Instead of our usual Vermont holiday trip, my wife and I decided to go to Quebec City for some culture and skiing. After planning and booking it, three other families came along too. We skied at Le Massif and Mont Sainte Anne, and for our final day we chose Massif du Sud.
The bellman asked where we were going, and when my wife mentioned “Le Massif du Sud,” he said, “Bad choice. It’s a small boring mountain.” Obviously, the dude doesn’t ski. The place lived up to its billing as the best-kept secret in the province. From Quebec City, you drive one hour to the middle of nowhere.
The place was buried in snow: 50% more than Le Massif. We arrived after 9 am to a lot with 15 other cars. While we were the only English-speaking people at the mountain except for a woman in food service, the people were really friendly and very happy to have Americans there. They couldn’t believe that we found the place.
The skiing was fantastic. The mountain has a nice consistent pitch and conditions were packed wet powder, pure hero snow, but the real attraction there is the tree skiing. The place is 50% glades and they easily rival those of Mad River Glen. They also run a cat-skiing operation that’s next on my to-do list. Overall, a great trip. but Massif du Sud was definitely the skiing high point.
Glad that you and the ladies ignored the bellboy’s unsolicited opinion and went to MdS. Definitely my kind of place and I’d love to try the cat-skiing.
Hard to believe that it’s only an hour from Quebec City. I remember saying to my wife during the drive, “it feels like we’re in a French-language version of Nebraska!”
Perfect description of the drive.. unfortunately we drove there in the fog, so it was hard to see where the mountains began.
Looks like a nice place, but where do they take you cat skiing? In checking the topo that place is extremely flat.
The place ain’t flat..runs have nice constant pitch the whole way down.. one of my all time favorite places.
I’m pretty sure that cat-skiing terrain isn’t right next to the lift-served. If I remember correctly, the cat picks you up at the top of the lift and takes you about 15 minutes away.
I’m having a tough time finding much on the topos. This cat skiing video shows boarders barely being able to make any turns and mostly riding in someones tracks. Snow looks great though.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7k6adO-qjC4
My favorite place in the province, hands down.
A few quick Thursday morning comments from second-hand stuff:
First off, it’s been on my list of places to ski for a few years (but not a priority). Never happened as I would generally prefer returning to other places south of the border. I was planning for a day on our 2009 Spring Break trip, but MdS decided to close due to the forecast rain on the day we had planned to hit it before heading back to the Laurentians and Gray Rocks.
Heard many positive of the terrain on the run, snow and steeps glades.
Now for the negatives: MdS has been having issues for their main lift, it has shutdown a few times in the past few seasons.
Catskiing isn’t worth it (unless they changed the location since the 1st year and expanded seriously). Skimore is right, it’s flat. I got that info.
If you want an assisted motorized skiing, La Réserve would seem to offer something then there is Vallée Taconique in the Gaspé.
I’ve been following the MdS lift saga on Zoneski since last season: very similar in tone to the discussions of Magic Mountain on Snowjournal. There are defenders of the ski area who point out that management is doing everything possible given the financial constraints and there are the opponents who are annoyed by the fact that there’s no backup lift(s) and threatening never to go back until it’s rectified.
Jason and I were apparently both there when the lift was running fine and had great days.
I can’t make definite comments, having not experienced MdS for myself, but I have an opinion based on my perception of the place.
1) Make sure the lift doesn’t have any mechanical issues, period. I don’t necessarily have issues with weather shutdown.
2) A second lift would damage the uniqueness of the place and powder won’t last as before.
I was there on a holiday weekend. If they put in high speed 6 pack , it still wouldn’t damage the experience.. 200 pp were there.. everyone seems to go to MSA, Le Massif and Stoneham…
You look cold and angry in the picture.
Cold yes.. definitely not angry.. many smiles that day.
I agree with happy, he certainly looks angry and chilly!
Sounds like an awesome weekend. That whole part of the province gets a TON of snow. It’s a bit of a drive to get there (even from where I am in Magog), but totally worth it. If you go again, check out Mont-Grand-Fonds. It’s another hidden gem – again, not a huge hill, but the terrain is good and it’s completely under the radar. Just you and the sun!