Laurentian ( Quebec ) Tremblant to MSSI Report
- Thread starter Anthony
- Start date
Time to update the Laurentian report. There is no shortage of snow in the Laurentians as there is in areas south of the St. Lawrence and into the North Eastern US as there is at least 3 feet of snow on the ground. That is the good news, and now the bad news. You can?t access it as there is about one inch of ice covering the snow after the rain that fell last Friday and then froze over during the ?flash freeze?. This makes skiing ungroomed terrain almost impossible as your tips brake through the crust and become buried with no chance of pulling out. Skiing has been reduced to groomers were the surfaces are frozen granular. More snow is needed in enough quantity to support your weight above the ice crust without breaking through to the next layer.
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Same in the Ottawa region last weekend. I was at Edelweiss Saturday morning while my kids were in lessons and there wasn't any bare ice. Groomer granualar and a few ice rocks/pebbles in spots, but better than I expected. Most hills closed on Friday so that may be why.
It was fairly cold on Saturday and you had to cover your face, but between Friday's weather and the cold it sure kept the tourists away. Zippo lift lines, and the last tree runs were off the lift at the top and no stopping until I was back on the lift.
So far this week we got a inch or two of snow but it will take more to rebound from the ice fields off the groomed trails.
Interesting to hear from anyone at Mont St. Marie. They have a higher elevation than the other Ottawa hills, so did it fair any better?
It was fairly cold on Saturday and you had to cover your face, but between Friday's weather and the cold it sure kept the tourists away. Zippo lift lines, and the last tree runs were off the lift at the top and no stopping until I was back on the lift.
So far this week we got a inch or two of snow but it will take more to rebound from the ice fields off the groomed trails.
Interesting to hear from anyone at Mont St. Marie. They have a higher elevation than the other Ottawa hills, so did it fair any better?
Patrick
Well-known member
Spensar":23l31osf said:
I believe that they were the only area open last Friday, so I presume they were affected as much by the rain/wind of Friday.
Skiing at Edelweiss tonight, I'll probably asked the people that I know that would've been skiing at Ste. Marie last weekend.
Patrick
Well-known member
Patrick":3and96ca said:
I meant "i presume they WEREN'T affected as much..."
spensar":3and96ca said:
Same here!!! :wink: I was feeling quite lonely. :lol: This said, I don't necessarly bother writing ski reports from the local hills, but you are more than welcome.
This said, Welcome on FTO spensar.
Thanks. I look forward to picking your brains and experience since you can relate things to a hill I am familiar with! I have really just clicked in this season on how much skiing there is within a few hours of Ottawa.
P.S. If your a Senators fan, http://www.sensnetwork.com is a great Sens fan forum. Even pretty tolerant of well behaved Leaf fans.
P.S. If your a Senators fan, http://www.sensnetwork.com is a great Sens fan forum. Even pretty tolerant of well behaved Leaf fans.
Patrick
Well-known member
Spensar":31s5ot11 said:
I started skiing more locally now that I have skiing kids. I finally can around to appreciate the local ski scene (close and family oriented). Prior to that, I would prefer driving 2 hours on day trips to Tremblant (or 3hr for Whiteface) than ski the small mountain with no vertical.
Mind you, just prior leaving for Ottawa, I would ski all over Quebec and the Northeast in a typical season, as long as the skiing was great and deals were to be had.
Spensar":31s5ot11 said:
Not a Senators fan, I'm a Montrealer living in Ottawa for the past 12 years. :lol:
Seriously, now that the Montreal Forum is gone... the only forum I do visit are SKIING Forums like First Tracks!! Online. :wink:
For anyone near the Ottawa area, there is a 2 for 1 Mont Tremblant coupon in the March 1 Ottawa Citizen (City section) and Le Droit newspapers. It is good for Monday to Wednesday for the rest of the season.
Edit - found this link with the coupon as well.
http://creative.intrawest.net/CRM06/TR/ ... -EM_10.gif
Edit - found this link with the coupon as well.
http://creative.intrawest.net/CRM06/TR/ ... -EM_10.gif
Patrick
Well-known member
Patrick":3ibnejvg said:Spensar":3ibnejvg said:
Thanks...
Now I need to see if I have any days off left this year? :shock:
The coupon I saw in LeDroit newspaper (didn't find The Citizen) was only good Monday-Wednesday. Anyhow, the next day someone gave me a $39 coupon (anyday of week), however if you read the fine print...it doesn't include taxes or the whatever fee that Tremblant charges. :x
NEED INFO FROM ANTHONY ON HIS NEIGHBOURHOOD HILLS.
Planning a few really easy days for March Break with my youngest (3 1/2 yrs). Thinking Belle-Neige and Vallée Bleue combo with maybe a detour to Alta. Any thoughs and/or comments on conditions?
Patrick":1p1tl2sr said:
Yup, that was in my post. The nice thing is it is actually good during March break, and that seems to be as good as it gets with Tremblant.
I had lunch with my daughter's instructor yesterday and he recommended Mont Blanc. Said he really like the terrain and will often go there instead of Tremblant, even though the vertical is 1,000. Looking at the site, it looks like a good place for my kids and I for a day during the break. Any feedback on it? For Patrick (who knows the local hill), my youngest is comfortable on Strief and Shotgun at Edelweiss.
Frankontour
New member
Just a quick answer to this. The Mount Blanc lie on their vertical. We measured it with Altimeters, GPS, topo maps and all of them agree on a 650' vertical instead of 1000'... so it's about the same height than Edelweiss, in fact.
Although the mountain is not high, there is a good diversity of terrain, with terrain for everyone. A few glades, a few nice mogul trails with 3 mountain sides.
I've never skied Edelweiss, but I think there may be a little more challenge at Mt Blanc, with the Cougar, Sous-bois, Max, Tire-Bouchon...
Although the mountain is not high, there is a good diversity of terrain, with terrain for everyone. A few glades, a few nice mogul trails with 3 mountain sides.
I've never skied Edelweiss, but I think there may be a little more challenge at Mt Blanc, with the Cougar, Sous-bois, Max, Tire-Bouchon...
Thanks for the feedback Frankontour. Sounds like a nice change from Edelweiss, which is definately in the category of small local hill with very limited number of runs, half green, and a lot of flat/dips between drops. Fine for the kid's lessons and a few turns, but after a winter of it we are very, very ready for some bigger hill fun at March break.
We spent a day at Saint Sauver, which is about the same height, so we should have a good feel for whether Mont Blanc is any bigger or not. I think it will be a day Tremblant and one at Mont Blanc for March break then.
Despite a good number of runs, I found a lot of Sauver's runs very similar, almost to the point of needing the check the signage to know which run it was. Sounds like Mont Blanc will be more interesting.
We spent a day at Saint Sauver, which is about the same height, so we should have a good feel for whether Mont Blanc is any bigger or not. I think it will be a day Tremblant and one at Mont Blanc for March break then.
Despite a good number of runs, I found a lot of Sauver's runs very similar, almost to the point of needing the check the signage to know which run it was. Sounds like Mont Blanc will be more interesting.
Frankontour
New member
Definitively, on this point, Spensar, Mt Blanc will be more interesting (at least in the official trails)
Mt Blanc has some narrow trails, some wider (some way too wide also). It offers some very correct steeps and a lot more challenge than St-Sauveur does. For the vertical, it's about the same... especially with the middle side : Mt Faustin, which is also the most exciting side, in my opinion, with the Tigre, Cougar and Sous-bois (glade).
Mt Blanc has some narrow trails, some wider (some way too wide also). It offers some very correct steeps and a lot more challenge than St-Sauveur does. For the vertical, it's about the same... especially with the middle side : Mt Faustin, which is also the most exciting side, in my opinion, with the Tigre, Cougar and Sous-bois (glade).
Patrick
Well-known member
Yes, Mt. Blanc is definately more interesting than MSS!!!Spensar":2nb7jri5 said:
I would describe it as Edelweiss on steroids. Definately feels much bigger than Edelweiss, has more trails and there a good variation of terrain.
I haven't skied there since the early 90s (over 20 days in the 1980s), but I have always like the place. It's disavantaged is that it's too far from Montreal/Ottawa and too close to Tremblant. Montrealers that drive over one hour passed all the smaller Laurentians hills generally continue on to Tremblant.
The price is right, if you're with a family. The place is ideal. I personnally prefer Mt. Blanc over all the Outaouais hills including Ste.Marie, however my memory of the place might be a bit foggy. :roll:
To update the Laurentian report , can advise that the last significant snowfall was Feb23/24 when 12 to 14 inches fell and since that time there has been a major thaw and freeze up with the current snow pack on average throughout the laurentians at about 36 to 40 inches. With the rain early last week and the drop in temperatures surfaces have firmed up like poured concrete. Proceed with caution on ungroomed terrain as there is about 1 inch of new snow on very hard granular icy surfaces that requires good edge control and controlled speed when making descents.
Patrick, in the Killington thread you said you skied last night. Was that local? If so, how was it.
I was out Wed. of March break and Strief was knee destroying washboard concrete with virtually no snow on it. The blues had a bit a snow that let the kids have some fun. Has it softened up at all? Even have a granular layer over the rough ice? Thanks.
I was out Wed. of March break and Strief was knee destroying washboard concrete with virtually no snow on it. The blues had a bit a snow that let the kids have some fun. Has it softened up at all? Even have a granular layer over the rough ice? Thanks.
Patrick
Well-known member
I had a race last night on Zoomer, but Strief was beautiful. Conditions were fast but not so hard, however one of the reasons was the hill was virtually empty last night and Strief is often over look.Spensar":26k3ek8t said:
The bottom of it still had curdoroy (sp?) at 9pm when we started skiing it after our race. I'm maybe going back tonight for a couple hours (I have a night pass which I rarely use and this is one of last nights).
For those who are wondering where are we talking about? EDELWEISS outside Ottawa (200 metres vert only 35km away from downtown).