Frankontour
New member
Today, I was supposed to ski Orford, but as a quad chairlift (main quad) broken down few days ago, there is big crowd problem, as it's a holiday week, here, for the kids. Also, the snow has frozen after the super cold day of yesterday. So I decided to go in the north, as the new storm was passing there first. Finally, if last ski day was the best of my season up to now, today was probably the craziest one... which is enough normal for a day at Ski La Réserve. <BR> <BR>I began my day relax with skiing on the big extreme trails like Chute Libre, Pirouette, Lavoie, Loup Garou (upper), Boisé and Luge. The snow texture was enough hard as it was just snowing a little bit. After 10h, it began to snow heavier and we finally got about 3-4 inches before the end of the ski day. So, it became some packed powder everywhere on the mountain and the <BR>conditions were really nice ! <BR> <BR>I made 2 big off-trail expedition today. First, I went in the "Sous-sous" zone, far from the station limits. It's enough grassy, but there is some real nice turns to do there and there is several nice lines in the zone. They really should develop it, as I think they own the terrain. I tried to enter into an old trail : "la Cloutier"... but 3 feet of snow with a flat beginning stopped me after 15 feet ! lol <BR> <BR>Second : one of the bigs I've made in last years. I went down on the future new side of the mountain, on "Stéphane Rochon" trail. That trail was supposed to open this year, with all the backside of the mountain, but finally, it won't be before next year, cause of cash-flow and benefits problems, after their reopening last year, with one of the poorest season in last decade. So there is that extreme trail (SR), one super extreme glade and 2 intermediate trails. I think there is also another glade, but I'm not sure. It's tough to estimate the vertical drop of that side, cause it's so steep on the lower section that I just don't know how it could be. I heard about 1150 feet high, but it tough to say. I went down on the trail. There was powder and packed powder and luckily, I was not the first to pass there, cause I would still be in that trail, trying to climb it since 1h05 PM. The trail had a little bit of grass, but that wasn't a real problem. The conditions in it were pretty interesting and I took about 3 minutes to reach the base... and 1h15 to climb up ! ouch ! (I'm sure I lost 10 pounds with that). Obviously, there was no possible way to get back from that place by a road or something like that, so the climbing was the only possibility. At least, I was hoping that the intermediate run would be enough tracked to let me climb it, but it wasn't, so I climbed the steep long pitch of S.R. and I passed by the other blue run to arrive at a discrete place, to not be seen by ski patrol. And of course, idiot as I can be sometimes, I forgot at home the cell phone, I forgot to bring my camera on my backside trip, I forgot to bring some foods and water and of course, I was alone ! So, it has really been tough on my mind and I think I'll wait until they put a lift to go back <BR>from there before to ski it again ! <BR> <BR>This is the beginning of Stéphane Rochon, from the top of the mountain. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/1993.jpg" ALT="Stephane Rochon from summit"> <BR> <BR>Other pics : <BR> <BR>Pitch #1 of Chute Libre. The very uppert part of the trail was groomed, that's sad, as it was fun with many little cliffs at the beginning of season. The second part : pitch 1 was really icy on the right side (on photo). I even not took it, as 60 degrees with ice is not especially fun. The left part was particularly good, so I took it many times. There is a tiny pass to avoid most of the rocks we see on the pic, so it's extreme, but it can be easier than it seems (nb, the pitch finishes at the bottom of the pic... there is just no cliff on the last steep part) <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/1994.jpg" ALT="Chute Libre first pitch"> <BR> <BR>Chute Libre and Pirouette, the 2 liftlines of the ski area. (on left completely on the upper mountain, you can see a little bit Lavoie in the woods) <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/1995.jpg" ALT="what a duo of liftlines !"> <BR> <BR>And the best for the end : first pitch of Pirouette that is really one of the most technical official trails on this side of America (lift serviced ski areas, of course). (especially on the non-gladed side) It had not the best conditions I've ever seen there, but it's always extremely fun to ski an OPEN trail like that !!! The second pitch was really good : much more snow than last time and nice conditions, so it was one of the funniest trail today ! The second pitch of Chute Libre was good too, but with all the snowmaking they made in December, there is real problems of ice on the steepest parts of the pitch, but at least, it's always possible to pass somewhere there is no ice ! (nice cliffs with steep landings to jump, today in it !) <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/1996.jpg" ALT="Crazy trail... incredible !!!!!"> <BR> <BR>That's it for today. It really was a super day !! I still expect to go Orford ... thursday possibly. <BR> <BR>PS : for the users of FTO chat, I'm sorry, I probably won't be there tomorrow night <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/sad.gif" ALT="
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<BR> <BR>La Réserve est à environ 1h15 au nord de Montréal <BR> <BR>on peut prendre l'autoroute 15 jusqu'à Ste-Agathe (sortie 89) et prendre la route 329 durant 35km jusqu'à St-Donat. On tourne à droite sur la route 125 sud et on continue à peine 2-3km. L'entrée est à droite. <BR> <BR>on peut aussi prendre l'autoroute 25, qui se change en 125 plus loin, pour arriver directement à la station, mais ce n'est pas plus rapide et les conditions de route sont moins bonnes en général, l'hiver. <BR> <BR>Statistiques de la montagne : <BR> <BR>305 mètres de haut, officiellement, mais j'ai parlé à un gars qui avait un GPS et qui disait que c'était plutôt 275 en réalité. <BR>18 pistes : le haut de la montagne est surtout extrême, alors que la partie du bas est beaucoup plus facile, mais il y a au moins 2 beaux petits sous-bois et un snowpark. <BR>Remontées mécaniques : 2 quadruples lents et un t-bar <BR> <BR> <BR>La Réserve is about 1h15 north of Montreal. <BR> <BR>You can take highway 15 to Ste-Agathe (exit 89) and take road 329 north during 35km (21 miles) to Saint-Donat. There, you take road 125 south for just about 2-3km and it's on right. <BR> <BR>You can also take highway 25 from Montreal which change in 125 and take it to St-Donat directly, but it's not faster and in winter, the road conditions can be less good on it. <BR> <BR>Stats : 1000' high (officialy), I saw a guy with a GPS that told me 900' <BR>18 trails : almost all the upper side is extreme and the lower part is beginner / intermediate with a couple of little glades and a snowpark. <BR>lifts : 2 slow quads and 1 t-bar