Patrick
Well-known member
Holidays...running around and stuff isn't for us. I like to be quiet, relax and stay at home. This isn't ski related, more like everyday life related. I'm sure a few of you can relate to this feeling. Although we didn't travel, we got a few good days of skiing and slidding. Here is a quick summary of the best Holidays conditions in recent history.
December 26th 2007: Mont Cascades, QC
Boxing Day and the place is pretty much deserted considering that it's a Holiday. I guess a bunch of people are at the Mall for the Boxing Day sales. :roll:
So this is my first day since that 14 hour downpour on December 23rd (great time to go shopping and not miss out on skiing). The conditions were interesting, not icy as the groomers broke everything into fine ice crystals. So it was a bit like Spring skiing. Coverage was okay, however the World Cup side of the area didn't have much of a base. All in all, it was a good family day with the wife and two kids.
December 27th 2007: Mount Pakenham, ON
This is probably the busier day of the year. People aren't shopping (as much) for sales, plus Holidays ski programs generally start on the 27th. Again, this is repeat with the whole family plus my mother with her cross-country skis on this trip.
Mount Pakenham is the ideal beginner hill. It is the only ski area that I know of where all the runs could be potentially be "greens" at some areas. Tara (5yr) needed to get back to basics after a small year last season. She was starting the year without the harness and had new longer skis this year; big changes for her. So I spent most of the day snowplowing with her.
With the chair lift or the Handle tow. Morgane and my wife skied together.
There wasn't a trace of hardpack anywhere, it was packed powder and snowing hard (at least 10cm during the day). It's also true that if there isn't any pitch... :roll: Anyways, everyone had a great day.
December 28th 2007: Camp Fortune, QC
Family movie during the daytime (no, it wasn't at Cinema Fortune which is part of the Camp Fortune empire). I decided to have a few hours of solo night skiing. Doing some laps in preparation for the upcoming race season which is hard to do when you're skiing powder or snowplowing with a 5yr old. First trace of hardpack (some would call it ice) Eastern conditions of the season. Snow surfaces are also related to skier traffic, especially this being night skiing of a busy Holiday day. However there was some soft stuff on the side of the trail. Had to remember how to ski on the hard stuff, good practice. Camp Fortune definitely has the best local terrain during the Holidays.
December 30th 2007: Edelweiss, QC
nomination of the year 2007. Well, we lost one family member due to a sliding injury the previous day. This cancelled a plan family ski day, however I noticed that Edelweiss was going to be open for night skiing on this Sunday evening. I called the ski area in the late in the afternoon to confirm that the website wasn't wrong. Employees were informed by MSSI (which owns Edelweiss) that morning that they were going to closed at 10pm, not 4pm.
My oldest daughter and I started skiing at 7:30pm with great packed powder conditions. Soft conditions, WOW!!! However our joy was going to be cut short. Lift and ski area was being SHUTDOWN at 9pm. :x Some people were furious (as I wasn't the only one buying a lift ticket at 7ish) and all headed to the Customer Service counter. Employees were pissed off of working (extra 5 hours without noticed) + having to deal with this fiasco. I was informed that it was MSSI that told the ski area to close at 9pm. :x :x :x Pretty good improvisation on the part of MSSI. Employees (informed by MSSI) and website mentions that the ski area closes at 10pm, then MSSI shutdown one hour earlier. Ah yes, this can be understanding when weather conditions, power outages, etc, but not tonight.
Edelweiss might have the best season pass deal with a good mountain in the region, but this isn't the first time that ski area fails in their "product", you just need to talk to a few people that have had passes for a number of years to realize that.
January 1st, 2008: Mont Cascades, QC
Only a couple hours of late afternoon fluff. Blame it on laziness and late night with the family due to fireworks, free museum and late night at playground.
Snowing again, however I have a few complaints on for that day. First off, most of the terrain/lifts are closed due to staffing issues (that what I was told). WTF??? Great snow, people on the hill. Great conditions WHERE there wasn't any snowmaking. Snowmaking tower were shooting snow pretty much on all the open runs. What's up with that? What do you prefer skiing on, natural snow (which was falling hard) or artificial snow (which was icing the surface)? I had a nice last two powder runs on a natural snow trail which hasen't open for a while (no base, I guess? )
Besides the negatives, Morgane and I had a great day, although it was windy, damp and she was a bit cold. Skied away from the towers and got some nice powder turns.
January 2nd, 2008: Camp Fortune, QC
First race of the season, why goes it have to be so cold tonight? -17c and windy at the start. Course and hill was in an amazing shape, I guess this is the snow conditions when people race in Utah or Colorado? Not hardpacked at all, there was even a concern that it was "too" soft. :roll: Packed powder for this evening, although I didn't bother skiing much this night. Had to work the next day.
January 5th, 2008: Mount Pakenham, ON
Tara was disappointed when I brought her older sister skiing, so today was my day with her. Pakenham at -1c, great temperature for skiing with young kids. Great conditions for snowplowing again with light snow failing. Another busy day at this "non-hill". Was this the last day of the "non-Eastern" conditions at the local hills for a while?
January 6th, 2008: Mont Cascades, QC
Yesterday it was the young sister, today the oldest. Foggy and warm day. +3c at the hill and skiing on spring snow. Creamy carves. Played followed the leader with my 10yr old.
She wasn't feeling too well, ended being sick last night and I'm at home with her today (writing on FTO). :?
Natural snow trails (Gratton and Hogan(?)'s coverage on the World Cup side of the area is going to be problematic. The race hill, Exhibition base isn't great (they should have more snow on January 1st instead). The great thaw has started, 10 years ago it was the ice storm. I measured 22inches in my backyard at the end of the day (which was down from previous), well see how low it goes.
Today is foggy with high of +8c and 60% chance of rain, +10c tomorrow, +8c wednesday and rain in the forecast. +1c on Thursday and Friday. Let's be positive, it should be some nice soft turns until Thursday.
December 26th 2007: Mont Cascades, QC
Boxing Day and the place is pretty much deserted considering that it's a Holiday. I guess a bunch of people are at the Mall for the Boxing Day sales. :roll:
So this is my first day since that 14 hour downpour on December 23rd (great time to go shopping and not miss out on skiing). The conditions were interesting, not icy as the groomers broke everything into fine ice crystals. So it was a bit like Spring skiing. Coverage was okay, however the World Cup side of the area didn't have much of a base. All in all, it was a good family day with the wife and two kids.
December 27th 2007: Mount Pakenham, ON
This is probably the busier day of the year. People aren't shopping (as much) for sales, plus Holidays ski programs generally start on the 27th. Again, this is repeat with the whole family plus my mother with her cross-country skis on this trip.
Mount Pakenham is the ideal beginner hill. It is the only ski area that I know of where all the runs could be potentially be "greens" at some areas. Tara (5yr) needed to get back to basics after a small year last season. She was starting the year without the harness and had new longer skis this year; big changes for her. So I spent most of the day snowplowing with her.
With the chair lift or the Handle tow. Morgane and my wife skied together.There wasn't a trace of hardpack anywhere, it was packed powder and snowing hard (at least 10cm during the day). It's also true that if there isn't any pitch... :roll: Anyways, everyone had a great day.
December 28th 2007: Camp Fortune, QC
Family movie during the daytime (no, it wasn't at Cinema Fortune which is part of the Camp Fortune empire). I decided to have a few hours of solo night skiing. Doing some laps in preparation for the upcoming race season which is hard to do when you're skiing powder or snowplowing with a 5yr old. First trace of hardpack (some would call it ice) Eastern conditions of the season. Snow surfaces are also related to skier traffic, especially this being night skiing of a busy Holiday day. However there was some soft stuff on the side of the trail. Had to remember how to ski on the hard stuff, good practice. Camp Fortune definitely has the best local terrain during the Holidays.
December 30th 2007: Edelweiss, QC
nomination of the year 2007. Well, we lost one family member due to a sliding injury the previous day. This cancelled a plan family ski day, however I noticed that Edelweiss was going to be open for night skiing on this Sunday evening. I called the ski area in the late in the afternoon to confirm that the website wasn't wrong. Employees were informed by MSSI (which owns Edelweiss) that morning that they were going to closed at 10pm, not 4pm. My oldest daughter and I started skiing at 7:30pm with great packed powder conditions. Soft conditions, WOW!!! However our joy was going to be cut short. Lift and ski area was being SHUTDOWN at 9pm. :x Some people were furious (as I wasn't the only one buying a lift ticket at 7ish) and all headed to the Customer Service counter. Employees were pissed off of working (extra 5 hours without noticed) + having to deal with this fiasco. I was informed that it was MSSI that told the ski area to close at 9pm. :x :x :x Pretty good improvisation on the part of MSSI. Employees (informed by MSSI) and website mentions that the ski area closes at 10pm, then MSSI shutdown one hour earlier. Ah yes, this can be understanding when weather conditions, power outages, etc, but not tonight.
Edelweiss might have the best season pass deal with a good mountain in the region, but this isn't the first time that ski area fails in their "product", you just need to talk to a few people that have had passes for a number of years to realize that.
January 1st, 2008: Mont Cascades, QC
Only a couple hours of late afternoon fluff. Blame it on laziness and late night with the family due to fireworks, free museum and late night at playground.
Snowing again, however I have a few complaints on for that day. First off, most of the terrain/lifts are closed due to staffing issues (that what I was told). WTF??? Great snow, people on the hill. Great conditions WHERE there wasn't any snowmaking. Snowmaking tower were shooting snow pretty much on all the open runs. What's up with that? What do you prefer skiing on, natural snow (which was falling hard) or artificial snow (which was icing the surface)? I had a nice last two powder runs on a natural snow trail which hasen't open for a while (no base, I guess?
)Besides the negatives, Morgane and I had a great day, although it was windy, damp and she was a bit cold. Skied away from the towers and got some nice powder turns.
January 2nd, 2008: Camp Fortune, QC
First race of the season, why goes it have to be so cold tonight? -17c and windy at the start. Course and hill was in an amazing shape, I guess this is the snow conditions when people race in Utah or Colorado? Not hardpacked at all, there was even a concern that it was "too" soft. :roll: Packed powder for this evening, although I didn't bother skiing much this night. Had to work the next day.
January 5th, 2008: Mount Pakenham, ON
Tara was disappointed when I brought her older sister skiing, so today was my day with her. Pakenham at -1c, great temperature for skiing with young kids. Great conditions for snowplowing again with light snow failing. Another busy day at this "non-hill". Was this the last day of the "non-Eastern" conditions at the local hills for a while?
January 6th, 2008: Mont Cascades, QC
Yesterday it was the young sister, today the oldest. Foggy and warm day. +3c at the hill and skiing on spring snow. Creamy carves. Played followed the leader with my 10yr old.
She wasn't feeling too well, ended being sick last night and I'm at home with her today (writing on FTO). :?Natural snow trails (Gratton and Hogan(?)'s coverage on the World Cup side of the area is going to be problematic. The race hill, Exhibition base isn't great (they should have more snow on January 1st instead). The great thaw has started, 10 years ago it was the ice storm. I measured 22inches in my backyard at the end of the day (which was down from previous), well see how low it goes.
Today is foggy with high of +8c and 60% chance of rain, +10c tomorrow, +8c wednesday and rain in the forecast. +1c on Thursday and Friday. Let's be positive, it should be some nice soft turns until Thursday.
However like I mentioned elsewhere, the Laurentians were supposed to get all of today's precipitations in the form of snow (10-15cm). 
