, we should be able to ski in full coverage up to june. We're planning that, actually...
A mountain like that have a big advantage, compared to the New England ski areas which is to be 400 miles up north and with a great elevation (base at 1700') (which is high in the east (I've just seen that you're based at Tahoe)). So there is about never unfreezing periods, in mid-winter and the nights are cold very late in the spring. With the Lac St-Jean close, they get a lot of snow with this little "lake effect". Then, they need way less snow to keep a decent base until the end of the season than the other eastern ski areas...
Closer from Montreal, it depends of the places. In the Townships, without snowmaking, it's a real "game of luck". I mean that this year, Mt Shefford almost didn't open of all the season, due to lack of snowfalls and lot of rain... but 2 weeks ago, we skied it in 3 feet of powder... so effectively, it's super risky, in that place.
North of Montreal, in the Laurentians, there is a big zone where the mountains are higher and there is quite more snow than in the montreal region. Mt Alta doesn't have snowmaking, but it's generally skiable before the ski areas with snowmaking and it's skiable after they're closed for the season. Last year I skied some glades there in late april, while everything was green at St-Sauveur 15 miles southern, even in some trails with snowmaking...
For the regions like Saguenay Lac St-Jean (Valinouët/Édouard), Charlevoix (Grand-Fonds), Bas St-Laurent (Comi) and Gaspesia (Val d'Irène / Miller), the snowmaking can be avoided (although Comi and Édouard make a little bit of snow) and the trails have still snow up to late may or june.
I'll provide a few pics of Édouard and Valinouët in may in a few minutes, just the time to find those pics... Ok, I don't think it's going to be super impressive for you, as you're based in Tahoe, but imagine that at those times, there wasn't a single bit of natural snow left in any ski areas in new england. Also, on the Édouard pics, there was 3 days left to the ski season in the east (Killington) and for the Valinouët ones, Killington was closing on the next day.
Valinouët : may 14th, 2005 (bad snow season and about 0 patches of snowmaking left in the east)
Mont Édouard : may 8, 2004
The snow was a little bit dirty in the woods, it's sure, but it was still great, considering the ski area was closed for 1 month now and the more we were hiking the glade, the more we were in trouble as there was over 3 foot of coverage left and we were falling in holes in some places closer to rocks or trees... very dangerous so we hiked with our skis as we didn't have our snowshoes, 2 years ago !
I guess this conversation is more appropriate in the eastern section of the forum (EDIT : thanks for the move, Marc or Tony), but here is my thoughts at this level.
Most of the eastern canadian ski areas have some snowmaking, but it's not something necessary everywhere, no matter the annual snowfalls.
About the Valinouet, without snowmaking and with a low snowfalls season last year (about 200 inches), the conditions were still very great on mid-may... while chairlifts were closed for 3 weeks, due to lack of skiers. So it's not a problem for that mountain. This year, with already about 250 inches received, we should be able to ski in full coverage up to june. We're planning that, actually...
A mountain like that have a big advantage, compared to the New England ski areas which is to be 400 miles up north and with a great elevation (base at 1700') (which is high in the east (I've just seen that you're based at Tahoe)). So there is about never unfreezing periods, in mid-winter and the nights are cold very late in the spring. With the Lac St-Jean close, they get a lot of snow with this little "lake effect". Then, they need way less snow to keep a decent base until the end of the season than the other eastern ski areas...
Closer from Montreal, it depends of the places. In the Townships, without snowmaking, it's a real "game of luck". I mean that this year, Mt Shefford almost didn't open of all the season, due to lack of snowfalls and lot of rain... but 2 weeks ago, we skied it in 3 feet of powder... so effectively, it's super risky, in that place.
North of Montreal, in the Laurentians, there is a big zone where the mountains are higher and there is quite more snow than in the montreal region. Mt Alta doesn't have snowmaking, but it's generally skiable before the ski areas with snowmaking and it's skiable after they're closed for the season. Last year I skied some glades there in late april, while everything was green at St-Sauveur 15 miles southern, even in some trails with snowmaking...
For the regions like Saguenay Lac St-Jean (Valinouët/Édouard), Charlevoix (Grand-Fonds), Bas St-Laurent (Comi) and Gaspesia (Val d'Irène / Miller), the snowmaking can be avoided (although Comi and Édouard make a little bit of snow) and the trails have still snow up to late may or june.
I'll provide a few pics of Édouard and Valinouët in may in a few minutes, just the time to find those pics... Ok, I don't think it's going to be super impressive for you, as you're based in Tahoe, but imagine that at those times, there wasn't a single bit of natural snow left in any ski areas in new england. Also, on the Édouard pics, there was 3 days left to the ski season in the east (Killington) and for the Valinouët ones, Killington was closing on the next day.
Valinouët : may 14th, 2005 (bad snow season and about 0 patches of snowmaking left in the east)
Mont Édouard : may 8, 2004
The snow was a little bit dirty in the woods, it's sure, but it was still great, considering the ski area was closed for 1 month now and the more we were hiking the glade, the more we were in trouble as there was over 3 foot of coverage left and we were falling in holes in some places closer to rocks or trees... very dangerous so we hiked with our skis as we didn't have our snowshoes, 2 years ago !