orford quebec? any info

[Npage148]

http://www.orford.com/forfaits_special.php?&sec=3


My friend showed me this link today and I have never heard of this place. It does not look to bad and its a darn good deal seeing how its canadaian currency. Have any of you skiied or rode this place? I would love to check it out for a few days, but not its not worth it. If would be early janurary when i went if that helps. Thanks a bunch and a half.
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[frozencorn]

My only memory of Orford is a nasty on-trail collision a friend of mine had with another woman. Scary stuff.

Easy terrain. Nothing special, but kinda cool nonetheless. There's actually a pretty good article in last month's Ski on the area in general.

 

[billski]

http://www.orford.com/forfaits_special.php?&sec=3


My friend showed me this link today and I have never heard of this place. It does not look to bad and its a darn good deal seeing how its canadaian currency. Have any of you skiied or rode this place? I would love to check it out for a few days, but not its not worth it. If would be early janurary when i went if that helps. Thanks a bunch and a half.
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I skied there with a family of five about four years ago. The mountain isn't that big, but it was plenty for my family of intermediate skiers. You really want to go in the dead of winter for best conditions. Spring skiing (even mid-March) can be quite dicey and everything skiing related begins to shut down at that point.

Orford has a couple of other similiar type areas as neighbors. They all are in about the same skill and acourtrement levels. They are more monadnock mountains, so they don't have much for base elevation. That hurts - it's like Pat's Peak or Crotched, they will close up early in the season simply due to elevation.

Orford, at least in my book, has a reputation of having dicey weather. It has been known to rain in the middle of winter, (sure so do the whites and green mts, but they have elevation to help preserve things.) I ran a large ski club a couple decades ago. We took a busload of 40 people to Orford and had and absolutely miserable time in the rain. In February.

The views are wonderful, you can see for miles. Mostly what you are looking at is plains.

These mountains are an easy commute from Montreal, so it can get pretty mobbed during the weekend. And you'll find a lot more cigarette smokers than you might be used to.

Most lodging is fairly new, clean and contemporary. While you're in a French-speaking province, you're in a tourist-region so English is not a problem.

Apres-ski can be wonderful. The French-Canadian pallatte is great. We had awesome crepes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can go downtown and eat at a gormet french meal, with wine and not break the bank in the least. It think it was about $70 US for five. We went back there twice. Which brings me to your point of exchange rate. It was so cheap to do all this, that it outweighed the the negatives.

The acid test = would I go back again? Probably not. Once was enough. It wasn't a disaster, it just wasn't something that was so extraordinary that it would make the long drive from Boston (did I recall 5 hours?) worthwhile. I am told the Laurentians are much better, but it's even a further drive. If you really want a good skiing time in Canada, go to Banff. Then again, you'll need to pay for the flight.

Think of it as another ski adventure. Listen to all the French speakers all around you and imagine you're in the French Alps (minus the steeps) the the Jean Claude Killey family is skiing in your midst!

Enjoy!

 

[ChileMass]

NPage148 -

My family and I absolutely adore Mont Orford. The monetary exchange isn't as advantageous as a few years ago, and the weather can be cold/wet/cloudy as noted in the other post, but it can be that way anywhere on the East Coast in winter. You're certainly a lot more likely to have snow in Quebec than you are in the Poconos or Catskills.

Orford is 1800' of vertical on 3 separate mountains, and I really like their terrain. Blues and blacks at Orford are the real deal. Maxi is as long and steep as anything at Stowe or Sugarloaf. Magnum is short but STEEP!. There are lots of very challenging blues and lots of cruisers that will burn your legs up. OK - skiing one hill for a week could get old, but Owl's Nest is 20 min away and Jay Peak VT is 45 min. The hotel we are staying at for President's Week in Feb says thay can get us discount day tickets at Jay for only C$50 which is pretty phenomenal.

Magog has lots of restaurants and clubs on the end by the ski hill (paper mill on the other side - avoid). The Provincial park has beautiful XC trails (the golf course is supposed to be great in summer) and Lake Memphremagog is HUGE (55 miles long) and beautiful. The French locals could not possibly be nicer and no one has ever made me feel like a jerky American anytime I have been there. We and our friends go skating on the lake or at local rinks as a change of pace, and they had a ball last year dog-sledding with guides thru the woods.

So here's the bottom line - last week I made reservations for a total of 29 people (14 adults, 15 kids) to spend 5-7 nights at various resorts during Presidents' Week, and we are all psyched - !! This will be my family's 3rd year in a row, and our friends have been going to Orford for many more years than we have. There are lots of great properties and you can go 4-star or 1-star. There are lots of accommodations to choose from. Yes, the weekends can get crowded with Montrealers, but this a crowd that is mighty easy on the eyes if you get my drift. Les Quebecoises take winter very seriously, and the Montrealers are always very well turned-out. The food can be weird, but it's an adventure. You're definitely not in the US anymore, and actually that's a lot of the appeal.

It's a blast! From Buffalo it'll probably take 5 hours, and it's well worth it. A great East-Coast ski destination.