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Mont Orford (QC, Canada) - 3/26/04

skijay

Member
Joined
Dec 22, 2003
Messages
911
Points
16
Location
MA
Resort: Mont Orford

Date Skied: 3/26/04 - 9am to 3:30pm

Conditions:ice, hard packed, mashed potato, slush (typical spring conditions)

Trip Report:

We left for Canada on Thursday night. We were treated to mist, heavy rain and dense fog from White River Junction (VT) to our destination (Sherbrooke, Quebec). We were at Orford for 9am on Friday with a temp of 52 degrees and overcast skies. The parking lot was kind of full for a Friday, but the slopes seemed empty. Since I did not get to ski Orford in February I have never ridden the L’Hybride Lift yet this season. The first run was on the lift but going up on the 6 passenger chair. This chair is so smooth and fast! It is about the same speed as the Berkshire Express at Jiminy. You could hardly feel the chair or gondola as it went over the sheave trains on the towers. This is a major improvement over the ancient Mueller double chair this lift replaced. The summit was breezy and about 50 degrees. The first run down was the 4 KM trail. It’s an easy trail down from the top. The snow was heavy and wet. I thought I was going to go head first a couple of times as the snowblades wanted to stick in the snow. I did all the open trails from this lift. Bumps were forming throughout the day on the trails that run straight down from the summit such as "Super Bas"

At around 11am the clouds started to break up. The sun came out and it was a beautiful blue sky for the rest of the day. After doing several runs on Orford, I headed over to Mont Giroux East. There was a nice bump run forming on the "Sherbrooke" trail. I had a blast on this trail and did it several times.

At around 2pm I headed back to the L’Hybride lift and rode the gondola. The thing is so quiet! The windows were open for ventilation and you would never know it. I preferred the 6 passenger chair over the gondola because strapping in and out snowblades can be a pain. Not as bad as a snowboard.

I did talk to a guy who was from Toronto who made the 6hr drive to Orford to avoid the 15cm of rain that was predicted at Tremblant. The weather was calling for rain for Saturday morning here at Orford. When we woke up on Saturday it was drizzling and foggy. After a picture perfect weather day on Friday and a temp of 59 degrees, the 42 degree seemed like a let down. It did clear a little by noon, but there was still the fog cloud around the summit of Orford.

I will post pictures.
 
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