# Msa-3/23/16



## JimG. (Mar 27, 2016)

Today was the day...you know it, the day that you will remember all summer until next season. There were no clouds today and the sun was brilliant. Temps were -2 to 3 C. This was going to be a corn fest. 

We hit the gondola at about 10am to give the snow time to soften and we hit as many bumps as we could. La Gondoleuse was finally soft and enjoyable from top to bottom. La Gondoleuse Haut is a serious bump pitch; I have not skied bumps that were that tasty since my last trip out west years ago. I spent the whole trip keeping up with my 21 and 13 year old sons. Skiing 2000' vertical bump trails chasing kids down gets tiring. Between taking shaky pics and realizing that being on the trail gave no perspective of it's awesomeness I resorted to a Gondi sequence. Unfortunately the sun bleached out all contrast and the bumps were invisible. That's me in the selfie catching my breath.

We repeated La Gondoleuse and then hit Le Canyon and Les Sept Chutes which both held more sweet bumps. Those are the 2 narrow trails viewers left of La Gondoleuse Haut.

The PM was spent in the trees off of La Crete. We skied here until the end. Over and over. La Brunelle (the last pic) was the ROTD.

We were all exhausted at the end. Best day of the season for me. And I got to share it with 2 of my sons.


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## jimk (Mar 27, 2016)

Nice.  There is a dang good dropoff and a couple steep, narrow trails in that section of mtn under and around the upper part of that gondi line!


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## JimG. (Mar 27, 2016)

The base of these mountains are at sea level; when you read that the summits are at 2300-2400' it sounds unimpressive.

Both MSA and Le Massif are big mountains.


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## jimk (Mar 27, 2016)

You were a genius to head up there.  Do you think you should have gone a couple other times this winter?  Was Quebec significantly better than New England much of this winter??


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## 180 (Mar 27, 2016)

nice


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## JimG. (Mar 27, 2016)

jimk said:


> You were a genius to head up there.  Do you think you should have gone a couple other times this winter?  Was Quebec significantly better than New England much of this winter??



I take no credit for genius...our poster granite planted the seeds and KustytheKlown and Cannonball reinforced the idea with their trip reports. Cannonball hit the powder jackpot his trip was just after a 1 meter dump. I got the epic corn harvest. It was great.

Quebec had a below average winter but still completely blew the NE away. If I had known how good it was yes I would have gone more. Definitely would have and will hit Tremblant next season too.


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## JimG. (Mar 27, 2016)

180 said:


> nice



I thought about you skiing La Gondoleuse...you would love it.


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## granite (Mar 28, 2016)

I've been looking-waiting for your reports, thanks.  Sounds like you had a great trip and had good weather and conditions.  Did your two boys like the cultural aspect of going abroad?


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## JimG. (Mar 28, 2016)

granite said:


> I've been looking-waiting for your reports, thanks.  Sounds like you had a great trip and had good weather and conditions.  Did your two boys like the cultural aspect of going abroad?



My boys are very adaptable and really seemed at home there. They did notice how nice everyone was and how they tried hard to make us feel at home. 

I went a little out of our way going home and drove them through Quebec. It didn't add much to the drive and it really is a beautiful city.


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## steamboat1 (Mar 28, 2016)

Hope you stopped at the Sainte-Anne-de Beaupre Basilica?

Not to be missed.


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## JimG. (Mar 29, 2016)

steamboat1 said:


> Hope you stopped at the Sainte-Anne-de Beaupre Basilica?
> 
> Not to be missed.



Yes, the gothic monument in town.

Do you know what the "Cyclorama de Jerusalem" is?


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## steamboat1 (Mar 29, 2016)

Yes, it's near the Basilica. I was more impressed with the marble & stained glass work in the Basilica. Especially the alters behind the main alter.


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## JimG. (Mar 29, 2016)

steamboat1 said:


> Yes, it's near the Basilica. I was more impressed with the marble & stained glass work in the Basilica. Especially the alters behind the main alter.



I know it's next to the Basilica, but what happens there? It's a weird name and I envision rabbis on motorcycles, no disrespect.

The Basilica itself is majestic and reminds me a bit of Paris.


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## steamboat1 (Mar 29, 2016)

JimG. said:


> I know it's next to the Basilica, but what happens there? It's a weird name and I envision rabbis on motorcycles, no disrespect.
> 
> The Basilica itself is majestic and reminds me a bit of Paris.


It's a panoramic mural of Jerusalem.


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## JimG. (Mar 29, 2016)

steamboat1 said:


> It's a panoramic mural of Jerusalem.



Just read about it, didn't think to go in. Next year when we are up there.


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## skiadikt (Mar 29, 2016)

sold ... great stuff jim. did you prefer one place over the other?


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## JimG. (Mar 30, 2016)

skiadikt said:


> sold ... great stuff jim. did you prefer one place over the other?



I wish we had been there longer so we could go to Le Massif a second day. Tough when you have ski in ski out at another mountain even if it is only a half hour drive. 

Le Massif is a true expert's mountain. Next time I will also bring AT gear to take advantage of the unpatrolled trees where Cannonball went when he was there. Conditions in that area were not good during our visit, a lot of breakable crust, but patrol did not tell us to stay out, only that we would have an exhausting hike without skins. Post holing through breakable crust did not seem like a good idea. We did ski several on map glades near the top entrance to that area and they were really good.

I would not pass on another trip to MSA either. Great bump trails there! Since they are close together and MSA is the only close "resort" area with accomodations I really think you should try both places.


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## JimG. (Apr 8, 2016)

Been thinking about returning to Canada to get 4 more days in and hit 50; probably as far as I'll get but why not dream?

Been looking through my pics from 2 weeks ago and found a nice action shot of my 2 boys in the trees at Massif. You will find them in the center of the photo but I also noticed you can see the sheer drop to the St. Lawrence through the trees. You can see the shoreline with snow and the blue past that is water, not sky:


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## Jully (Apr 8, 2016)

With the blue water at the top of the picture you can easily convince yourself that the picture was taken looking up the slope at the sky or down the slope at the river. Very trippy!


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## JimG. (Apr 8, 2016)

Sadly, I just checked their website and they are closing after this weekend. MSA will be weekends only after this weekend.

MSA had some killer bumps and nice trees. Trying to figure out how I can convince my wife to let me go back up there for a weekend.

Also looking at La Valinouet which is 100% natural snow. They had over 600cm of natural snow this season and it also looks like an expert oriented area. That's up near Lac St. Jean where I have visited before on fishing trips. Trying to figure out when they plan on closing.


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## Sons of Thunder (Apr 14, 2016)

JimG. said:


> Sadly, I just checked their website and they are closing after this weekend. MSA will be weekends only after this weekend.
> 
> MSA had some killer bumps and nice trees. Trying to figure out how I can convince my wife to let me go back up there for a weekend.
> 
> Also looking at La Valinouet which is 100% natural snow. They had over 600cm of natural snow this season and it also looks like an expert oriented area. That's up near Lac St. Jean where I have visited before on fishing trips. Trying to figure out when they plan on closing.



Figured I'd chime in since I'm hoping to get one last trip in this month. Looks like Mt St Sauveur is the only viable option left in Quebec. You don't get the majestic St Lawrence views, but it's under an hour from Montreal. I'm planning to use MTL as a base of ops and day-trip to St Sauveur 2 or 3 days while exploring the city for the rest of the week.

Btw was there anything you noticed/would suggest for someone driving from the US into Quebec?


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## JimG. (Apr 14, 2016)

Sons of Thunder said:


> Figured I'd chime in since I'm hoping to get one last trip in this month. Looks like Mt St Sauveur is the only viable option left in Quebec. You don't get the majestic St Lawrence views, but it's under an hour from Montreal. I'm planning to use MTL as a base of ops and day-trip to St Sauveur 2 or 3 days while exploring the city for the rest of the week.
> 
> Btw was there anything you noticed/would suggest for someone driving from the US into Quebec?



I think MSA and La Valinouet are also planning on opening this weekend. But both are now weekends only, at least last I looked. 

As for crossing into Quebec, I noticed that as many cars get stopped and searched going into Canada as going back to the US. On my past fishing trips getting into Canada was a breeze but coming back to the US was a 50-50 shot of having your car torn apart. They are much more careful going into Canada now so plan accordingly.

Other than that, do not speed in Canada! The police there are as vigilant looking out for speeders as in NY.


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## granite (Apr 14, 2016)

JimG. said:


> I think MSA and La Valinouet are also planning on opening this weekend. But both are now weekends only, at least last I looked.
> 
> As for crossing into Quebec, I noticed that as many cars get stopped and searched going into Canada as going back to the US. On my past fishing trips getting into Canada was a breeze but coming back to the US was a 50-50 shot of having your car torn apart. They are much more careful going into Canada now so plan accordingly.
> 
> Other than that, do not speed in Canada! The police there are as vigilant looking out for speeders as in NY.



If MSA is open, go there and spend the extra time exploring Quebec City.  If you do go to Mt. St. Sauveur and Montreal, see if the jet boat ride up to the La Chine Rapids is open.  If they are running the jet boats this early, take it for a ride of a lifetime.


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## JimG. (Apr 15, 2016)

MSA open Fri Sat Sun and next weekend too.

67 of 71 trails open, spring conditions. Trees and long bump runs. Wish I could go.

Going to save the money anticipating next season. I can see spending 10 days or so in Quebec next year, 2 trips.


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## Sons of Thunder (Apr 18, 2016)

JimG. said:


> MSA open Fri Sat Sun and next weekend too.
> 
> 67 of 71 trails open, spring conditions. Trees and long bump runs. Wish I could go.
> 
> Going to save the money anticipating next season. I can see spending 10 days or so in Quebec next year, 2 trips.



No matter where I look on their website I can't find an updated operating schedule or trail count? St Sauveur has switched to Sat/Sun schedule it seems like.


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## JimG. (Apr 19, 2016)

Sons of Thunder said:


> No matter where I look on their website I can't find an updated operating schedule or trail count? St Sauveur has switched to Sat/Sun schedule it seems like.



They will be open Sat Sun this week and that is the end.

There was plenty of snow left so I would guess about 65 out of 71 trails would open. Since they are closed midweek the trail count will be zero until Friday afternoon.


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## Sons of Thunder (Apr 19, 2016)

JimG. said:


> They will be open Sat Sun this week and that is the end.
> 
> There was plenty of snow left so I would guess about 65 out of 71 trails would open. Since they are closed midweek the trail count will be zero until Friday afternoon.



With the impending closure of St Sauveur it looks like I'm going to have to give up my hopes of hitting Quebec this year. Next year I'm definitely booking Le Massif!


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