Mountain Layout—Skiing

Tremblant is a hulk of a mountain with skiing on four faces. The trail map proclaims North and South sides, but these would be more accurately portrayed with designations Northeast and Southwest. It is easy for skiers to follow the sun: simply ski on the North Side in the mornings and then move to the South Side for the afternoons.

The resort recently added a true south face, Versant Soleil, with 15 intermediate and advanced trails and glades. Most trails are groomed daily, but since 60 percent of the area consists of glades, don't expect buffed snow in the woods.

Most skiers and boarders start from the South Side, where the base village is located. On crowded days, many savvy locals make the 15-minute drive to the parking lot on the North Side, where they can avoid the crowds and get first crack at skiing in the sun.

Expert, Advanced: The most challenging sections of the mountain are in The Edge and Versant Soleil. The Edge is reached by the Letendre trail, which starts halfway down the North Side and brings skiers to the base of The Edge quad chair. This chair serves only expert and advanced terrain. Only one trail, Action, is cut; the other descents are through the trees. The gladed skiing in Reaction and Sensation is cut wide enough for strong intermediates, but the glades dropping to the right down Emotion will push experts to their limits. For bumps, try Dynamite, one of the steepest trails in eastern Canada, and Expo, beneath the lift and wide enough for big wipeouts. The drop down Devil’s River and into the woods at Boiling Kettle is a rush. Versant Soleil, accessed by the Le Soleil lift, is 80-percent expert with the bonus of sunshine. Black and double-black runs take you through fall-line glades. We didn't find any truly tough glade skiing here, but it was all rollicking fun. For the most part, the single blacks are excellent choices for advanced skiers and riders, especially those who are just moving up a category from intermediate. It should be noted that we found quite a range among Tremblant's single-black diamond trails: some a challenge worthy of the rating, such as Banzai and Le Tunnel; others that could have been rated blue-square cruisers, such as Geant; and Dernier Cri, which we thought barely deserved a blue rating. Kandahar is a ripping groomed cruiser. There are steep drops off the catwalk down Vertige (a double diamond) and Dunzee. Both get bumped in spring. Ryan is one of the original trails, narrow and twisting with short, very manageable stretches of steeps that earn its lower section a double diamond. If you think Ryan is challenging at the top, you can bail out on blue-square Charron before you get to the narrow part. [TOP]

Intermediate: On the South Side, Grand Prix, Beauvallon and Alpine are great wide-open cruising runs. The Cure Deslauriers trail, toward the lower part of the mountain, has been contoured to form snow waves. Kandahar, though rated black, is groomed. It has one fairly steep section, but is a good choice for upper-intermediates. At the end of the day, Johannsen—a short blue stretch at the base that funnels everyone off the mountain—gets bumped up and/or mushy, depending on temperatures. The North Side appears tough on the trail map, but is more intermediate than advanced. Stick to the far right or far left and you can't go wrong. Geant, Coyote and Duncan Haut are all fine for confident intermediates, and in some respects, are better than Beauchemin and Lowell Thomas, which are rated blue and get a lot more traffic. Franc Sud and Toboggan are challenging runs that allow intermediates a frightening glimpse of some gnarly Versant Soleil terrain. Le Soleil high speed quad provides welcome relief back to the North Side. [TOP]

Beginner, First-timer: Le P'tit Bonheur takes beginners from the top of the North Side to the easiest mid-mountain trails. Still, most will stick to the South Side. From the top of the Flying Mile lift, beginners head left to La Passe and Nansen bas or they can head right down Standard and Biere-en-bas (named after a shortcut secretly cut by a racer when the staff would race down at the end of the day for beers; winner got to drink for free). Finally, take the big step to the top of the mountain and head down La Crête and all of Nansen. This is a fantastic area to start, but stick to Nansen or Roy Scott at the end of the day to avoid the crowds. Novices start on the free moving carpets near the bell (the ski school meeting place). After first-timers master the terrain served by the moving sidewalk surface lifts, they advance to the Flying Mile lift and Nansen. [TOP]