We wanted to follow up on some unpleasant events that occurred during and following Friday’s major winter storm that dumped 74 cm of snow and brought the total accumulation for the last 7 days to 119cm!

Here are the general details that should cover most topics. If you have any question or comment, please use our Contact Us box at the bottom right of this page and we’ll make sure you get heard. We’re very sorry for anyone experiencing unpleasant moments in those unusual weather circumstances.

Lifts

On saturday, the Expo chair was delayed by strong winds. A change in wind direction allowed us to open just before 1pm. In the afternoon, we started experiencing small electrical outage that led to total loss of the North Side power line affecting Duncan, Lowell Thomas, Expo and Gondola Express. The Duncan and Gondola operated to the end of day on auxiliary diesel engines and Lowell Thomas had to be closed after getting everyone off the lifts on emergency engines. It was confirmed later that the outage was due to a broken power line on chemin Duplessis.

The Edge

Like lots of neighbourhoods in the Laurentians, the power line that feeds the Edge was impacted by trees that fell on it. A crew was on site late Friday night, we got the lift going and were quite happy to offer the terrain Saturday.  When our staff got to the lift Saturday morning to get it going, the power was out again! With the high demand for power line repairs in the area, we could not get the crew back on Sunday. Work will be done on Monday and we expect the Edge to be running on Tuesday.  Please note that Letendre will be closed to allow the crew to work safely.

Le Soleil

The Soleil Side has a water only snowmaking system (no compressed air).  This requires temperatures much colder than the rest of the mountain in order to produce snow (-18 degrees Celsius and lower).  We managed to squeeze 12 hours of production so far at very marginal temperatures. Due to the steepness of the grade on some trails, natural hazards and high density of skiers more snow is required.  Temperature will go down tonight and snowmaking will resume allowing us to open.  We are committed to open Versant Soleil as soon as possible.

Porte du Soleil

This area is also planed to open on Tuesday December 25.

We would like to give a big shout out to the staff on the terrain that had to deal with those extremes conditions. Without their commitment, things could have been much more different! We especially want to thank our guests for choosing our destination and enjoy these incredible conditions that mother nature gave us!