Mont Édouard - QC - April 10, 2004

Frankontour · Apr 13, 2004

Saturday, we were back to Mt Édouard, to enjoy some excellent winter conditions. At origen, we were supposed to ski at Mt Grand-Fonds near La Malbaie, but the closure of all the interesting trails pushed us to do a little 75 miles of road to reach THE mont Édouard ! Totally different conditions than 2 weeks ago. Winter was there. It was snowing hard and if the weather was around freezing point, with the winds, it was in the low 10s. At the top of the mountain, 6" of new snow, untracked, light, a true delight ! The glades were fantastic on top. On the lower part of the mountain, there was no significant new snow, but the conditions were still fair, with a gigantic base. Too bad that the ski area closed yesterday monday 12th cause it could remain skiable for a while. In fact, it was still open at 100%, even the extreme #4 was fantastic almost without rocks. I may return there in june, to ski a bit in the #3 which should still be quite nice near the top of the mountain at a certain place. Here are some pics of our day at this very nice mountain ! <A HREF="http://zoneski.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1139" TARGET="_top">http://zoneski.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1139</A> Notice that there is also some pics of Mt Grand-Fonds, Le Massif and Mont Sainte-Anne !

Kevin · Apr 13, 2004

Hey Frank: Its nice to see some activity with postings on this board. As you can tell I made it back to Sugarloaf, it was worth the trip for me. How many days are you at for this season?. So far I am at 14, but I bought new skis on the way home from sugarloaf, so I am eager to test them out. My plan is to ski at Belleayre on April 17th, if this @#$%# rain does not kill the snow. My brother invited me up to Montreal next year, so I'll have the chance to ski some of these resorts that you go to.

Frankontour · Apr 14, 2004

Hi Kevin ! Yeah, I saw you went at the Loaf. I even put one of your pics on Zoneski <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/happy.gif" ALT="

"> (thanks) I'm now at 35 ski days, 2 less than in 2002-03. I will pass this mark (best ever) in the coming days/weeks. I went to a big number of different ski areas during the season, cause I was very often mixing the ski areas in a day. Just yesterday, I skied at 4 ski areas I didn't skied so far in 2003-04 <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/happy.gif" ALT="

"> lol So I skied to : - Mont Avila (2) - Mont Tremblant (1) - Mont Saint-Sauveur (6) - Mont Orford (1) - Mont Blanc (1) - Val Saint-Côme (1) - Le Chantecler (2) - Mont Garceau (1) - Mont Gabriel (1) - Mont Alta (11) - La Réserve (6) - L'Avalanche (1) - Mont Shefford (2) - Massif du Sud (1) - Mont Kanasuta (1) - Mont ****** (6) - Mont ******* (2) - Côtes 40/80 (1) - Mont Édouard (2) - Mont Grand-Fonds (1) Wow, 20 different ski areas ! Anyway, I hope that today's rain will not kill all the snow (actually I guess it's snowing in the snowbelt here <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/happy.gif" ALT="

">) And it would be cool to take some runs together if you want, next year ! It looks like my plans to ski in USA fail most of the time, but I'm certainly going to be back next year... and even this year, with the Tuckerman Ravine as soon as I can !

salida · Apr 14, 2004

Frank, when are you planning on skiing tuckermans? I am going to be on Mt. Washington tomorrow, I will post what the conditions were like. porter

Kevin · Apr 14, 2004

My ski days for this season are like this: 1)Woodbury CT November 9th 2)Hunter Mnt NY December 26th 3)Mowhawk Mnt CT January 1st 4)Sugarloaf ME Janury 12-14 5)Mt Orford PQ January 15th 6)Saddleback ME January 17th 7)Catamount NY/MA Febuary 1st 8)Platekill NY February 14th 9)Belleayre NY March 23rd 10)Sugarloaf ME April 9-11 My brother is now at 37 days for the season, mostly at Whiteface, Jay and In Canada. My nefiew is 4 years old and was skiing parallel turns on Gondi line and the bumps on Ripsaw last weekend. We decided to ski Sugarloaf at the last minute after I found out that I would have the day off from work on monday, still I skied 1/2 a day on sunday and then drove the 375 miles home. I got a real good deal on head ski's at the Sugarloaf ski shop, so I hope that Belleayre is still open this weekend as they are the last ski are open in New York State. I will meet up with my brother for a weekend at Killington in May, to end the season with about 17 days over 7 months, better than last year by 100% I have more pics from Sugarloaf, but mostly family pics and pics of the terrain park. I took alot of pics for my brother with his camera. Funny that he introduced me to Sugarloaf in 1989, and this was his first time back since then. Hopefully we can meet up next year in Quebec!!

Frankontour · Apr 14, 2004

Porter, hmm, the best time I had to ski tucks in april was on april 3... but the big avalanche made the trip impossible to do <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/sad.gif" ALT="

"> (and the weather was not very promising for that weekend I think). It's tough to say when I'm going to ski it. I have some courses over the 3 next saturdays, so it would be more on sunday. Not this weekend I think. Next weekend could be a possibility, hopefully to still have some good skiing, as I see that the ravine doesn't have a huge cover of snow <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/sad.gif" ALT="

"> Too bad it's at 4h of road from here ! Kevin, still an interesting season I think ! On my side, my season have been this way : Oct 20 : Saint-Sauveur Nov 9 : Saint-Sauveur Nov 16 : Saint-Sauveur Nov 23 : Chantecler / Avila Nov 30 : St-Sauveur Dec 16 : St-Sauveur Dec 19 : La Réserve Dec 22 : Mt Shefford Dec 26 : Alta Dec 27 : Shefford Dec 29 : La Réserve Jan 2 : Alta Jan 7 : Tremblant Jan 10 : Alta Jan 18 : Kanasuta Jan 24 : Alta Jan 25 : Alta Jan 31 : Alta / ****** Feb 7 : Alta / ****** Feb 8 : ****** / Réserve Feb 10 : St-Sauveur / Avila Feb 14 : ******* / Alta / ****** / *** ***** (interesting day ! LOL) Feb 21 : Alta / ****** Feb 22 : La Réserve Feb 28 : ****** / ******* Feb 29 : Alta Mar 6 : La Réserve Mar 13 : Côtes 40/80 / Chantecler Mar 14 : Avalanche / La Réserve Mar 20 : Massif du Sud Mar 21 : Orford Mar 27 : Édouard Mar 28 : Grand-Fonds Apr 10 : Édouard Apr 12 : VSC / Garceau / Blanc / Alta / Gabriel

Kevin · Apr 14, 2004

Dear Frank: If you do not mind too much, could you tell me where exactly I could find the Sugarloaf picture in zoneski.com . I do have more pics of White Nitro, especially looking downwards torwards the base if you are interested. It still looks good for this weekend at Belleayre with 10-60" base and 32 trails out of 40 still open. They are forecasting sunshine and 18C for saturday. I am only going to try the new ski's I cannot believe how short the ski's are today. My new ones are 170cm and the old (1999) Atomic's are 193cm

Frankontour · Apr 14, 2004

Here is the conversation with your photo of the mountain ! <A HREF="http://zoneski.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1149" TARGET="_top">http://zoneski.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1149</A> (talking of the still open ski areas in the east for this weekend) It looks interesting for Belleayre ! If you have some interesting pics of Sugarloaf, it would be nice to see them <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/happy.gif" ALT="

"> And for the skis, I ski with some 160cm for 14 years now (except 1 year with some 170 in 1997)

Patrick · Apr 14, 2004

After last years off on parental leave (38 days), this year total days is interesting (however the places visited and mileage skiied is less). 37 days/night I don't have the details here, but it looks that something like this: Nov. 9 - St.Bruno (still on parental leave) Nov. 10 - St.Sauveur... November: 4 December: 3 January: 11 February: 8 March: 8 April: 3 (so far) Places: Vorlage: 13 -(free for 6yrs olds - daughters' ski lessons - 30 minutes from Ottawa) Tremblant: 5 Edelweiss: 4 Fortune: 3 Cascades: 3 Mad River Glen, VT: 3 St.Sauveur: 2 Ste.Marie: 1 Calabogie Pk, ON: 1 Whiteface, NY: 1 St.Bruno: 1

Frankontour · Apr 14, 2004

Let me guess you really enjoyed your 4 days in the US !!! Question for all of you : Which day was your favorite of the season, up to now ? Mine is on december 19 at la Réserve. 16" of ultra-light powder. Of course all was open and in the best conditions I've ever seen. I wasn't able to sleep since 2 nights, cause I knew this would be the best ski day of my life or so. It is now officially #1 ever, equal with a day in Mt Alta in 2001. It's at this moment that we took this pic that later became the pub for Zoneski. <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/3780.jpg" ALT="Frankontour"> What an incredible day !

Patrick · Apr 14, 2004

I had a few great nights, but the hill and time spent (after the race at 9PM) was too short. One night at Cascades, Fortune and Vorlage had amazing conditions. 1.5 hour skiing Vorlage in the snowstorm while Morgane had lesson and I was really ski really sick was great (except for me). Calabogie Peak was fun, best skiing under a 2 hour drive from Ottawa (Tremblant is 2 hour). The Tremblant day (March 21st?) with the B1s demo ski (reported here earlier) was up there in day quality. But the best was probably January 27th at Mad River Glen. However, this day would probably not be in my top 15 with last year, not even in my top 5 ski days in the East (excluding 13 days in Europe) last Winter. I just remember days at Sugarloaf, Ste.Anne(last day - FTO report), the 2 days at Mad River Glen, one of the days Tremblant and Whiteface being much better. No this year wasn't that bad for me, just that last year was just so great. The fact that I skied with Morgane 17 times this year on mostly small mountains has changed the type of days I should expect for the next few years. Although I will probably ski more this year than last (one day short from last year's 38 days),This goes to prove that it is not the quantity of skiing that is important, but the QUALITY.

Frankontour · Apr 14, 2004

This year was good for me, in a matter of quality. I only skied the super ski areas, where I knew I would have some powder and nice ungroomed terrain ! 11 days at Alta is a new personnal mark for ski-visits of a ski area in a single season. Most of them were powder days or semi-powder days, with some of the best tree-skiing in the province. I skied 6 times up to now at La Réserve, but it will certainly raise to 10 or so, as I plan to ski it until laaaaate may. 3 of these 6 days were totally crazy. 2 were nice and 1 was . I skied only twice at Shefford, but in the very deep powder both times (especially in the glade #1 which had over 2 feet of powder both times I went to the mountain) I discovered the Mt Édouard (2 times) and it was amazingly nice ! I also discovered Mt Grand-Fonds which is also very nice, although more familial than Mt Édouard. I got some incredible days at the Massif du Sud and at Mt Orford. I tried for the first time some incredibly great backcountry resorts in the north of MTL region. I got some really nice days in the bumps & woods at Tremblant and Kanasuta. I rediscovered Mt Avalanche, which is an incredibly crazy little hill. And I'm beginning my "hike for turns" season, which is quite promising ! So what a super nice season !

Tony Crocker · Apr 14, 2004

I can't resist... My 32 ski days this season were at a record 23 different areas: 1 Snow Summit 2 Bear Mt. 3 Mammoth 4 Castle Mt. 5 Island Lake Snowcat 6 Fernie 7 Panorama 8 Lake Louise 9 Sunshine Village 10 Le Tour 11 Grands Montets 12 Vallee Blanche 13 Courmayeur 14 Verbier 15 Brevant/Flegere 16 Mt. Baldy 17 The Canyons 18 Snowbird 19 Snowmass 20 Aspen Mt. 21 Aspen Highlands 22 Telluride 23 Silverton And to paraphrase Patrick, it's the QUALITY of the ski areas... Most vertical: 33,600 at Lake Louise Most powder at Island Lake But Grands Montets was probably the most memorable overall ski experience this season.

Kevin · Apr 15, 2004

You guys have it made with easy (at least easier access) to mountains and snow than I do living on Long Island. I would have to say that my best day of the year was on Easter sunday, flying down the groomed trails off the Superquad at the loaf. Competition Hill was amazing as was Narrow Gauge. The powder shots from La Reserve look amazing, Sugarloaf started out that way, but it was just not in the cards this season. Hopefully next year will feature more powder in Northern New England. I am still hopefull to get 2-3 more days of lift serviced skiing this year, and hope to get 20 + next year with my son.

Patrick · Apr 15, 2004

Yes Tony, I would like to trade with 37 days for your 23!!! All joking a side, I enjoyed the time I spent on the slopes with my daughter. She caught the ski bug in December, here ski days have jump from 8 the last three season to 17 this winter. That was a great time, even if I didn't have amazing days à la "last year". I had a few very memorable years with only 20 ski days, and slightly above average years at 41 days!!!

Frankontour · Apr 15, 2004

Somehow I feel shy with my day at the Côtes 40/80 when I read your list Tony ! Anyway, I have still 85 years of skiing to spend (if I want to equal Herman Smith Johannsen <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/happy.gif" ALT="

"> lol) so I still have some time to try all the nice ski places in the world ! 6 new ski areas for me this year. May be next will see as much new ski areas, but in other countries ! Effectively Kevin, your location is enough tough to go skiing often ! Here, the closest ski areas are at 30 minutes drive on the highway, so it's easy to reach them even though for nice mountains, we must go farther a bit !

Tony Crocker · Apr 15, 2004

1991-92 for me was rather like Patrick's season this year. My son Adam had been eagerly skiing since age 3, but on Memorial Day 1991 (age 6 years 5 months) he broke through to more advanced technique, totally parallel with pole plants in the moguls. In 1991-92 we had good local snow in SoCal so I could take him a day every weekend we were home. By January he was skiing Baldy's advanced terrain and also Cornice/Climax at the top of Mammoth. At spring break he skied Crested Butte's North Face, had his first powder experience at Telluride and won a NASTAR gold medal at Durango. He finished the season with 24 days and 420K vertical, not bad for age 7.

Richard Jinchereau · Apr 16, 2004

Well Patrick and Frankontour, I have a little catching up to do. Although Frank has discovered my little secret - Shefford. I actually skied in 2-3 feet of powder once when it had NOT EVEN snowed in over 3 weeks!!!) On feb 26..My total looks like this (14 of 23 days in deep powder so far): Jay Peak.....................................4 Shefford (best-kept powder secret in QC).....13 Massif Petite Rivière St-François.............2 Massif du Sud.................................1 Mont Garçeau..................................1 Mont Glen.....................................1 Mont Ste-Anne.................................1 But hey I'm not done yet!

Frankontour · Apr 17, 2004

Hi Richard ! Welcome on FTO ! Funny that zoneski is melting on FTO sometimes... with Eric, Mathieu, you + Pat, Max and me who were here before zoneski <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/happy.gif" ALT="

"> Yeah, Shefford is definitively THE powder spot with lifts in the East. I've still never seen less than a foot of fresh powder in the glade #1. Me too I've seen some powder like that 2-3 weeks after the last storm. It's an incredible place... too bad there will be a chairlift there next year <IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/clipart/sad.gif" ALT="

">

Mont Édouard - QC - April 10, 2004

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