With a forecast high of +6 C, we might have expected
a whole bunch of “Spring”, but...
Winter got to live on for another day, sort-of...
- www.Tremblant360.com Photo. All Rights Reserved.
- 3.20.19.Ryan.Haut.Upper.Groomed.Smooth.Fast.Fun.c.jpg (486.12 KiB) Viewed 2716 times
Mountain), and additionally, there was a definite coolness
in the wind that was edgy and not +6 C in any way. It all
added up to a study in potential tipping points that tipped
on the winter side instead of the spring side. That’s why
we got to keep winter all day.
A considerable degree of the trail surfaces to be "warm
resistant”, is the retained frost that is very obvious when
you try to stand your ski poles into the snow and they
will not go more than an inch or so into the surface in
many places. On the plus side, even though the top
layers were prone to being shallow, they were more than
enough to carve up a storm. We had no end of traction
action and believe it or not, we were able to carve out
the entire length of the Ryan Haut, Upper, middle pitch
from top to bottom, easily, with 11.5 Metre Turning Radius
160 cm’s Atomic SL Race skis.
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- 3.20.19.Ptit.Bonheur.Great.Easy.Green.c.jpg (524.43 KiB) Viewed 2716 times
brief moments of direct sun, but it was predominantly a thin
overcast that made the natural light very flat, so the pic. above
has been substantially cooked up to show trail surface detail.
The detail shows the quite adequate skiable surface and indeed,
there is excellent performance in all you can see here, and
everywhere else over the entire groomed trail network.
To further illustrate that above point, below you can clearly see
the loose top layers easily being able to support good technique
on Kandahar's main Summit level pitch.
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- 3.20.19.Kandahar.Summit.Views.Groomed.Smooth.Performance.Observations.b.jpg (586.14 KiB) Viewed 2716 times
so we’ve had to alter contrast, highlights, definition, etc., etc.,
in order to default to trail surface detail in all these Apres Ski pic’s.
Sorry about that, but the basic problem for consumer grade digital
cameras in 2019 is the challenge of extreme contrast between dark
bush tones and the extreme white of snow surfaces which are largely
washed out with “Automatic” settings. Why not use manual settings?
You’d need 30 hour days to make individual pic. manual settings
and you’d miss 85% of the spontaneous shots that are an essential
part of capturing the candid spirit of Tremblant. That’s a roundabout
excuse for all the photographic noise in the pic below. On the flip-side,
this pic below shows the performance level everyone at Tremblant
enjoyed today.
- www.Tremblant360.com Photo. All Rights Reserved.
- 3.20.19.Beauchmin.Bas.Lower.Natural.Fast.c.jpg (677.38 KiB) Viewed 2716 times
and there’s mixed precipitation. IF, If, IF... the Elevation Differential
is typical @ -4C, the Summit may remain all winter and there is some
potential for all snow on the Mountain.
You’ll need to be ready for anything from the sky, and be ready
for another day of “Fantastic” on the trails!
--------------------- 6:57 A.M. Orig. Post -------------------------
102/102(*) Open Trails on the dynamically Winter-To-Spring Slopes at #Tremblant .
Excellent Skiing, Beautiful Views, Complete Winter Coverage,
Universal Early Spring Performance...
There’s A Lot To Love At Tremblant!
Tremblant360 Proof Of Snow, 3.19.19.
- www.Tremblant360.com Photo. All Rights Reserved.
- 3.19.19.Nord.North.Marie.Claude.Asselin.Proof.Of.Snow.And.Super.Smooth.Wide.Groomed.Excellence.d.jpg (567.25 KiB) Viewed 2882 times
and debate riding up at Tremblant yesterday. While
there were some subjective attributes discussed
regarding the temp. spread of close to 23 degrees
Celsius, and a few odd icy bits from the warm weather
4 days ago, there is no doubt there is very close to,
if not “Best Of Season” within the groomed trail array.
The “Proof Of Snow” pic. above, from Trail # 64, Marie-Claude
Asselin is a perfect example of the combined all-natural snow
base, plus the extraordinary level of refinement in grooming
that can only happen to this level of finishing, when there is
this much snow.
The fact that the Sous Bois, Glades, Hors Piste and Un-Groomed
is also not only all open, but in such fine shape is a testament
to the fact that there was not any significant or lasting effects
from the recent weather either.
We theorize that the resilience in the overall conditions is to a
large degree, the positive effect of so much cryogenic, i.e., cold,
freeze-dried action Mother Nature exerted on all the snow during
the deep overnight lows that have been happening up to within
the last 24 hours.
What you are seeing below is the best example of how we could
photographically describe the “Dusty Dry” character of the groomed
trail snow. The backlit quality of the sun at this low, afternoon angle
on Lowell Thomas, Haut, Upper(#67), illuminates the extremely fine,
as in small, but virtually humidity free, and very dust-like nature of
the snow. This is easy snow, for not only control inputs, but for speed
as well.
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- 3.19.19.Lowell.Thomas.Haut.Upper.Pitch.Dusty.Dry.Fast.Winter.Snow.f.jpg (608.11 KiB) Viewed 2863 times
when you end up with such pleasant and easy daytime highs as
we experienced with yesterday’s -2C at Mountain Elevations.
Above we mentioned the “Speed” in the snow and we need to elaborate
on that because perhaps one of the most surprising aspects of the
current performance is speed. You notice it immediately. Descent
speed picks up quicker than usual. Glide speed does not degrade
on plateaus and there’s a sense that Gravity is really adding a
bit of boost you don’t always feel at normal levels of surface friction.
It’s fun to feel such easy speed, yet edging initiated control inputs of
either directional or braking are instantly effective, so the net result
is that you feel 110% in total control in an almost effortless way.
In last night’s Apres Ski we featured Versant Soleil “Algonquin”,
officially a “Green” trail, but yesterday, with no one in sight, all
the inherent speed meant it could really be enjoyed at Expert
GS speeds and it was possible to have enough velocity to get
airborne turns back and forth over the longitudinal grooming
ridges for 100’s of metres at a time for some really thrilling
and very high energy carving on its undulating pitches.
Algonquin is way underrated and underused. It is actually a
truly fine example of a multi-use trail that just happens to
have a Green rating.
Similarly, Nansen was quick too, but here you could more clearly
see the benefits for Beginners as the ease with which very basic
learning maneuvers for braking and steering using the wedge shape
were so obvious.
- www.Tremblant360.com Photo. All Rights Reserved.
- 3.19.19.La.Crete.To.Bon.Vivant.At.Nansen.Carve.This.d.jpg (669.82 KiB) Viewed 2858 times
These are conditions that make everyone look good.
Experts could be heard “Whooping” it up all day throughout
the entire Expo sector, no wonder with conditions this fine!
Where Is Waldo?
Hearing calls “Whooping it up” was sometimes the only way you
knew there was anyone around because it was not crowded. There
is one visible Skier in this pic., you get 10 points if you can find that
person.
- www.Tremblant360.com Photo. All Rights Reserved.
- 3.19.19.Nord.North.Base.Views.Expo.Sector.c.jpg (599.79 KiB) Viewed 2831 times
Weather Notes:
Please Note for weekend planners...
If... the typical Elevation Differential of -4 C happens(?),
the precipitation on the Mountain could maybe, possibly,
could be... all snow(?). To be safe, come prepared for
anything atmospherically.
- 3.20.19.Weather.Data.a.jpg (171.59 KiB) Viewed 2882 times
For Today...
As temps rise, conditions in general become more
forgiving, so less edge-catch, simple to correct on,
easy to initiate, etc., etc., up to a point that we may
or may not hit with todays high temp at +6C.
We do not think it will change today just because
there’s still so much frost in the top layers, but
we’ll see if we are wrong by Last Run.
Well, at least it’s sunny and warm, so for today
no problem which ever way it goes.
For tomorrow, it’s likely that the very early firmness
from an overnight sub-zero C is going to give way to
softness later on, so in order to make the most of the
whole day, sharp edges are needed. Conditions may be
moderated by new snow, if there’s enough.
For near-term visit planners, we don’t see any significant
loss in coverage for at least a couple of weeks, if not longer.
So much snow, plus so much seasonal frost, should be very
capable of stabilizing coverage for weeks. Mountain Op’s
may make strategic resource plans that could affect open
trails, but that’s for long range utility benefit, so we support
those calls whenever necessary.
102(*)Open Trails on the Archival Copy of Official Open Trails,
Grooming, Snowmaking, Lift Status and Mountain Conditions
for March 20, 2019, Courtesy of Tremblant.ca
- Archival Copy of Official Open Trails,
Grooming, Snowmaking, Lift Status and Mountain Conditions Courtesy of Tremblant.ca - 3.20.19.Trail.Status.Data.a.jpg (366.36 KiB) Viewed 2887 times
Absolutely superb early spring conditions
are worthy of every ounce of effort you can
make to ski Tremblant. Easy temp’s, super-quick
and very high traction groomed surfaces are
a joyful combination for all skill levels.
Links and not-so-fine print:
http://www.tremblant.ca
What’s The Use? Research Benefits of this Archive: http://tinyurl.com/gp5vjps
(*)
Understanding Trail Counts - http://alturl.com/n54py http://www.tremblant.ca/mountain/trailmap-e.htm
http://www.tremblant.ca/galleries/webcams/index-e.htm
http://translate.google.com/translate_t ... =fr&tl=en#
http://www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/CAQC0360
Forum Index: http://alturl.com/r4cco
Bring Back The Memories... 
Research Future Visits... If you would like to look up dates you visited Tremblant, or you
want to research days/weeks/months to visit, you can sample what
they look like historically, month by month, year by year.
GoTo: Archive, Search Reports by Date: Index: http://tinyurl.com/yktelmu
When reviewing dates from any of the past, numbered, archived pages,
you can use the "Previous Topic" or "Next Topic" buttons, located
screen far right, in upper date/message bar to scroll through sequential
dates, or use your browsers "back" button to stay on the selected index
page for non-sequential date reviews in either forward or reverse order.
There are approximately 6, 25 day Index pages per season.
(
If you "Bookmark" the link above, it will always take you to theFirst index page with the latest posts. That gives you an immediate,
current to 25 day past, review scroll of Winter Alpine Conditions by
consecutive date.)
.