Holiday at Le Massif du Sud, QC

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.

le 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.

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Skaneateles Ski Club, NY

It’s become a cliché for downhill skiers to bemoan how their beloved sport has become increasingly corporatized over the past two decades, and how there are fewer and fewer local feeder hills — places where, as the Cheers theme song intoned, “everybody knows your name.”

Skaneateles Ski Club entrance

The not-for-profit Skaneateles Ski Club, located on the eastern perimeter of Central New York’s Finger Lakes region, is one of those increasingly rare ski areas that transports you back to a time before the words “bottom line” became paramount in the industry.

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