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Ski Mont Miller - Murdochville - May 2/3 - 2015

ironhippy

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After hiking up my local ski hill for the past 2 weekends I decided I needed more. It also worked out that the hill I wanted to ski was open and my girlfriend was out of town.

I fell in love with the Gaspe peninsula when I visited there this winter and have been hoping to make it back ever since I left.

Ski Mont Miller in Murdochville, Quebec hadn't been able to open for the last few weekends because they still hadn't gotten spring conditions, their facebook indicated they had planned to open one last time for the first weekend in May.

The last week of April, they recieved 20 cms of snow and then the temperature started rising. By Friday it was 50 degrees and sunny. Their facebook started bragging about 100% open with 100% natural snow.
I packed the dog and off we went.

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Mu...m2!3m1!1s0x4c9a138d06cf0a8b:0xd9223fc9925a493

I started the 7 hour drive Friday night and stayed in a town in northen New Brunswick called Campbellton. I left early enough the next morning to get some views of the national park before heading to Murdochville

The first big mountain you encounter is Hogsback

hogsback.png


Next You get glimpses of Mont Albert, but this is only a fraction of the actual mountain itself

albert.png


Here is a picture of the massif from a distance on the way home

albert-far.png


As I approached Murdochville I started seeing snowbanks. This was encouraging

snowbank.jpg


Finally, Murdochville proper. I love this place.

newsnow.jpg


Their groomer broke down this week

brokegroomer.png


The rest of the mountain

miller1.png


And the whole mountain

miller3.png


After some minor Tbar problems, the workers, who never stopped smoking, got us up the mountain and I was able to score some first tracks. In May.

untrackked1.jpg


And some more

untrackked2.png


It didn't stop there

untrackked3.jpg


Ok, this is now just bragging

untrackked4.jpg


Eventually I had to start skiing over my own tracks :(

untrackked5.jpg


Unfortunately my favorite glade was not open. I didn't duck the ropes to find out why.

closed.jpg
 
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ironhippy

Member
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May 16, 2014
Messages
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Location
NB Canda
Saturday night, I did some exploring around the windmills

windmill1.png


They still have snow

snow%2521.png


Sunday afternoon, I get fed up with the TBar and wanted to let the dog play in the snow before I had to leave. So we went hking

dogrun.png


Fortunately I brought my skis

dog-downhill.jpg


And I can beat him down the hill, he needs to learn that he can just run straight, he doesn't need to follow my tracks.

dog-tracks.jpg


Then I made him pose with the Jacques Cartier Massif in the background (I think anyway)

dog-cartier.png


Ski chic-chac.ca has a snow cat operation based in Murdochville, here is their dorm and cats. Helicopter wasn't present though.

chicchac.png


This is literally beside the town of Murdochville, across the street from the ski hill. Backcountry ski area, ski chic-chac does cat skiing here

PORPHYRE1.png


Here is different part of the mountain

PORPHYRE2.png


I finally had to leave, but on the way out I got a good view of Lyall Mountain, a backcountry ski area co-op

LYALL2.png


Close up to some of the trails

LYALL1.png


And unfortunately I had to go back home where my snowbank is all but melted.
 

ironhippy

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May 16, 2014
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NB Canda
Although Mont Miller claimed 100% open, their hike to terrain (which is 30% of their mountain, and their steepest terrain) was not open. This wasn't much of a problem on Saturday as I was skiing mostly fresh snow most of the day, but on Sunday seeing the untracked trails just out of reach was frustrating. But in the end, if the hike to terrain was open, I would have been less likely to take the dog out to find my own tracks, so in the end I can't complain.

There is so much terrain up there, it's ridiculous. I went on a glorified dog walk, but legit back country skiing is a 15 minute skin away from the town and every direction you look, there is something skiable that has some sort of access because of all the resource exploration that was done. I just saw a spot on the side of the windmill road, parked and hiked to it. It was a small clear cut with 5 or so trails leading down the hill. There were probably 5 other spots I wanted to try, but I didn't have time.
 

ironhippy

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thanks! It really is beautiful up there, I can't believe it's this close and I never really paid attention to recently.
 

deadheadskier

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Here's a question. Why not throw a lift up some of that Cat terrain? It's obviously not natural and has had some human work done. Seems bizarre that the Province would allow cutting and cats, but no lifts.

Maybe it wouldn't be worth the investment due to lack of skiable days?
 

ironhippy

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May 16, 2014
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It's not worth the investment because it's too far away and not enough people would go. There are a number of areas that would be prime for a ski resort, but more tourists are needed.

The existing ski hill was built when the other side of the back country mountain was being mined and it was somewhat of a thriving town.
The mines all shut down and by 2002 the town voted to shut down. The province wouldn't let them, so the residents who wanted to stay, stayed, and most everyone else left.

Just in the last 5 or so years this area has become popular for backcountry skiing, but popular is relative. They have one hotel in town, with 18 rooms. chic-chac has another dozen or so rooms and that's it. Those are all full with skiers and snowmobilers in the winter weekends, but don't seem to do much else the rest of the time.
 

ironhippy

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May 16, 2014
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Mont miller is only open on weekends as is, and maybe during Quebec holidays.

They will open during the week if you have a group of 25 or more though.
 

Savemeasammy

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Great report, Ironhippy. I've never heard of this place. Some of those mountains look amazing!


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