I had an idea (I'm already "sold" for them I guess) before you gave your preferences, but now, I have a serious idea : <B>Orford</B>... and I don't think that a lot of persons on this website will disagree... unless they didn't ski the place in the last 7-8 years. <BR> <BR>- Orford is at 1h north from Jay Peak <BR>- I personnaly know few Vermont skiers that prefer Orford to Jay Peak, for the glades and the natural terrain. <BR>- Personnaly, I prefer Orford to both Jay Peak and MRG and I love the same terrain than you. <BR>- 1772' high, although the max vertical possible on 1 run is 1615' <BR>- 54 trails (and tons of unmarked glades) <BR>- 1 new High Speed Chondola : Mix of Gondola and six-seater high speed chairlift. <BR>- One of the best official glade networks in the East and some of the best glades simply. <BR>- "Frankontour" comes from "Contour" : the best trail in the province IMO. <BR>See some pics of that gem on this address :
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus ... 1061517275 <BR> <BR>(it was my photo trip at Orford last year. All the pics except the first one on top and the last one of the thread were taken in "Contour". I could have posted 50+ incredibly nice pics from that day.) <BR> <BR>Before Marc send it, here is the report of his first day at the mountain in january 2000. Notice that it was a bad snow year and it's also why it's better to ski it in february, when there is a good snowdepth in the woods. <BR> <BR>http://www.firsttracksonline.com/orford.htm <BR> <BR>- Your son like fast groomers : Maxi, Magnum, Sherbrooke, Trois-Ruisseaux. Maxi in particular is a very long steep groomed trail and right beside, the "Super" have never been dynamited, so it's cliffs over cliffs over cliffs from top to mid-mountain, but all is skiable, bumped, often with powder, and it's one of the most interesting challenge in the east, especially the top. So he can ski the Maxi while you're surviving the Super ! (I don't think they touched to Super, to make the new lift this summer) <BR> <BR>The best time to go is late february. Until last year (new lift), it was correct in early march, even with the holiday week. Now that there is the new lift, I don't know if the powder will remain as long as usually in the glades, but if they don't open too often the triple chairlift beside, it should be about the same crowd on the trails than in the last years. <BR> <BR>Secret glades and powder stashes. There is a lot of glade maniacs at Orford, that is very sure, but there is some possibilities less known than the Chevreuil and ZigZag which are just like some official trails. I could give you backchannel few spots, but I wouldn't on the whole list, you know why <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/happy.gif" ALT="
"> Try the Giroux side official glades... they're really uncrowded, compared to the main mountain ones and 4 of the 6 are in my best trails ever. <BR> <BR>Steeps : If the Super is not enough for you (50 degrees on top), you can try the chutes of Mt Alfred Desrochers (if you manage to find the entrance... quite tough). They're probably near 50 degrees on at least 500' high) But I never got the time to find them, as 9 of my 13 best trails ever are at Orford (Contour, Chevreuil, Écureuil, Super, Labrecque, Lacroix, Passe de l'Ours, Porc-Épic and Dubreuil.) (my best at MRG is #14 (lower Antelope... Fall Line is in the 20s. Paradise and Chute would hit the top 100) <BR> <BR>(PS : the rocky pic of called "Dubreuil" on Marc's Article is in fact the "Boogie"... Dubreuil is a little bit wider, with a very long steep pitch deep in the woods ! <BR> <BR>If you need more details (lol), feel free to ask me. <BR> <BR>Of course, there is correct mountains in the region. Your son would appreciate Owl's Head (1772'), with fast groomers, but the problems is that they now groom almost all the trails and you wouldn't find any "decent" terrain for you anymore, I think. Sutton is a good possibility, too, but it's less high (1510') (Glade mountain concept)
