Since all the natural snow in the Laurentians is melting away, we decided to head North East to Garceau about 55 km east of Tremblant just north of the village of St. Donat. Garceau is another area that claims to be 1000? of vertical along with la Reserve and Mt. Blanc. However on this trip we were not looking for vertical but corn snow. Garceau is a good choice for corn as the entire ski area has a southern exposure allowing the sun to soften up the surfaces quickly. It has been about 20 years since I lasted visited this area and like all areas things have changed. Snow making has increased along with the bulldozing of runs. Nevertheless , we still had a good time as the wide boulevards covered end to end in artificial snow softened up by midday allowing from some great high speed cruising. We did find one good bump run that had a good pitch and good length. Not a big fan of artificial snow but the Laurentian season would be over without it this year.
Garceau , Quebec
- Thread starter Anthony
- Start date
Mont-Garceau is must in the spring... It's a classic! I've actually never skied there in winter condition... I use to go up there to a friend's house back in high school...
They hosted the snowboarding provincial circuit finals back in 95 i believe... In practice i broke my board (i was 16 so i had only one race board) on Friday... So for the GS i borrowed a friend's board... A 155 SL board... Grrr! On Sunday, i placed 4th riding a borrowed GS board... A 165... I normally raced a 160 for both...
On sunday afternoon it was the halfpipe contest... Back then the "hot names" on the provincial circuit were Bret Carpentier, J-J Anderson and such... It was my first time doing an "open" big air event... The organisation had made a HUGE gap... There was enough space to run a groomer trough the opening... I jumped it 3 times... Nothing but a straight air with simple grab... I was scared of that huge jump... Wish there were digital cameras back then!
Good memories from spring time @ St-Donat!
They hosted the snowboarding provincial circuit finals back in 95 i believe... In practice i broke my board (i was 16 so i had only one race board) on Friday... So for the GS i borrowed a friend's board... A 155 SL board... Grrr! On Sunday, i placed 4th riding a borrowed GS board... A 165... I normally raced a 160 for both...
On sunday afternoon it was the halfpipe contest... Back then the "hot names" on the provincial circuit were Bret Carpentier, J-J Anderson and such... It was my first time doing an "open" big air event... The organisation had made a HUGE gap... There was enough space to run a groomer trough the opening... I jumped it 3 times... Nothing but a straight air with simple grab... I was scared of that huge jump... Wish there were digital cameras back then!
Good memories from spring time @ St-Donat!
Patrick
Well-known member
Anthony":1asa4hqp said:
From my understanding, Garceau 1000' is legit while the two others are highly questionnable. Frankontour could put in his 2 cents here.
I really enjoyed my days at Garceau (even if I was racing at -35c) a long time ago. Don't worry, I've had above freezing days also. :wink:
It's been a long time. It's unfortunate that a day trip from Ottawa to St-Donat is really strenching it for this type of mountain.