 Poster: A snowHead
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With my son doing a season there, I was wondering what I should expect when I go there in Jan.
I’m mostly a piste skier and my skis are VERY piste focussed. Should I be getting all mountain for there? Are there decent pistes to ski or is it my chance to actually get better off piste?
I have been warned that it will be very cold!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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It's way East. So cold, icy in Jan. Look up historic snowfall records to get a vibe.
Wiki tells me 99mm precip in Jan which at a 10:1 ratio is only 1m of snow across a whole month. Big pow days few and far between.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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@PisteOffice, I can't comment on the off piste, but from my one day trip to Le Massif from Quebec city some years ago it's certainly got some nice pistes. It's a bit of an upside down resort in that the car park you drive to isn't at the bottom of the slopes like most resorts but at the top! There are great views of the Saint Lawrence river (with ice floes on it in winter) and the pistes almost go down to it.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Typical of an east coast mountain it is small and prone to low snow totals/ice. Bottom of the mountain is basically sea level. Can ski it all in a day, easy. Views of the St Lawrence are nice. Something you don’t get in the Alps or out west. Some parts are steep enough that all you see is the river which is quite unnerving. Close to Mont Ste Anne which is another mountain in the area - a little bit bigger. Also should check out Quebec City. The old town is great. Le Continental is a great restaurant there.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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| PisteOffice wrote: |
| With my son doing a season there, I was wondering what I should expect when I go there in Jan. |
@PisteOffice, you could ask your son! 
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| my skis are VERY piste focussed. Should I be getting all mountain for there? |
You could if you want. But it’s not necessary.
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is it my chance to actually get better off piste?
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Now that’s the right attitude!
The “powder” of the east are not the dry fluffy thigh deep powder people talk about that the 100mm skis are for. You’ll be lucky if it’s 30cm! At that depth, you can simply ski it as if the powder are not there. 90% of probability you won’t get any fresh snow. The other 9% of the time, you'll have "powder" that your skis will cut right through to the firm piste beneath.
But the lack of fresh or "powder" doesn't stop you from skiing off-piste. Moguls, trees, or just rock hard irregular surfaces. "If you can ski the east, you can ski anywhere". Then, when the day the powder god smiles at you, you'll have the skills. That's when you'll hire a pair of fat skis to enjoy it!
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| I have been warned that it will be very cold! |
I don’t find the eastern Canada that much colder than the Alps. But that maybe because I’ve got the right clothing for it.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Some good info there.
With the off piste, it’s just so rare when you only ski a few weeks a year to get good practice in.
I’ve never skied trees so that will be interesting.
It’s all going to be an experience and my son will guide me through the week I’m there.
The upside down resort is interesting. I’m staying at the club med there.
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If you are renting skis I would go for skis that are slightly shorter than what you use in the Alps. At Massif, none of the runs are going to be wide and long groomers where you can pick up significant speeds and would benefit from long skis. Especially if you are interested in ungroomed and tree runs, shorter skis help with turn radius and balance and not clipping rocks and stumps.
Regarding avi controlled off piste, as had been mentioned, that is really a NA term for out west. There is basically no such thing as a real avalanche risk at a place like Le Massif. It is less than 1000 meters top to bottom and the bottom is sea level. It is not a mountain; it is basically a palisade above the St. Lawrence. But make sure you absolutely don't go under a rope or past a sign that says off limits. Those are there for a reason, and it is not true that the entire mountain is open.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Good advice above. I'm not sure id bother going all that way to ski such a place. If you could maybe organise to meet your son somewhere out west you could almost certainly get a way better skiing experience.
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A few weeks a year is a lot of skiing!
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This is why skiers are delusioned about their ability. In any other sport/activity 3 weeks per year is nothing. Good looking improving playing an instrument with only 3 weeks per year, by the next winter you are basically back to square 1.
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| boarder2020 wrote: |
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A few weeks a year is a lot of skiing!
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This is why skiers are delusioned about their ability. In any other sport/activity 3 weeks per year is nothing. Good looking improving playing an instrument with only 3 weeks per year, by the next winter you are basically back to square 1. |
If I only swim 3 week a year, will I forget how to swim by next summer?
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| abc wrote: |
| boarder2020 wrote: |
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A few weeks a year is a lot of skiing!
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This is why skiers are delusioned about their ability. In any other sport/activity 3 weeks per year is nothing. Good looking improving playing an instrument with only 3 weeks per year, by the next winter you are basically back to square 1. |
If I only swim 3 week a year, will I forget how to swim by next summer? |
If you swim 3 weeks over winter you will probably make some improvements. However, after 9 months off you will be back to where you were before those 3 weeks.
You really want to make the argument if I only practice a sport/language/skill for 3 weeks each winter I'm going to make and serious progression over the years?  I wish life was that easy I'd be fluent in about 5 languages
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Canadian from Ontario here:
If accountable weather people took ski resort snow measurements, I think Le Massif would be the snowiest resort in Eastern North America.
Since marketing teams handle this info, the highly competitive Northern/Central VT resorts seem to self-report as the snowiest.
In my experience... Le Massif is the 2nd snowiest place I've ever seen next to the Utah Cottonwood Canyons. Mind you, I've only been there twice since Massif is quite a haul by car from where I live in Southern Ontario.
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You know it makes sense.
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@abc, ok go to any music teacher, language teacher, sporting coach and tell them you want to get reasonably good at whatever it is they teach while only practicing for 3 x 1 week blocks each winter. They will tell you that you are wasting your time.
Yes 3 weeks is more than the average person gets to ski each year. But its not a lot in the grand scheme of things.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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@boarder2020, while I agree with your point, I would say you can also get "pretty good" at skiing only doing a week or two per season.
From my own experience I got to a Level 2 instructor standard as just a 1 or 2 week per season skier. To pass a Level 3 tech exam though, very little chance of that happening.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Doesn’t it depend on your definition of “pretty good”?
I’m not an advocate of ‘you must be improving all the time’ and there’s certainly nothing wrong with reaching a particular skill level and then repeating that same week of skiing time after time. If I look around the mountain and at skiers I know I think the majority of people are in that category. But for other skiers the journey of improvement, both the process and the outcome, is a major motivation in their skiing, and they will use whatever time they can devote to skiing to further that aim in one way or another. I’d guess that every skier will say they want to improve, but not everyone is prepared to commit the time, money, effort and frustrations in continuing their journey to becoming a better skier, no matter how you define “pretty good”. I’m not going to be disparaging about the skier who can only commit a week or two each winter to skiing, not least because that was me for a large number of years. There are plenty of people who have used that amount of time with great focus, and now can get around just about all of the mountain with control and some fluidity, maybe pass some exams, ski challenging terrain with a guide, be confident out of a helicopter, etc. Whether you’d describe that as “pretty good” is a personal judgement, but for me that level of skiing is a worthy goal to have, and is not beyond the 2 or 3 week a year skier, if they use that time to allows be continuing their journey of improvement.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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| rob@rar wrote: |
Doesn’t it depend on your definition of “pretty good”?
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Precisely.
| boarder2020 wrote: |
@abc, ok go to any music teacher, language teacher, sporting coach and tell them you want to get reasonably good at whatever it is they teach while only practicing for 3 x 1 week blocks each winter. They will tell you that you are wasting your time.
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What music discipline do you have experience on?
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