Edelweiss, QC - Jan 11, 07 (night)

[Patrick]

Okay, I headed to head out on this night.

What were my options for night skiing within a maximum of 30 minutes drive from downtown Ottawa.

Fortune was down to two runs and charging full-price ($25).
Cascades, something like 1 1/2 run.
Vorlage, not sure.

The choice would be down between these two:

Fortune was down to two runs (Clifford and Pineault) and charging full-price ($25). Cliff
Edelweiss mentioned 5 trails open on their website + better vertical AND I had a discount coupon for Edelweiss. No brainer, right? :roll:

I started skiing at 7:30pm, I would be satisfied with 2 1/2 hours of skiing with almost 200 meters vert HSQ.

Surprised...:shock:

Edelweiss had shutdown all their runs except one on Thursday night in order to make snow. I wasn't a happy camper, I was pissed off.



Website had 5 runs open including a blue run, to my surprise, only 1 green was open served by a fixed-grip quad and they were charging FULL-PRICE. Ah yes, Edelweiss is part of the MSSI Group. Not pissed about the FULL-PRICE, but on the bad information on their website. If I would have known, I would have driven 20 miles less and gone to Fortune.

For comparaison, on December 30th, Edelweiss had 8 trails, snowmaking was happening only on those runs, I didn't notice anything happening the other major runs like Zommer, the major blue run under the HSQ and nothing on the black side (Streif). The crew stopped the snowmaking at 9pm as the temps were above freezing and some of the snowguns where putting water on the trail. Weather the next day was +4c and some rain.

Ah yes, one of the run close was Main Street under the lift which was perfect except for the fact that they had some snow guns on it. These poachers were lameduck for the patrols.

How many runs did I complet in 2.5 hours? Only 11 runs and 2200meters with that slow quad. However it was probably a good thing, because the trail had a pretty good trafic. Condtions were typical January with Eastern skiing with no natural snow.

 

[Spensar]

Gonna follow-up on Patrick's post. I got the kids up to Edelweiss on Saturday the 20th. Conditions were similar to Tremblant. Very BRRRR but decent snow. -16 C and stiff winds at 10:30 am.

The greeens on the left and Zoomer were open for the morning but Zoomer was taken offline soon after lunch. Orange snow fence was being put up along the left hand-side so I guess there was a competition of some type on Sunday and it was being prepped/saved. I understand there are committments, etc. but it doesn't help business for a small hill to knock out the only decent non-green run operating in a snow starved winter.

Sad to see that Strief was more suitable to weed whacking than skiing. Brush and rock showing all over the place.

My frame of reference is from the chalet, so left and right are looking up. I was there due to an operation in Dec., but may be cleared to ski early Feb. At least it's the right winter to be out of commission for a while.

 

[Patrick]

The greeens on the left and Zoomer were open for the morning but Zoomer was taken offline soon after lunch.

So now Zoomer is open? Top to bottom? Is the whole hill covered or only half of it?

Orange snow fence was being put up along the left hand-side so I guess there was a competition of some type on Sunday and it was being prepped/saved. I understand there are committments, etc. but it doesn't help business for a small hill to knock out the only decent non-green run operating in a snow starved winter.

However the race program have suffered much, like the rest of us.

Everyone who lives in the East know that it wasn't been winter yet, so far our first two races have been posponned due to lack of snow and terrain open. Ski areas aren't ready to closed down a trail when they only have 3 or 4 runs open.

Mont Cascades (Ottawa local), QC - January 17, 07 (night)

 

[Spensar]

So now Zoomer is open? Top to bottom? Is the whole hill covered or only half of it?

Open from the top. The bottom for sure has full width coverage. The race area was being laid out on the less steep side though.