After looking at the long range forecast for New Year's weekend being wet, or supposed to be wet, I took the chance in heading off to Mont Gleason today. Last night was clear with the stars out. This morning I woke up to flurries and about 5 centimetres on the car. I had booked my lift ticket online via the maneige.com site using my Passe Partout discount card last night. The drive wasn't great, however once skis touched down coming off the lift, it was a different story. I arrived at the mountain just before 9am to flurries and temperature of about -7 degrees. 9 of the 20 trails were advertised as open. The Mylene Laroche Quad was open.  Conditions were an unexpected surprise. Groomed man made snow, and packed powder with about 5-7 centimetres of what fell overnight was the menu of the day. I didn't run into any ice...

With the day off today, I managed to get away to Mont Gleason for the morning. I arrived at the mountain at 8:45 with the temperature of -9 degrees, and no wind. It was supposed to be a partly sunny day, however it ended up being cloudy. Oh, there was about 10 minutes of sunshine that did manage to poke through! I purchased my ticket online last night as this is the only way to reserve your place if you do not have a seasons pass. You get your confirmation via email with a QR code. Upon arrival at the mountain you are required to pick up your lift ticket at an outside ticket window by showing your confirmation QR code. You are also required to show your Vaccine Passport, and one piece of photo ID to complete the pick up. A 3 step process that is very easy to complete. I was on the lift at 9:05. 8 of 20 trails were open, no glades yet as it is still pretty thin in the woods. The conditions were great with groomed machine made snow over a...

It is the start of the March Break week in Quebec, and to kick it off a visit to Mont Gleason was in order. I had been in touch a good friend of mine earlier in the week to see if he would be able to join me, and it worked out that he was available. We usually would meet at Gleason once a season to ski however it didn't work out last year. It was great to ski with him today. It was supposed to be a partly sunny day today. When I left Sherbrooke it had cleared out, and the sun was shining. During the hour drive to Gleason it started to cloud over and by the time I got to the mountain it was snowing and the temperature was -12 degrees. Today at Gleason it was free skiing for residents of the MRC of Arthabaska so we were expecting it to be quite busy early. Lifts opened at 9 with the new Dopplemayr Quad first and then the Laurent-Lemire Quad shortly after. All trails, and glades were open. The double chair was loading by a bit after 10:00. The conditions early were really good. The trails...

Five and a half months after the end of last season, the 2019-20 season began today with a trip to Mont Gleason. A buddy of mine contacted me to see if I was interested in going, and we decided that today worked with our schedules. So road trip it was. It was Gleason's opening weekend, as they had opened yesterday. We arrived at the mountain around 9:15 to cloudy skies, but looking out in the distance you could see blue skies. They did not make it our way, as it looked like we were on the edge of a weather system coming in. The temperature was a mild -3 degrees. Two trails were available the Gaudeau and the Cascades served by the Laurent-Lemire Quad chair. The coverage was really good for the early season. Groomed granular over a firm base. The first runs to start the season were down the Gaudreau, a nice easy beginner trail. It made for a good warm-up. Then we hit the Cascades, where this year the trail was widened at the top to accommodate the new Quad chair. With this change, the co...

With a planned day off today, Mont Gleason was the mountain of choice for a mid-week getaway. I had received a message from a good friend of mine a few weeks ago that he was coming up from New York with his spouse for a week holiday to do some skiing in Quebec, and wanted to check out Mont Gleason. So we met up at the mountain at 9:00. Cloudy skies and a temperature of around -7 degrees. There was already a decent amount of cars in the parking lot, with a few school busses that had arrived with kids for their day out on the mountain. We got ready and hit the Quad chair at 9:30 to start the day. Only the Quad chair was spinning with the double chair and both t-bars remaining idle. The conditions were fantastic with groomed packed powder over a firm base. All but maybe 3...

After a couple of weeks since my last outing, a visit to Mont Gleason was in order for the day. Leaving Sherbrooke at 7:15 I arrived at the mountain an hour later. Temperature was -12 under a sunny bluebird sky. The Quad chair opens at 9:00 so with the early arrival I had plenty of time to wind down from the drive and take my time getting ready for the day. Also when you arrive this early, parking is great, right close to the chalet. Today the Quad and Double chair were spinning along with the Magic Carpet in the learning area. the T-bars were not operating today. After the short warm spell with a touch of rain from the past couple of days, the conditions were actually pretty good. Groomed granular over a firm base was what was awaiting everyone this morning. Coverage was decent everywhere. The glades were not on the...

Mont Gleason is located in the community of Tingwick, Quebec, roughly a 2-hour drive from Montreal along Autoroute 20 heading towards Quebec City. There are several ways to get there, with the simplest route taking Autoroute 20 to Route 955 (Exit 210) to St Albert, and then down to Warwick. Mont Gleason offers a great variety of trails for the beginner right up to the expert skier. There are 21 trails and 10 glades available, served by 2 quadruple chairlifts, and 1 double chairlift. There is also a learning area that is served by a magic carpet lift. Snowmaking covers just over 90% of the mountain, adding to an average annual snowfall of 176 centimetres, making for great conditions. Night skiing is offered at Gleason. Gleason also has a ski/boardercross trail to go along with their snowpark with a variety of bumps and modules. The mountain also contains a tubing park with a choice of 5 different lanes with varying degrees of steepness. You will also find just over 7 kilometres of marke...

Wow what a beautiful day! Today's plan was Mont Gleason. This mountain is located in the town of Warwick about 1 hour from Sherbrooke. I left this morning at 7:30 to be there early enough for decent parking and to beat the rush to get some early runs in. Gleason has 5 lifts in all, 1 fixed grip Quad, 1 double chair, 2 t-bars serving 20 trails, and a Magic Carpet for the learning zone for beginners. I met up with a friend of mine with whom I skied with at Whaleback a month ago. We hit the Quad lift a few minutes before opening at 9:00. This is usually the first lift to open and the double follows soon after usually by 10:30, but today was different. We expected this to be a busy day with the great weather and with the snow we received lately. The double chair opened early in...