towing Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 (edited) Saturday 22 january, sunny with light snow showers. –24C at start Krikri and I started our ride from Domaine Bazinet in the north of Ste-Émilie de L’Énergie to go lunching at St-Donat via Mt-Tremblant park with a little detour to the Black Mountain Here the track of our trip in yellow ... The #63 trail was freshly grommed and with the deep cold, very hard and fast… To get Mt-Tremblant park faster, we switched left at the first junction to go directly to Coin Lavigne. The first half of this trail was perfect For the 2e half, there is wood transport in the area. The forest road where the trail was used to be is plowed and they sand it badly. There’s a newly made trail on the side of the road, but we have sometimes some short distance to make on the road. Just few hundred feets each time but it make the teeths grindind… ... There’s not much snow on the alternate trail but it was so better than the road and we were really happy to pass there… On the last miles, the trail quit the side of the road and pass directly over the mountain with a couple big hill in bonus. Hills lovers like me will apreciate for sure… We passed Coin Lavigne... And started our route through Mt-Tremblant Park Very nice trail condition and very fast. We just had to be careful as usual with icy curve mainly coming from too happy throttle shots… ... Edited January 25, 2011 by towing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted January 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 (edited) It was going really good, enought fast to realize it was still really cold… We next switched in St-Donat direction. Despite the cold, we were not alone on the trails… The 2 miles up to Cyprès shack was a little ruff, too thin But after it was perfect, freshly groomed… ... Edited January 25, 2011 by towing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted January 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 The short narrow section near the exit of the park was pretty good, Just a little tinted snow , really better than expected After the park, the trail was still good but we feel some « toc-tocs » unders the skis sometimes, sign that the snow cover is thinner. At the junction for St-Donat by the mountains, we continued to pass by the Archambeault lake to stay in better snow condition. At Black Mountain trail junction, we decided to go to the lunch before and keep the mountain for the afternoon, hoping that the sun would be more generous to have better pics. The trail to the lake was ok but still thin . As for the lake, it was simply wonderful… St-Donat view.... The trail behind St-Donat village was even ok on the thin side. No rocks but the snow tend to brownish on some spots We decided to lunch at Cuillère à Pot... After we fueled up in the village, went back to the lake… The snow dust that left in the air give you an idea of the temp… still pretty cold even in the mid-day We came back to the junction and switched in Black Mountain direction The more we approached, the more the trees whiten… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted January 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 The summit was not at is top beauty but very nice And the view even splendid The gray jays were waiting for us. The are always even greedys… not timid at all… classic view... Some last pics before leaving with cloudy sky… And we begin our return trip on the same morning trail… We took the time to go round trip to the Cennelles Mont point of view Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted January 25, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 In fact, it is not really the top that is nice but the 4 miles trail to go there. Worth the trip for the trail and the scenerey After, we came back by the Mt-Tremblant park that was still is great shape, just the curves to care.. In place of coin Lavigne trail, we took the #63 trail to make a different loop . It was an excellent choice because the trail was very nice, full winter condition. We stopped to warm up and eat at La Glacière and took back the #63 trail that was just groomed to our drop point Domaine Bazinet. We passed the groomer few miles before arriving at the trailer. Total :173miles To conclude, the small snow amount received last week help again to improve the trail conditions. We saw that St-Donat had a little less snow than the east of Lanaudière like St-Zenon and Mastigouche reserve. Trail condition web site state good to excellent for St-Zenon area and passable to good for St-Donat which seems pretty accurate from what I seen. The more south area like St-Côme, St-Jean de Matha and St-Gabriel de Brandon are now open with beginning trail conditions. The more extreme south of the lanaudière near home have begin to give the first groom pass but really need snow to give some decent conditions. Would not take alot of snow to have the whole network ready but mother nature is still stingy… Anyway, the playground still widen each week and conditions improve . Hoping that the next storm will pass over usa and dump here… Alain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greasemonkey Posted January 25, 2011 Report Share Posted January 25, 2011 All I can say is NICE! Love your section by section trail reports and pics. I noticed in that pic with the on coming group, some idiot was on your side. Isn't it fun when you see that as you're going around a bend? How some people think is beyond me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
600IQHO Posted January 26, 2011 Report Share Posted January 26, 2011 X2 it is looking nice. I can now count the days on one hand till I arrive! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick M Posted January 30, 2011 Report Share Posted January 30, 2011 Great report, I like the way you copied the gps map. If it's not too hard, can you explain how you did that. I'm going up Feb 4-6 with my new Nuvi 550 and would like to try what you did when I get home. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
towing Posted February 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 1, 2011 Sorry for may late answer, but here we go... All I can say is NICE! Love your section by section trail reports and pics. I noticed in that pic with the on coming group, some idiot was on your side. Isn't it fun when you see that as you're going around a bend? How some people think is beyond me. It was not too bad in this particular case. The group was stopped because there was an FCMQ patrol that made a check point and the yellow sled was near stopped and me either. But you're right, sometimes peoples stopped or pass in unbelievable situation . When we came back in the park, I passed the top of an hill at good speed and saw just infront below in opposite direction 3 sleds stopped beside each other with a fourth one that was about to align with them just infront me, blocking the whole trail :blink: He fortunately stopped before, lefting me just the space to pass... Being squeezed or challenged on a 25' wide trail is beyond me either !!! X2 it is looking nice. I can now count the days on one hand till I arrive! Maybe you're already in paradise have a good trip !!! Great report, I like the way you copied the gps map. If it's not too hard, can you explain how you did that. I'm going up Feb 4-6 with my new Nuvi 550 and would like to try what you did when I get home. Thanks! I won't be able to help you much, because it was not a GPS track. I just used the interactive map, made a custom itinerary and save a screen shot from it to illustrate our trip. There are many GPS users here, maybe somebody else will be able to help you with your new Nuvi... Alain Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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