Mont Édouard, QC 03/25/10

[jamesdeluxe]

After two straight storm days, it was great to see the sun again and even better to see it shining on this view from our room at Le Manoir Richelieu in La Malbaie. I wish I'd had one of those panoramic cameras that could capture the other two-thirds of the river to our left.

Breakfast was equally photo-worthy:

Driving north from La Malbaie to Saint Siméon along the St. Lawrence was even more stunning but no pix of that -- I was driving.

Mont Edouard is a fun hill in the Saguenay Fjord region that skied bigger than its 1,500 vertical feet would indicate. It's been on my to-do list for many moons and I was glad to scratch it off. We got the best weather and conditions of the trip: cloudless skies, perfect temps, and beautiful snow everywhere.

Our guide Marc Durepos took us all over the mountain, from soft groomers:

... to nice leftovers in the trees from the 10 inches that fell during Monday's storm:

In the distance is L'Anse Saint-Jean, a cove in the Saguenay River, a few miles away:

We called it a day at 3:15 with drinks on the patio:

But moving in from the west was a big line of black clouds. An hour later, the sun was gone, the temperature dropped and it started snowing hard.

 

[EMSC]

Enjoying reading your second straight 'sampler tour' spring trip James. Good stuff and finally some pics from Quebec to put things into perspective as to the lay of the hills/land.

I wish I'd had one of those panoramic cameras that could capture the other two-thirds of the river to our left.

Panoramics are rather easy to do now-a-days. Simply take 2 or 3 or however many pics you need to capture the image; left, right, up, down, etc.. just make sure they overlap some and won't have too much 'distortion' of close up areas/objects. Then use Microsoft Research's Image Composite Editor. It's free and quite powerful. Simply import all the images you need and as long as the 'distortion' of close up objects is minimal it'll figure it all out for you (although you can adjust several parameters as desired too). Although I must say that it's very difficult to post good panoramic's to the web. Files are either too big or the size gets too small to do the full sized images justice.

Any more destinations this trip?

 

[Anthony]

http://www.zoneski.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=12334

Found this video clip on Zoneski , Gives a good view of the place as even though I live in Quebec have yet to ski there. Open and scroll down for video link . James , this should be of interest to you .

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Thanks for the link, Anthony, that's a really well-done video. I recognize most of the terrain that they shot. I like that there's a short intro of the scenery along the way. It's a long haul from most places, but if you're ever in the region, it's worth the extra 1.5 hours from Mont Grand-Fonds.

Here's the direct link:
http://www.zoneski.com/flowplayer/index ... eo/507.mov

 

[Tony Crocker]

IIRC admin liked Mt. Eduoard too, and also Le Valinouet farther up Saguenay Fjord. These places seem to have an edge in snow preservation vs. the Charlevoix, though they are a long way from anywhere. I talked to admin before my 2003 trip but decided to ditch my car rental in Quebec City after skiing NVT and do the rest of the week with the NASJA group (Stoneham, Ste. Anne, Le Massif and Grands-Fonds).

 

[Admin]

IIRC admin liked Mt. Eduoard too

I did:
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/News/2 ... t-Unknown/

and also Le Valinouet farther up Saguenay Fjord

Make that well beyond the Saguenay Fjord:
http://www.firsttracksonline.com/News/2 ... -Frontier/

 

[jamesdeluxe]

I've had this particular itinerary on my radar since reading Admin's articles way back when. Took me eight years to get around to it, but I'm glad I did.

Combined with nearby Le Valinouët just north of Chicoutimi, Mont Édouard could be crafted into a giant looping ski and snowboard road trip that could potentially include Le Massif, Mont Ste.-Anne and Stoneham

I originally had Le Valinouët on the hitlist for this trip, but I had heard that it was suffering through an abnormally bad snow year, and shelved that idea. According to local reports, quite a few Chicoutimi skiers who would normally go to Valinouët turned to Mont Edouard this season. As it was, I put 550 miles on my rental car in six days.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

This is obviously very small potatoes compared to other places on the continent, but a nice first step -- Mont Édouard has opened 22 out-of-bounds acres on the far looker's left. It's right next to the Northeast Glades, which were fantastic during my visit last spring. I guess that sidecountry access is becoming in fashion in the east too.