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By Lloyd Langlois, April 11, 2011 8:06 pm

Easter weekend.  The last hurrah of the Québec ski season. The time when festivals are winding down, and resorts (those that are still kicking) are rarely more than a week from shut-down.  Many folks will have already given up on skiing for the year – but I say wait!  Why, you ask? Well, although the fabulous powder we had in February is long gone, there’s still snow out there if you know where to go, and Easter weekend is actually a great time of year for a weekend ski getaway, en famille.

Le Massif de Charlevoix, for example, is doing a big Easter brunch on Sunday morning (reservations required), with croissants, omelettes, maple-smoked pork… the list goes on.  Typical fare for this time of year in Québec – almost verging on Cabane à Sucre style, but with some healthier, less sugar soaked options thrown in for good measure.  They’re also offering face-painting for the little ones, and a petting zoo.  Good family fun, all of it, but with food good enough for grown up taste buds, as the chefs at Le Massif can always be relied on to prepare.

Mont-Sainte-Anne is getting in on the Easter action too, and if you’re there on Easter weekend, you may just be lucky enough to spot the Big Bunny himself speeding down the slopes. That’s right, this is not a drill: the Easter bunny has made plans to ski Mont-Sainte-Anne.

As usual, the bunny is going to be busy this year – in addition to his cameo at Mont-Sainte-Anne, he was kind enough to agree to set up an egg hunt at Mont Sutton, right on the trails.  Sutton will also bring in a slew of inflatable games  for kids, to celebrate the holiday in a bouncy way.

Skiing, chocolate and fairy tale creatures… Yup, I’ll be there.

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By Lloyd Langlois, March 29, 2011 9:06 pm

This Saturday, Stoneham is putting a slightly less traditional spin on the ol’ spring BBQ concept. Apparently when you have a half pipe as awesome as they do at Stoneham, a regular BBQ just won’t do. So they’ve thrown together an event that is one part BBQ, one part music, and many parts half pipe shenanigans.

This is the second year in a row that they’ve held this type of an event at Stoneham, and this year they are throwing in a bonus for good measure…  JF Houle will be there, too – fresh from Europe where he owned the men’s ski slopestyle event at the European Winter X Games in Tignes, France.

On his Facebook page, JF says “I think I’m dreaming still.  Since I’m a little kid, I have been dreaming about this day!  Can’t believe it still!  It happened!  Gold medal at X Games.  Thanks to everyone of you who always support me!  LOVING LIFE as always!”

Great quote, amazing enthusiasm!  So good to see a fellow Quebecer taking home gold in a freestyle event…  You can click here to check out his gold medal-winning run at the Games.

If you’re feeling the spring vibe this weekend and are looking for somewhere to go show off your freestyle moves – or just generally to be loving life – check out Stoneham.  Five dollars will get you into the party, and then you can kick back, relax, and enjoy the food, drinks and big air…

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By Lloyd Langlois, March 27, 2011 9:14 pm

With the ski season slowly winding down, it’s nearly time to start turning our attention to fairer-weather activities.  One of the best of which, of course, is ski jumping.

Yes, you read right.  For diehard freestyle skiers, a lot of the hard work is actually done in the off-season, practicing tricks and techniques on water ramps and “Big Air” trampolines.

Located just outside of Québec City, Lac Beauport is famously the training ground for The Canadian National Freestyle Aerial Ski team, who practice there from June to October.  Their training sessions at The Yves LaRoche National Acrobatic Training Centre are open to the public, so it’s worth an outing just to check them out – but if you’re into something a bit more adventurous, the centre also offers lessons throughout the summer (June to September) to anyone who wants to learn aerials or improve their skills in mogul jumps or snowboarding.

An initiation course is necessary before you’re allowed to graduate from the beginner ramp to the real jumps, and water landings and experienced instructors make it a safe environment to practice in.  You need to know how to ski to be allowed to use the facility, but other than that, anyone is welcome – even children as young at 7 can take part.

In terms of logistics, the centre provides everything you need for the day.  You can bring your own equipment if you want, but unless you have some old or very second rate skis and boots, you should probably rent.  Skis can occasionally break and boots, of course, get slightly more waterlogged than they would on the slopes.  Things could get stinky.

Check out their website for more information, and for a little added inspiration, here’s a look at what you could be doing this summer… (thanks to the Toronto Star for the pic).

Aerial skiing at Lac Beauport

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By Lloyd Langlois, March 13, 2011 10:13 pm

Most ski hills in Québec offer a pretty well-rounded experience, from T-bar right up to single and double diamond runs. Not all diamonds are created equal though, and if you are an expert skier, some mountains will naturally have far more to challenge you than others. Here are my 5 picks for the hills that offer the toughest, most diverse and interesting terrain in the province.

1. Le Massif de Charlevoix
Le Massif has long had the reputation for being a true skiers mountain. The terrain is pretty hardcore, the hill has the highest vertical drop in the East, and they get more snow than anywhere else in the province. Until just recently the peak wasn’t even accessible by chairlift; the devoted few who skied Le Massif would have to ride a yellow school bus to the summit – and they would gladly forgo chairlifts in exchange for the pleasure of skiing Massif. These days the hill is a lot more developed, but the terrain is the same, and for anyone who yearns for the days of skiing in the wilds, Massif has left one peak, the Mont à Liguori sector, open for off-piste enthusiasts.

2. Mont Tremblant
Tremblant is the obvious choice. When you think about great skiing in Québec, this is most likely the first hill that comes to mind. With a huge resort and tons of ancillary services and activities, Tremblant tends to be the number one stopping point for out-of-towners looking for a superior ski experience in Québec. It bears remembering though, that before all the shops, condos and luxury resorts sprung up at the base of Tremblant 15 years ago or so, Tremblant too was a purists hill, that attracted the best skiers in the area with its size and the level of difficulty offered. Today the hill is a lot more developed, but if you choose your runs wisely you can still find that steep, ungroomed goodness that made Tremblant such an exciting hill to ski in the first place.

3. Mont Sainte Anne
In the area around Québec City, a few hours north east of Montreal, Mont Sainte Anne is the destination to head for. They have three peaks, each offering a different level of difficulty. The toughest terrain, by far, can be found on the South Side, where you’ll find tons of moguls, steep drops and the infamous “Black Forest Glades” – 20 acres of single and double diamond glades that cover three intersecting runs. Mont Sainte Anne also boasts night skiing, a rarity for a mountain of its size; in fact there is no other mountain in Canada that offers a higher vertical drop for night skiing.

4. Mont Orford
The fourth highest ski hill in Québec, Orford has three peaks and 61 trails, almost half of which are classified as “Extremely Difficult”. For experts, Mont Orford and Mont Giroux are the places to be; looking at a trail map, these two peaks are almost completely covered in black. My personal favourite, of course, is the Lloyd Langlois.

5. Mont Sutton
Mont Sutton is famous across the province for their glades. No other mountain offers as much wooded terrain, or as much variety. Eighty percent of the mountain is wooded, which automatically makes this kind of a magical place – and a paradise for anyone who loves to ski glades. The terrain is diverse, and they offer everything from tight, bumpy woods to more open runs. And of course, there’s still twenty percent groomed trails, for when your legs start to fail you at the end of the afternoon…

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By Lloyd Langlois, February 24, 2011 9:00 am

Less than a month from now, tens of thousands of people will descend on Québec City to experience Red Bull Crashed Ice.  If you’ve never heard of this event, in a nutshell it’s like an urban bordercross on hockey skates, and since it started here in 2006, it’s grown explosively.  Last year more than 120,000 people came to watch the final in downtown Québec – you can see from the video below that it’s insanely popular, and a very cool event to watch.

The Crashed Ice event takes place on the evening of March 19.  My question to you is: what are you doing on March 20?

I hope the answer is skiing or snowboarding.  Seriously – once you’re all hopped up on adrenaline from the craziness of Crashed Ice, what are you going to do the next day?  Shop?  I think not.

So this is something in the way of a public service announcement – and a friendly reminder that Québec City is a mere 20 minutes away from Stoneham, one of the province’s great mountains.  I promise you will be missing out if you leave Québec without experiencing it in all its spring skiing glory.

What I’m proposing is a three step process.

Step one: Book your hotel – and do it soon.  They fill up fast when something this big is going on.  For a starting point, check out my recommendations for places to stay in the city.

Step two: Go to Crashed Ice.  You’ll honestly love it.

Step three: Drive to Stoneham before calling it a weekend. It’s fun to watch extreme sports, but it’s even better to jump in and do something extreme (or even slightly less extreme) yourself.  Like playing in Stoneham’s Olympic sized half pipe, for starters…

Enjoy – and let me know if you go!