Mont Sainte Anne, QC 12/26/16 to 12/30/16

When we ordered our MAX Passes back in May I knew we would take full advantage and go somewhere during the Christmas break. We usually rent out our place at Gore during the holiday week and just do a couple day trips there if the conditions are good. For the vacation week I wanted the elusive combination of affordable, good chance for good snow, and not too crowded. I looked at some of the places further north on the pass (Tremblant, Sugarloaf, Sunday River, Loon) but couldn’t find the combination I was hoping for. Then, in October I noticed that RCR added all of their resorts to the pass. I knew the exchange rate made a trip to Canada more affordable and though I had heard of Le Massif and obviously Tremblant, I had never heard of Mont Sainte Anne. Once I started doing some research, the decision was made and we booked 4 nights at a ski in ski out condo (clutch with 3 young kids).

We woke up early on the day after Christmas and made the easy (if boring) 6ish hour drive north and east. We left our house around 6:30am hoping that when we arrived our condo would be ready and we could sneak in an afternoon of skiing. Unfortunately our place wasn’t ready so we grabbed lunch and did some grocery shopping. We got into our place around 4pm and the kids all took a nap and I roused them around 6:30pm do go out and get some night turns. MSA has extensive night skiing during holidays and weekends on about a third of their terrain. They run the gondola, bubble chair and a fixed quad from the top of the bubble to the summit giving you plenty of options to ski a full 2k vert on every run. We had some new snow and a little bit of sleety mix to work with and had fun checking out the area.


Night Skiing at MSA

The mountain has five distinct zones. From left to right on the south side there is an advanced/expert zone served by the panorama express, a middle zone accessed by the gondola with black diamonds and steep blues and then a mellower blue/green zone that can be accessed by either the gondola or the bubble (and if you wish to go to the summit a fixed grip quad). On the backside (north) of the mountain there is black, blue and green terrain served by a HSQ and t-bar both of which take you back to the summit and then the west side with blue and black terrain served only by a t-bar. We skied with our 5 year old most of the time so we stuck to the areas that offered mellower blue and green terrain.

Our first full day it was obvious that the sleet had persisted for a bit overnight and the temps rose above freezing so there were no fluffy turns but everything that was open (about 75% of the mountain) was good and there were no crowds at all.


Parking lot was half full most of the week


Big line for the bubble

Wednesday we skied a half day in the morning with a dusting of new snow over some refrozen snow. We mostly stuck to groomers and again the conditions were very good. In the afternoon we drove into Quebec City and did some exploring. What a cool city. We are already planning a summer return.


La Montmorency with St. Lawrence in the background


QC was a winter wonderland

Thursday the snow from the big nor’ easter started around 11am. It opened some of the green and blue rated glades and some other new terrain. After a few runs on the front, the wife led us into the enchanted forest on the north side (a long green rated glade with pictures of various animals and wind chimes throughout). It was her and our 5 year olds first glade on skis and they loved it. It was a good warmup for what was to come on Friday.


Putting the kids to work


Sisters in line for the T-Bar


Riding the T-Bar together


Maple Syrup Taffy from the on mountain Sugar Shack - yummy

Friday was the icing on the cake for an already incredible trip. We woke up to 12-18 inches of fresh with the snow wrapping up around 10am. The sun finally came out and the day was incredible. Our 5 year old was wiped from 4 days of skiing so she happily joined our 1.5 year old in the very nice and well run daycare and my wife and I skied with our 8 year old all day. It was one of those days that you never want to end. My wife followed us through multiple long blue glade runs on the north side and natural snow delight on the west side and by 2:30 she was toast. My 8 year old and I really wanted to make it over to the panorama side, but we ran out of time and instead dropped into the La Yahoo black diamond glade for our last run of the day. What a fantastic way to end it.


The Enchanted Forest


La Belanger on the North Side


Wife ripping it in La Vital-Roy glade on the North Side


Big line at the North Side Quad (5 minutes max)


La Grande Ouest on the West Side with St. Lawrence in the background

Last run on La Yahoo on the front


We enjoyed everything about our trip. The mountain is modern and has many nice touches like community sleds all over the place that you can use to ferry your gear and/or kids. I have to say I really appreciated the bubble chair too – especially when it was snowing/sleeting/blowing. The “village” is developed with some restaurants, condos and shops but its not huge like Tremblant or even Stratton. This place seems to be mostly a day trip or weekend getaway for locals. We saw a few US license plates but the only English speakers we bumped into were from Canada. Virtually everyone switched to English the second they realized you didn’t speak French and we never encountered anyone with an attitude. In fact everyone we met was very nice. If I had to describe MSA in one word it would be Genuine. I am looking forward to our next trip there with hopefully a day at le massif, massif du sud, and the tubing park.
If you are thinking about a trip up that way for mlk, presidents or even late season go for it. You won’t be disappointed. If you do go there with your max pass note that you have to show your pass each day to get an actual lift ticket. The ticket is good for both day and night skiing.

  Looks like a lot of fun.

Awesome report!  Quebec City is undoubtedly one of my favorite cities in the world.  I never had the opportunity to ski up there, but it looks sweet.  Those look like some happy Kids!!   

Danzilla wrote

The Enchanted Forest.

Score!

Glad that MSA delivered for you.

Great trip report and wonderful shots of the family. MSA is a great place.

considering a trip there in the spring to use my max pass
thanks for the report. I've always wanted to ski there.  I her they have some great tree skiing

I somehow missed this post. Maybe because my head was somewhere else, still is. This place looks great.. I know the JF does a skiing workshop there and does one in the Spring. Have you ever been to Le Massif?

Next season we will be getting the MAXX pass...

R