iceman

Wow, with that kind of excitement at Hotel, the trails are bound to be just as amazing. 
Good to know that front desk is keeping a close eye on those Cameras pointed at the tent. Last year a tent collapse this year a fire. Hmmmm. I have used the tent. However i prefer not to. Usually i like to get one of those ground floor rooms with the sliding door and Lock them right there. This time of year the tents are usually empty, in season it's too crazy to deal with usually. 
Could be Mice with Matches.

Nice ride Gary.  The Claremont Express is such a good trip.
Don, Sylvie was our server tonight.  She was working by herself with quite a few tables.  The wait staff here in Quebec always amazes me.  They almost run from table to table.
Jack & Sandi

Wow, with that kind of excitement at Hotel, the trails are bound to be just as amazing. 
Good to know that front desk is keeping a close eye on those Cameras pointed at the tent. Last year a tent collapse this year a fire. Hmmmm. I have used the tent. However i prefer not to. Usually i like to get one of those ground floor rooms with the sliding door and Lock them right there. This time of year the tents are usually empty, in season it's too crazy to deal with usually. 
Could be Mice with Matches.

Greetings RR enjoy the fantastic December conditions there. All the best. 
How is that Sidewinder? 

Have your people contact my people, I'm sure we can settle this out of court. lol.

4th season barely broken in yet.....Yamaha. 

4th season barely broken in yet.....Yamaha. 

Was by the River in Grand Mere and it is staked and i see the signs at the intersection of the 23. Not sure how far up river is open. I think is just the part closest to Grand Mere. But well ahead of last year, 
been kind of warm here two days just above freezing. A bit melty. 

Lots of info here on free weekend. You need to print your passes before, you don't get at clubhouse. That is if you enter quebec and want to buy a pass.. season/week/daily. 
https://www.chaudiereappalaches.com/en/activities-attractions/snowmobile/snowmobile-open-house-event/
crossing border should not be too long i would think but never done it on sled myself. If anyone has a criminal record, DWI for example and they check then they can be refused entry just so you are aware. 

I've never worked on a wrecked groomer before!(That's like saying, "my brothers have never driven a groomer before")  Do they need their brakes done?
GutZ

Finally here. Happy Winter Solstice. To all my fellow lovers of the winter season. 

Well i Was close, missed by one day!!

From Barrage Gouin FB...1' of snow on ground nice 75km ride today no rocks.

It's all over and the Winner this year is Crazysnow!
just returned from work and well well well it aint pretty(kind of snirty) but they groomed the 12" 0f total snow we have had, well less on trails with all the vtt and sleds on it before they groomed. 
But it has been groomed first pass. Not up to my standards but I'm holding out there is no hurry. 
Crazy PM me your address and I will send you out a care package. 
Thanks to all who cared to wager a guess. Next year I won't forget to start it in early/mid november. 

Finally done, our first ride this season along with here our first ride report! We surely crossed Hden that posted earlier with pretty much the same path but in reverse: we did Cabanon/ Mattawin round trip


Saturday morning, around -18C very gray sky and snow. Starting from the Auberge Le Cabanon parking lot in St-Zénon


Dooright had trace the route for us earlier this last week and it was an easy one to pick this path knowing that the vast majority of the trail is on forest road base so it is easy to get beautiful trails condition even with a limited snow cover




There are a few miles from the start of the auberge out of these forest roads which still lack some snow but on this Saturday morning, freshly groomed with cold temperature it seemed almost perfect. Once back on the main road, it feels like in the middle of the season, almost no rocks and very beautiful


Here at the entrance of the Mastigouche wildlife reserve




What helps a lot is that the firsts snowfalls threy got were very wet, which once frozen left a dense and compact material on the ground rather than fluffy snow this is what explains the good trail condition the snow cover still thin at about a foot before the precipitation of the weekend.



In many spots this snow had stay in the trees creating magnificent scenery




Here the Mattawin River Bridge





There are a couple miles more rough after the bridge



Until we get on the #360 in Zec Chapeau de paille territory.

Very nice trail


The trail is groomed up to the junction with #345 north to Lake Repos outfitter. Then there are a 10 miles that were not groomed yet before joining the section maintained by Mattawin. Honestly, apart from a few trees that have fallen in the road and it did not really made a big difference and it is still a pretty fast section while staying alert.



Here on the section maintained by Matawin with the glaciers that begin to form


Very nice and fast


This section along the river is always very nice to ride.





The beauties of winter




It looks like this on many miles !!




The #360 at its best



All this on a beautiful and fast trail




The last miles to join the Marineau auberge once out of the Zec are obviously less beautiful because the base is more rough and there are still some holes not completely clogged but it ride well even two-up. Here the classic view of the Mattawin River


We arrived at noon at the auberge Marineau with a little less than 80 miles on the dreammeter. We had a good lunch break and were nicely received as always.



The sun tend to point a bit after the lunch. Here a snowy section just after the bridge leaving from the Auberge



The view over the river with a little more light



We took the reverse path on the #360 to return


It looks like mid January in this area



We must pay attention to the branches that can hit our helmet. I got screwed and almost lost my Gopro when it got hit by one that I had missed and got ejected in the side trail snow.





It was snowing a little less in the afternoon




glaciers section seen the other way





Here in the ungroomed section, the worst pass with a lying tree in the trail that you must care of. There are a couple others that just partially obstruct the trail (I don’t even let the throttle) and all them can be seen very well in advance no problem




And although it was not yet groomed, we pushed some good speed spikes without problem


Since the #360 was riding so well, we decided to push up to the Taureau Dam before returning to the Cabanon. Minimum as beautiful if not better on this side



Dam crossing is no longer possible but it is still a nice place to take a break



On the return on the #345 not far after the Mattawin bridge we crossed the dozer


And we continued at a good pace towards the south. We took a small break at the entrance of the  Mastigouche reserve


We finally got back at the trailer a little before 4:30 pm with 178miles on the dreameter, not bad for a first ride.


In summary already very good for a season start, very few rocks and the snow that is actually falling in quantity will help to improve the conditions and widen the trail network. Temperatures are winter one and the lakes and rivers are actually at freezing, we can safely say that the snowmobile season is already begin and we will be able to enjoy it for the Christmas holidays!

You may want to take a look here to follow how the trails opening will go on, many details here:

http://snowmobilecountry.ca/en/conditions


Alain



 



 
 

18 Dec
-4c Snow. Coming down pretty heavy. 3"+ so far. 

Bring it on.

From Passion QC, the mother of all Drags is at work. 

hi all !!!
back in business !!!
brought machine to gas station !!!
i ll be on tq 5  tomorrow !!!
snowing since late afternoon  ....2 '' of fresh snow and still snowing !!!
 
jean-guy
 

Club Passe Partout

Hey voila.....the 83 is Surfaced by Club Saguenay, wonder when was the last time that this club was first and not up on Mont Valin?
 

President's Day US: Monday 2/20
Nick-the-Quick will have his feet up waiting for ya in Baie-Johan-Beetz!

Eastern part of Mt Valin and Cote Nord are Mid season conditions, just returned from 3 days 620 miles, not a bump or rock in the trail.

Good idea to pay attention to snow reports over there eh?...