Wow, Chilly, but Beautiful!
How can you go wrong with a day that looks anything like this!
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 1.1.13.Expo.Summit.Sissy.Fuddle.jpg (315.23 KiB) Viewed 2469 times
carving. When the long shadows of the Summit were cast over the North
any sense of Solar warmth disappeared and even last run on Beauchemin
with the wind pushing along behind, almost skiing in a calm, it was still cold.
You needed good layers and the same will be true for tomorrow.
We can not over-stress how fine the Skiing is on these Squeaky Cool
Snow Surfaces. We think these are some of the purest, user-friendly
performance conditions(for all skill levels) known to the sport. They
can be comfortably yours with good layers and attention to the garment
closures, seals and overlaps common to just about all decent Ski/Board
clothing made in the last 20 years.
You do not need to go out and spend a fortune on the newest stuff to be
comfortable, if you pay attention to correctly using what you have now.
Another Signature "Only at Tremblant" View....
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- 1.1.13.Duncan.Views.Lowell.T.Edge.jpg (271.94 KiB) Viewed 2458 times
on a cool day like today, and if the forecasts are correct, for the next
couple of days...
1) Garment Systems/Layers.
2) Equipment Tuning.
Of the two, garment layers were probably the most important,
especially with the wind coming up the South face the way it did.
The wind would peel the heat out of you very quickly, so it was absolutely
essential to have layers, overlaps and seals properly aligned everywhere
you could.
Utility Caveat:
As far as equipment tuning, you need tuned gear. There are some
windblown icy substrates, so navigating them will be 10 times easier,
not to mention safer, with tuned skis or board.
The performance advantages of tuned gear will make the difference between
survival style slip-sliding, or skillful carving on the hard-pack, so the way to
have the most fun at Tremblant(or on any other Ski/Board Snow surface) is
to have tuned gear.
Think of it this way...sort of...
Would you head out on the 4 lane Autoroute, 401 or Interstate with Flat Tires?
No, unsafe at speed. Same thing with tuned Ski/Board gear.
1.1.13.Summit.Sun.Wind.Rocks.You.jpg
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 1.1.13.Summit.Sun.Wind.Rocks.You.jpg (407.24 KiB) Viewed 2469 times
but we can tell you for a fact that the wind was one step below
"Push You" Velocity, but very solidly in the "Rock You" velocity range
at the peak of Tremblant's Summit. Once you descended below the Summit,
there was considerably more variability in the winds depending on where
you were in relation to land contours.
One thing you can tell for sure with this one above is how very, very
fine the carving surfaces are at the Summit. This quality extends down
almost all the open trails at Tremblant at this point and we really want to
remind those who can make it out on a discretionary basis to put aside
anything that's keeping you away from Tremblant and get your butt
onto these exceptionally early Mid-Winter Slopes
With wind and temps at these levels, you need to be careful with exposed
skin, like tip of nose, cheeks as well as gaps around wrists, neck line and
waist. Ignoring any of them could mean either unpleasant or damaging
dangerous.
You just can't go wrong with a day that looks like this!
Easiest Route To Fun! ...Tremblant!
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- 1.1.13.Nansen.Summit.Easy.Fun.jpg (293.08 KiB) Viewed 2467 times
Riding up TGV with the wind at your back was definitely easier
than coming up Lowell T or Duncan where you frequently faced
into it.
The solar factor extended to South surfaces too in the form of grippy,
quick conditions that seemed to have just a little extra bite in them
for a very slight trade-off in speed.
Next Couple Of Days... Very similar to today, so with the
info. here you should be well prepared for your arrival either of the
next 2 mornings.
--------------- 7:55 A.M. Orig. Post ------------------
88(*) Open Trails on the "Happy New Year", 2013, 4 sides of Tremblant!
It snowed for a lot of last night, at least on the South Side and in
St. Jovite... those big, fat fluffy flakes that drift down in the calmness
of the evening when there's not a breath of wind, thick and heavy, while
they coat everything as far as you can see. Like a scene out of
Bing Crosby's "White Christmas".
It was snowing pretty heavily on the North too, at least as far as Apres Ski,
having parked over there for easier access. Not sure how that all happened
on the Mountain yet, but if there's any of it at all, it'll add to a great total
already.
It's supposed to be "Sunny with Cloudy periods" and so far this morning, the
Summit is shrouded in what we're assuming is Snowmaking cloud, but
both South and North bases are sunrise bright as seen by the Webcams.
This is what we're thinking you'll find today...
this file pic from two days ago, Dec. 30th.
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 12.30.12.La.Griffe.Fud.Dud.Windigo.jpg (411.36 KiB) Viewed 2706 times
support images above 429 KB, and because there's so much complex
detail in it we used the Mac resize tools but the result is not ideal.
The detail in the orig. is gorgeous and if anyone wants a copy, let us
know on F/B or Twitter and we'll send it to you.)
Temp's got down to -17C and should climb back up to -14C which isn't
much of a climb at all, but if the sun can come through, there'll be Solar
heat energy in any quiet trailside sheltered spots. The moderate winds are
forecasted to West-Nor-West, so coming up the Mountain on Beauvallon.
The North will be in the lee and we don't think it will be quite so gusty as
it's been recently.
The whole Tremblant region is in spectacular Mid-Winter Snow Depth
at the end of December, weeks in advance of normal.
Yesterday...
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 12.31.12.Versant.Nord.Local.Scenery.jpg (417.14 KiB) Viewed 2701 times
find this scene above normally until end of January, early Feb.,
so having it now seems like an extra special New Year's day gift.
Tremblant Geographic Nature Watch...
loosely themed... "Where's Waldo",
after the kids picture puzzle series
as well as "Life Goes On...."
First, The "Big" picture... taken at the Summit top of the Lowell Thomas
trail, just below the Ski Patrol H/Q. We took this pic initially to illustrate
the way Snow was drifting over the Summit and it does a fine job of that,
however, as we were standing there, we noticed a flurry of activity in one
of the trees as "Waldo" was very busy foraging a meal in a most surprising
way.
Can You Spot Waldo?
Yesterday...
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 12.31.12.Lowell.Thomas.Summit.U.Spot.Waldo.jpg (317.46 KiB) Viewed 2701 times
he is below and that takes us to the second part of this little feature...
"Life Goes On..."
Waldo is a Red Squirrel and he's clearly having a meal of Fur Tree needles.
We don't think we've ever seen or known that Squirrels, Red or otherwise,
eat tree needles. Maybe that's because we don't see a lot of them in winter,
or we just think they only eat nuts or berries, but as is quite evident here,
in the absence of nuts and berries, life has to go on and Waldo is eating
Fur Tree needles exactly the same way humans eat a cob of corn.
Yesterday...
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 12.31.12.Lowell.Thomas.Summit.U.Spot.Waldo.b.jpg (390.38 KiB) Viewed 2701 times
swirling vortex of very gusty winds and flat grey light Summit conditions that
were obscuring light, colour and contrast while vibrating the Trees, Waldo and
the Photographer!
Back to Ski/Board Conditions...
The vast majority of surfaces are excellent and all stem from one, basic fact...
There's a ton of early season snow and that is just the magic of this
year so far, snow, snow and then some more snow....
Yesterday...
With this much snow around, conditions can not be anything
else but excellent.
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 12.31.12.MCA.Banzai.Lower.Crossover.jpg (407.3 KiB) Viewed 2666 times
2 Items
1) The high winds that forced multiple lift closures recently also
created several exposed, icy or very slick, low traction zones
where extreme caution is required to navigate safely. They are
primarily on steeper pitches, or wide open trail sectors where
there are no natural wind buffers to slow it down or keep
loose snow from blowing into the surrounding bush.
If you experience these conditions in one area there is a probability they
may also be in similar areas, so you need to pay attention to the patterns
and look for them while maintaining an appropriately controlled speed
for instant avoidance or stopping.
Sharp well tuned edges are your best friend.
2) Snowmaking is ongoing as scheduled. Zones of very low forward visibility
require reduced speed and/or complete avoidance. Mountain Crews need to
continue these operations now in order to maximize coverages and durability
for the whole season.
Watch out for areas of Snowmaking Cloud/fog and use care navigating them.
Slow down and save a broken leg or any other nasty consequence from
temporary vision loss.
Local Weather-makers...
Hand Held 300mm Telephoto of South Side, top half Snowmaking
from the far side of Lac Tremblant, day before yesterday... will
be very similar today...
- www.tremblant360.com photo. All rights reserved.
- 12.30.12.Sunny.Localized.Snowmaking.Cloud.South.Side.Summit.jpg (341.14 KiB) Viewed 2666 times
It makes our season longer and better.
While it's ongoing, use caution around production sites and
be very mindful of others by continuously scanning for traffic.
88(*) Open Trails on the Official, Downloadable, PDF,
Trail and Grooming Status Report, Courtesy of Tremblant.ca
- Screenshot of the Official, Downloadable, PDF,
Trail and Grooming Status Report, Courtesy of Tremblant.ca - Screen Shot 2013-01-01 at 10.46.38 AM.jpg (241.54 KiB) Viewed 2695 times
More Tremblant360 Journal du Jour, Apres Ski....
Pg. under construction...
Sorry for delay... New Year's Eve., late night sleepy syndrome.
Links 'n not-so-fine print:
http://www.tremblant.ca
http://www.tremblant.ca/mountain/winter ... port-e.htm
(*)
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.)
.