My friends and I were supposed to be skiing at Ste-Anne for the week-end, but on Saturday PM, while the upper mountain and all the North Side were in a snowstorm, we were told the resort would:
A- close half an hour earlier;
B- be closed on the Sunday...
so we had little options left. Whatever $ we had sunk in this small trip (thanks Ste-Anne for breaking promises to paying customers), we decided we'd make it worthwhile. And it turned out fun!
On Sunday morning we left Ste-Anne to the highlands of Charlevoix, which had received a 10cm of snow overnight. Our plan: to ski Le Massif the old school way, when buses brought skiers from the bottom of the hill in the village of Petite-Rivière-Saint-François to the top, 770m above. Luckily for us (Summer tires were on) the drive was fine as it hadn't accumulated on the road. Only the dirt road to the Massif's Summit was more *interesting*.
Though the mountain was closed since two weeks, conditions were fine. The first half of the mountain was fully covered, while in the bottom part, we had to keep to the man-made stuff to have continuous snow.
The wet snow turned out to be great. We had to aim for steeper trails to slide well, but once we had momentum, it gave a good floating feeling...
So nice for April 24!
A few pics:
Summit
Getting organized
From mid-Charlevoix (the FIS-rated trail for women downhill)
Excellent coverage in mid-Archipel, 100% natural snow.
The end of Archipel.
The view on St-Lawrence River and the Ile-aux-Coudres.
The view at the bottom of the central HSQ.
A- close half an hour earlier;
B- be closed on the Sunday...
so we had little options left. Whatever $ we had sunk in this small trip (thanks Ste-Anne for breaking promises to paying customers), we decided we'd make it worthwhile. And it turned out fun!
On Sunday morning we left Ste-Anne to the highlands of Charlevoix, which had received a 10cm of snow overnight. Our plan: to ski Le Massif the old school way, when buses brought skiers from the bottom of the hill in the village of Petite-Rivière-Saint-François to the top, 770m above. Luckily for us (Summer tires were on) the drive was fine as it hadn't accumulated on the road. Only the dirt road to the Massif's Summit was more *interesting*.
Though the mountain was closed since two weeks, conditions were fine. The first half of the mountain was fully covered, while in the bottom part, we had to keep to the man-made stuff to have continuous snow.
The wet snow turned out to be great. We had to aim for steeper trails to slide well, but once we had momentum, it gave a good floating feeling...
So nice for April 24!
A few pics:
Summit
Getting organized
From mid-Charlevoix (the FIS-rated trail for women downhill)
Excellent coverage in mid-Archipel, 100% natural snow.
The end of Archipel.
The view on St-Lawrence River and the Ile-aux-Coudres.
The view at the bottom of the central HSQ.
