Tremblant Trail Review: Taschereau, South Side

Wed, Feb 18, 2009

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Tremblant Trail Review: Taschereau, South Side

Taschereau is a great South Side run for intermediates and experts alike, that originates from Tremblant’s summit. Its entrance is on the far left as you face down the Mountain, near the left hand side of the summit’s Grand Manitou Lodge

 

The only other South Side run further left is “Ryan”, but Taschereau has a much wider entrance compared to Ryan, giving it a more modern inviting appeal, which makes it attractive to those who feel comfortable with lots of space to manuver. 

The name Taschereau is an honour to the man who was Quebec Provincial Premier at the time when the run was originally financed. Interestingly, the original naming date actually precedes founder Joe Ryan’s Mont Tremblant Resort opening year of 1938, by 2 years, in 1936. 

At that time, it was not uncommon for individuals to raise funds to have a ski run cut on any good mountain, name it, even create a new event, and/or formalize an existing one. Access was often by the old way… climbing the mountain by foot! 

That was exactly what happened with Taschereau. It was an effort put forth by the St. Jovite Ski Club to get kids involved in Skiing and to develop a competitive element to the local area, a concept that was enthusiastically supported by Father DesLauriers, the spiritual leader of the community. 

The original funding for the cutting of the run was raised in thanks to a regional business person named Sidney Dawes. He was able to raise $1700 to cut ski trails in the Laurentian district, so when Premier Taschereau matched those funds with a provincial grant, the naming of the run as well as a race trophy, the “Taschereau Cup”, was a direct tribute to the Premier’s vital role at a time when money was very difficult to come by. It was after all, the middle of the Great Depression. 

In order to take advantage of existing clearing that had been done, the original Taschereau trail utilized parts of the Summit Forest Fire Tower road. Many of the Laurentian Peaks had Forest fire observation towers on them so communities that were at one time, dependant on logging, could protect their areas. 

During the later expansion of the Mountain trail system when Intrawest took over, Taschereau was relocated from its original location in the “Grand Prix” trail area to its present location and layout. 

 

Taschereau follows the pleasant flow of the land in an area where there are distinct plateaus between steeper pitches. Additionally, it has a rather “S” like shape along its length, so when you combine these 2 natural features, it seems to “flow” much like a river that winds its way down its course. 

Taschereau is rated as a single “Black Diamond”, due in large part to the steepness of its pitches. However, when there’s good soft or malleable snow with lots of grip, there is nothing on this beautiful run that a confident intermediate can’t handle. The width of Taschereau is sufficient to allow for long, wide turns to easily manage speed and controll. Like many other runs of this broad width, there is quite often lots of soft snow on the edges, say 4 or so meters out, so even if there may be slick areas in the high traffic center of the run, you will typically always be able to find a soft edge on one side or the other. 

Essentially, you will find 3 main pitches from the summit along the run. Each of them is roughly between 200 to 250 meters, followed by a shelf like plateau, where you can relax and make less aggressive turns or safely come to a stop trail side for a break. Taschereau is also a great “photo opportunity” run. It has wonderful panoramic views over Lac Tremblant and the old Mont Tremblant village. 

The total length of Taschereau is approximately 800 meters or so, about half a mile, and it comes to an end where it joins up with the lower “Kandahar” trail. That makes Taschereau a “top half” South Side run. If you bear right on the bottom run out, you can cut over to the TGV Quad Chair lift by using the transverse blue trail called “Charron” for a repeat. 

 

Taschereau is a great challenging run under all conditions. Its quick and interesting with a unique combination of turns and descents. It rewards Skiers and Boarders with good technical skill, ranging from confident intermediates to experts. Whenever there’s lots of fresh snow, fresh grooming or a full afternoon of sun on it, you will have lots of company out enjoying this fine run!

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