Your Season in Review (2015-2016)

[dlague]

My interest in the area stems from a trip report you posted a few years ago. I need to do more research but it seems like a place with a lot of adventure. My oldest son will be very interested in cat or heliskiing.

I remember that and it introduced a new are that i never considered or knew about.

 

[JimG.]

I remember that and it introduced a new are that i never considered or knew about.

I was naively shocked at how many ski areas there are just in Quebec.

 

[dlague]

I was naively shocked at how many ski areas there are just in Quebec.

I knew about the Laurentians and I knew about the Eastern Townships (live closeby) but I was not aware of places closer to Quebec City until I went to a ski show.

 

[thetrailboss]

I was naively shocked at how many ski areas there are just in Quebec.

It's interesting how many small ones still exist that otherwise would not down in New England.

 

[ironhippy]

My interest in the area stems from a trip report you posted a few years ago. I need to do more research but it seems like a place with a lot of adventure. My oldest son will be very interested in cat or heliskiing.

hey thanks, I wanted to get back up there this winter but it didn't work out.

There's not a lot up there, but the scenery is amazing. It's a 3 or so our drive from Amqui to Murdochville, but the drive is really nice, on one side is the St Lawerance River and the other side is 1000 foot mountains.

Here is a good site for backcountry skiing in the gaspe: http://www.skichicchocs.com/en/

 

[ironhippy]

It's interesting how many small ones still exist that otherwise would not down in New England.

it really is quite amazing, in the mountains it seems like every town has their own ski hill. Very European.

 

[thetrailboss]

it really is quite amazing, in the mountains it seems like every town has their own ski hill. Very European.

Vermont used to be like that......my town (Lyndon) had "its" hill. It still operates.

 

[deadheadskier]

Probably a number of reasons the community hills still thrive in PQ more than New England.

1. Not as many mega resorts that people tend to flock to and ignore smaller areas. Tremblant and Mouth St. Anne and to a lesser extent Massif and the Eastern Township areas.

2. Reduced overhead due to less need for snowmaking, fewer lifts and I'm sure many places not operating 7 days a week.

3. Doesn't the government invest in a fair bit more ski areas in PQ than NE?

 

[jaytrem]

MSA, Massif and Stoneham are all on the same pass plan. You buy the day and can decide which of the three you want to ski any given day.

Valinouet is a long drive, where do you plan on crossing the St. Lawrence, Quebec City? How many total days are you planning on?

Probably ski 10-12 days. Depends on friends, but they might be more than happy to fly home from Quebec City. Yes would cross the St. Lawrence at Quebec City. Valiouet is a ways up there, but once at Grand Fonds we might as well keep driving.

As for the number of ski areas in Quebec, yes it's a big number. But if you look at the the size NH/VT/MA combined and the part of Quebec that actually has people living in it, the numbers aren't so crazy.

 

[Los]

Jim K - Wow. Those are absolutely beautiful pics. Just wow.

 

[steamboat1]

Holy crap, you guys are just learning there's skiing north of the border.

 

[dlague]

Holy crap, you guys are just learning there's skiing north of the border.

I just don't ever pay attention to places around Quebec City. I skied Bromont at night as a teenager. Also always wanted to ski Laurentions.

 

[steamboat1]

My remark wasn't directed at anyone in particular. Just amazes me there's so much talk about QC lately. Been there a 1/2 dozen times & the last time I was there you didn't need a passport. Yes it's been awhile.

 

[abc]

If you are considering doing a week in the Gaspe area, Murdochville is on the other side of the Chic Chocs and has very good terrain, but only a tbar lift and they are only open on weekends/holidays.
However, if you are interested, there is great touring/cat/heli skiing between Amqui and Murdochville, and way more skiing than you could do in a week.

The Gaspe is north enough that it usually avoids any rain and they get the storms that come from quebec and that roll up the coast, however as you stated it always depends on snow conditions.

I knew about the Laurentians and I knew about the Eastern Townships (live closeby) but I was not aware of places closer to Quebec City until I went to a ski show.

That's the kind of posts that brings me to THIS forum in the past. But now I have to wade through gazzilion posts about how great the western mega resorts are in order to fish out one post about the northeast gems.

That is, if some one doesn't highjack the thread by posting something about how much the west is better in whatever regard in the interim.

Last year was a bad snow year. I'm hoping that's the cause of the anomaly. But if it continues, I wouldn't waste my time to visit yet-another-western-focused ski forum. An inferior one in that BTW.

If I want information on western resorts, epicski.com is far better. There're some photographer there that are almost professional caliber, their ski stokes are just utterly unbelievable!

 

[JimG.]

My remark wasn't directed at anyone in particular. Just amazes me there's so much talk about QC lately. Been there a 1/2 dozen times & the last time I was there you didn't need a passport. Yes it's been awhile.

Just never thought about it before this past crummy snow season. Now that I'm looking at it more I like what I see.

I think the relative absence of "mega resorts" (I'll exclude Tremblant from what I've heard, will visit there midweek next season) is a big part of the appeal to me.

 

[JimG.]

Probably ski 10-12 days. Depends on friends, but they might be more than happy to fly home from Quebec City. Yes would cross the St. Lawrence at Quebec City. Valiouet is a ways up there, but once at Grand Fonds we might as well keep driving.

As for the number of ski areas in Quebec, yes it's a big number. But if you look at the the size NH/VT/MA combined and the part of Quebec that actually has people living in it, the numbers aren't so crazy.

Aggressive plan for 12 days but doable if you bunch things together geographically.

I've been as far north as Chibougamau which is up there. That was on a fishing trip.

 

[jaytrem]

Aggressive plan for 12 days but doable if you bunch things together geographically.

I've been as far north as Chibougamau which is up there. That was on a fishing trip.

Funny, I'm thinking it will be one of our least aggresive trips. No plane or rental car is always nice. And there's not a lot of distance from place to place. Last years Northern BC trip was one of the more agressive and very tricky to plan. As far as I could tell it would only work 1 or 2 weeks a year if you wanted to hit everything. We've been doing the "ski safari" type trips for quite a while now, so skiing an area and moving on to the next is no big deal. Now doing it French on the other hand.....well we'll hopefully see. At any rate I'm already getting excited for it.

 

[JimG.]

Funny, I'm thinking it will be one of our least aggresive trips. No plane or rental car is always nice. And there's not a lot of distance from place to place. Last years Northern BC trip was one of the more agressive and very tricky to plan. As far as I could tell it would only work 1 or 2 weeks a year if you wanted to hit everything. We've been doing the "ski safari" type trips for quite a while now, so skiing an area and moving on to the next is no big deal. Now doing it French on the other hand.....well we'll hopefully see. At any rate I'm already getting excited for it.

English is usually spoken well enough for any business transaction. No worries there.

The ski areas are plentiful and many can be skied via the safari style you like without ridiculous amounts of driving.

 

[jaytrem]

English is usually spoken well enough for any business transaction. No worries there.

The ski areas are plentiful and many can be skied via the safari style you like without ridiculous amounts of driving.

That's good to know, thanks. My foreign language skills are dreadful at best. I keep asking a Haitian coworker to only speak French to me, but that's not going too well.

 

[JimG.]

hey thanks, I wanted to get back up there this winter but it didn't work out.

There's not a lot up there, but the scenery is amazing. It's a 3 or so our drive from Amqui to Murdochville, but the drive is really nice, on one side is the St Lawerance River and the other side is 1000 foot mountains.

Here is a good site for backcountry skiing in the gaspe: http://www.skichicchocs.com/en/

Just had a chance to check out the website. Great site and filled with good info.