GSX800

That is indeed Auberge Eva. Stayed in their condo on Superbowl night in 2017. That is a definitely stay again spot. We didn't run into the crowd Shore speaks about though.

I just checked the NOAA maps, it doesn’t look like there is any significant/groom able snow in the area yet. Soon I’m sure. The snow pack is steadily moving South.

This is just my opinion. I have the TS skis on my last 2 Renegade 1200’s. I like them on the Quebec trails, or any trail I have been on as you can adjust them as conditions change throughout the day. Raise the carbides in the morning when the trails are hard, drop them down as the conditions loosen up. I have not experienced any darting on either sled with them. My wife has them on her Enduro 900, and appreciates the adjustability to balance good handling with steering ease/effort. I still have the stock carbide inserts in them and haven’t found the need to upgrade them until they wear out, at which time I may try the longer carbide. They work as advertised. In deep snow they are not as good as the Pilot 5.7’s if you do any amount of off trail riding.

Thanks Gutz. Just what I was looking for.

Thanks Gutz. The mic placement is my concern. I was thinking maybe the lesser model with the mic integrated with the speaker may be a better fit. I’m looking at collet as well since they have a mic that mounts into the breath box.

MrGutz - I’ve been looking for a good helmet communication system to use with our group. I keep coming back to uclear amp series and I see in your post that you’re adding them to your new helmets. Just wondering if you have had experience with these before? Most of us have the bv2s helmet and one guy has a modular 3. I am a little concerned about actually being able talk in our style helmet. If you or anyone else has any feedback on the uclear coupled with the bv2s, I would certainly appreciate hearing of your experience. Thanks Rick

Sounds like a trip to remember! Of course, they all are!

Give this a try. http://snowmobileinquebec.com/snowmobilers-guide/#regionsmaps

Hey Shore 1066, Clayton is crazy busy this weekend for sure. We took a run up there in the boat from Sackets Harbor yesterday thinking we would avoid the weekend rush and have a nice dinner. Not a single dock space available anywhere. Ended up running all the way to Henderson Harbor for dinner.

My buddies actually think something is wrong with me if there isn’t some sort of plan shaping up by mid-May.

He's going to Buffalo State. He committed to the football team, so we are looking forward to watch him play a few more years. We did see that Conner committed to St. John Fisher on Syracuse.com.. Absolutely get together this fall. Always love to talk about sledding and Quebec. Just laid out a 7 day bag ride in Gaspesie leaving out of RDL a couple days ago. We were always a group of 6 then a long time friend got back into riding last year, now we are 7. We may need another rider to even up the rooms.

Shore, I’m right down the road in Brownville. I too feel I missed several opportunities to go back north. Well, next year, son is in college, no more basketball games. Just football in the fall. I’m with you on Tug Hill. I cringe every time I ride there these days. Last time I was there I met a group 2 wide coming my way with one of them with his left ski off the trail on the right side. Keep me in mind if you get the itch next winter and are in need of another rider.

Nice ride. Windigo is a great place. The people make it that way!

Yes the US Duty Free at the TI Bridge exchanges money, and 8 AM is not a problem. You're better off with some of the other suggestions to get a better rate. You can catch a bank in Brockville, but if you're at the TI Bridge at 8 AM you may need to sit in the bank parking lot for a bit and wait for them to open. ATM is not something I have tried, so thank you to others on here for sharing that.

Yes 2014 and older use 3G (CDMA/EVDO) technology and was on Verizon in the US. In 2015 and newer the cellular radio in the GM vehicles utilize 4G LTE radios and is served by AT&T in the US. If I recall correctly there was a series of notifications about the older vehicles/radios. I think they can be changed. At what cost?

Maniwaki is not rideable from what I saw from the road. Was raining there yesterday at around noon.

I just drove down from Val d Or yesterday passing by Le Domaine. It was full on winter there yesterday mid morning. It was snowing hard. In my estimation you will be just fine riding from Le Domaine to and around Val d Or.

My wife and I just got back yesterday. I wanted to give her a great Quebec experience. Wiith the warm up coming last week, plan A of starting out of Mont Laurier was out. Plan B was to start in the West out of Waltham going up to Val d Or. That was out. So we pulled the trigger and drove all the way to Val d Or. Long drive from our home outside of Watertown NY. 400 miles, one way. Easy drive. The trails were worth it and I wouldn’t hesitate to do it again. Staged from the Forestel. Day 1 (Thursday) - Forestel to La Bannik outside of Ville Marie. Great place! Trails were smooth and hard. Could have used some fresh on them, but no problem, that came the next day. Day 2 (Friday) - La Bannik to La Sarrre and a stay at Villa mon Repos. Snow started around 10:00. Nice coating of fresh stuff on already flat, hard trails. Amazing ride to La Sarre. Day 3 (Saturday) La Sarre back to Val d Or. My wife remarked that those were the best trails and conditions that she had ever been on. I’ve been riding Quebec since 1995 and I would say they were right up there. The short of it is; if you’re coming out of Syracuse and are used to driving to Mont Laurier or Maniwaki, keep going another 3 hours to Val d Or. There was pretty much no snow in Maniwaki when we came through there yesterday and it was full on winter in Val d Or. Good Luck.

Banker has an Enduro so shutting it down and placing in reverse wasn't an option. So we watched him use the manual method. OK, sometimes we'd help.

We went by there on 83 on our way east. At the turn off point, it wasn’t groomed as of Monday it wasn’t groomed.

We went through there last Friday. Lac Eduard is staked from the goat path jump on, all the way to the village.

Shore - we are headed up mid January. Usually we are around the first week in February, but work obligations all but shut down the entire month for all of us to get together. We're a little nervous about the trails being connected out in the west, although it looks like things are shaping up. In smaller groups with our wives we'll get up once or twice in February and probably early March.

Pretty sure he is talking about the outfitter between Relais 22 and Wemotaci. Quite cold up there in Clayton this week? I’m right down in Brownville. I met you and your son a couple years ago at the logging camp down on TQ 93.

Agree with the too early for that ride comments.. In general, February is probably the best bet month. We are leaving with our annual boys trip on the 19th of January. I'm a little nervous at this point of full inter-connected trails. We typically plan for early.February, but it is not in the cards due to work obligations this year. Our fallback dates are now early March. I wish you the best of luck, and hope it works for you/your group as it is a nice looking loop.

There is gas in Saint Dominique-du-Rosaire. From there to Matagami is about 167 Kms (104 miles).