Mont Alta, QC - January 29, 2007

Patrick

Active member
Okay Frank I finally made it. :lol:

If some of you don't know Mont Alta, you weren't reading Frankontour's reports from the previous seasons. However Anthony has mentioned the place a few times.

BETA:

Statistics from the mountain:

Vertical drop : 178 m (584ft)
Number of trails and glades : 27
Skiable Acreage: 60
Lift: 1 double chair
Capacity : 1200 skiers / hour

Easy terrain : 20%
Difficult terrain : 20%
Very Difficult terrain : 40%
Extreme terrain : 20%

No artificial snow and located in the Laurentians Snowbelt.

One old double (wondering if it's not Tremblant old lower Southside double removed maybe 15-20 years ago).

Many glades, bumps and some short steep shots.

Lodge is rustic at best. Actually I have never entered into something quite like this. No fancy stuff here, it's about the skiing. I know the plan is to built a new lodge (modest of course - Frank is more award of what is happening on this).

http://www.mont-alta.com/ski/indexen.php

The official Mont Alta trail map designed by Frankontour

Here is the interactive map with a whole bunch of clips for some of the runs.

REPORT:

I had taken Monday off on order to drive to Montreal to shorten my drive to the Roll Back the Clock day at MRG the next day. The choice before me was to head to the Laurentians from Ottawa and then drive down to Montreal. I guess you could call it a slight detour.

At 8am on Monday, temps in Ottawa was a warn -20c, -28c in the Laurentians. From that moment, the choice was clear (Stay away of the wide open groomers). :shock:

Instead of paying $68CDN for a liftticket at Tremblant, I was going to visit Mont Alta for the incredible price of $12. I remember talking to my mom that morning telling her I was going to Alta. She didn't know it, however when I mentioned that it used to be called le Mont Chevreuil back in the 60s, her reply was, "WE HAVE SKIED IT BEFORE..." :shock: So I guess, it wasn't a first visit for me after all, but the first that I could remember. :lol:

I'm not sure if anything was closed and I guess everything is skiable...the question was if you desired to ski it. The very steep part the mountain on the top was real rocky and full of new growth, branchs and stuff. Soft snow with little base. You could do some serious damage to your equipment and body on that stuff.

Here is a sample of my halfday.

Nadler's Needle - a fun new official trail that zigs and zags with a few drops.

Superspeed - a fun trail with some interesting places to negotiate at the top (read: need more snow).

Principale, Slalom Geant, Olympique Bas (I skipped the top part of Olympique) - top part and full a new growth branches about one foot long. The bottom part was

Marty-Papoos - same comments. Negotiating the top part then everything was fine.

Plus the 3 Green groomers.

17 runs and 3057meters / 10029 ft in slightly less than 3 hours.

Summary:

It's a fun place at an amazing price. Is it the best? No, but for that price, you can't complain if the Mont Alta wild skiing is what you like.

Definitively needs some serious snow accumulation to be able to ski and enjoy it at it's full potential.
 
????? Patrick skiing at Alta ??????

It's hard enough to believe !

Well, it's sure that you missed most of the terrain, due to the lack of snow... especially all of the woods, but personnaly, I think that for the value, it was better than Tremblant on monday ;)

I hope you will ski it again with 100% of the mountain open AND skiable !
 
Frankontour":pge5wfek said:
????? Patrick skiing at Alta ??????

It's hard enough to believe !!

Who said miracle weren't possible? :lol:

Frankontour":pge5wfek said:
I hope you will ski it again with 100% of the mountain open AND skiable !

Everything was open and skiable, however it all depends on how much damage to your skis you were willing to take. :wink:
 
Patrick":3gn03mnv said:
Everything was open and skiable, however it all depends on how much damage to your skis you were willing to take. :wink:

The fact there is no ropes (lack of $ to purchase...) doesn't mean that 100% was open. Actually I think that 15 trails on 27 were open. All of the trails from Slalom Géant to Markat were closed on the top (Slalom Géant, Olympique, Rothwoll, Twist, Slalom, Surprenante, Fantastik, Marty, Papoos (very different from the Marty... so nice...) and Markat) (it's not impossible that Fantastik had been open... less sure for that one) The glades were not open neither and obviously, the woods are not skiable yet, for most of them... and it's where the terrain becomes so incredible, normally. I think it's the first year that I come at Alta in early season while there is not enough snow to ski everywhere, but there is to ski most of the trails.... it's weird enough and it's why they never need ropes normally.

Anyway, I'm eager to see how it will look like this sunday, especially as the mountain will welcome hundreds of guests more than usually ;)
 
Frankontour":30wqaxt7 said:
Patrick":30wqaxt7 said:
Everything was open and skiable, however it all depends on how much damage to your skis you were willing to take. :wink:

The fact there is no ropes (lack of $ to purchase...) doesn't mean that 100% was open.
I spoke to the ski patrol guy in the mmmh lodge, he told me that there wasn't any close or open trails.

Frankontour":30wqaxt7 said:
Actually I think that 15 trails on 27 were open. All of the trails from Slalom Géant to Markat were closed on the top (Slalom Géant, Olympique, Rothwoll, Twist, Slalom, Surprenante, Fantastik, Marty, Papoos (very different from the Marty... so nice...) and Markat)

Oops, you should have told me before...:oops: When I think I could have lost my lift ticket. :lol:

I actually skied the top of Slalom Geant, Marty and Markat (top to bottom).:roll: No wonder the conditions were ...special. :lol:

Frankontour":30wqaxt7 said:
The glades were not open neither and obviously, the woods are not skiable yet, for most of them...

I actually skied the glades at the bottom between Fantastik and Slalom bas (the tiny tree on the map).

Even if I didn't get to ski them on their prime conditions, I did get a good sense of the terrain.

Have fun on Sunday and you'll see what I mean about skiable BUT... :lol:
 
Patrick":24921dz2 said:
it used to be called le Mont Chevreuil back in the 60s.

For the record, I like "Mont Chevreuil" better than "Mont Alta."
:wink:

Why the change, I wonder.
 
jamesdeluxe":yaw4ig1a said:
Patrick":yaw4ig1a said:
it used to be called le Mont Chevreuil back in the 60s.

For the record, I like "Mont Chevreuil" better than "Mont Alta."
:wink:

Why the change, I wonder.

They might have tried to fool people in thinking that it was THE real Alta? :lol:

Seriously, I think it was fashionable for a few ski areas in North America to be named after the Worlds major ski areas.
 
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