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--------- T360 Prime Time Apres Ski Edit, Under Construct @ 9:22 P.M. -------------


It was another classic example where you needed to
consider adverse atmospheric conditions very separately
from excellent groomed trail surfaces. Traction was fabulous,
speed was naturally “fast”, so we were right about the cool
surfaces surviving, but there were times when you could
hardly see the hand at the end of your arm... largely at
the Summit and upper elevations.

This was a moment of relative clarity...



12.17.25.Summit.For.Your.Info.Ski.Cloud.Fog.Observations.c.jpg

The adverse weather did include freezing sleet. It was not
freezing rain. You ended up with a crusty coating, and
ultimately a wet butt from lift seats, but it was not a
soaker, and it ended up becoming snow, and then
lots of snow. The temps at base levels touched Zero C,
but never got over -4C at the Summit.

The skiing was clinically wonderful. Keeping eyes
clear was not wonderful but manageable so in
balance a really fun day with the vision being
a bit annoying. It was not snowmaking either, it
was Mother Nature... nothing you can do, except
maybe stay on the lower half, and, by-the-way
we were also right about the overall improvement
in smoothness. The slight washboarding of yesterday
was totally absent today.



12.17.25.Nord.North.Sissy.Fuddle.Mid.POV.Up.d.jpg

Tonight is supposed to see a really big dip in the temps(-12C?)
so Mountain Op’s is going to have a huge job to put
things smoothly right before a re-freeze that will effect
the morning, until warmth is forecast to return at just
after noon.

You’ll need edges, really good edges.






---------------- 7:37 A.M. Orig. Post: -----------------


48(*) Open Trails At #Tremblant.



Grey Weather, But Great Skiing!



12.16.25.Nord.North.Superieur.Conditions.Observations.a.jpg

Newly opened Versant Nord/North Side Superieur is
in very fine initial condition typical of early season
where there is a combination of both blown and
natural snow, with a high bias in the mix to the
natural snow side. For that reason there is a much
more mature feel underfoot because there is very
little in the way of course particulate in the blend
and what we start with here has every bit of the
same feel in decent quality that we’d be looking
for by mid-January. The chunky bits you see in the
foreground are primarily just fluffy bits of freshly
tracked snow on the trail edge and they are not solid
at all. They break up easily as you pass over and
can not be felt where ever they are encountered.

Please Note: Superieur is not shown as groomed,
but is highly and very smoothly groomed. Additionally
Duncan Bas/Lower is shown as open, however so-far,
that only applies to the lowest run-out pitch-to-lift
that serves as the exit from the Superieur exit.






Weather Notes:


A real change in the weather to the warm side as
the wavy lobes of the Polar Vortex rotate past us
and across this northern half of planet Earth.

It may be “damp” out there today....













Conditions Notes:


Generally:

a) There can be a lot of wildcards in the mix as temps
rise, however what we call “thermal momentum” where
the cold sinks side of the convection circuit helps keep
the embedded cold from recent days well entrenched
in the surfaces to the point that they remain stable
and cold even if the atmosphere is heating up.

Hopefully, that is all-day today.

b) What we wrote about vision yesterday was 100%
correct. At Summit levels you need to go very slowly
and scan, scan, scan, especially on the La Crete and
Beauchemin entrance pitches for examples, where
vision can be less than 15 feet/3 meters or so, due
to cloud and/or snowmaking fog. These are shared skill
level zones and there were some timid folks going
sideways while speeders were having close calls
dodging them. Watch out everyone.


In The Groomed:

Warming temps tend to consolidate freshly groomed
trail surfaces by means of increasing the internal
humidity in the snow, thereby generating a more
noticeable degree of adhesive bonding in the compacted
surfaces after an 11,000 Lbs. groomer passes over.

Thusly increasing surface density tends to extend
all-day smoothness durability and that is what we
also hope may be noticeable today because with all
the recent cold, lofty, natural snow, some trails
have been a bit prone to lateral ridge formation
that may be perceived as a lumpy or washboard
feel along the linear descent lines of shallow to
moderate pitch angles.

This has not been noticeable on steeper pitches
where there are fewer Beginners and the longer
radius turns made by users generate more typical
shallow but easy little moguls.

The steeper pitches do however tend to get their
top layers shaved off as the day progresses so it
remains very important to bring sharp, fresh
edges in order to optimize control. This is a vital
point for Intermediates who are attempting to
master new steepness challenge as all the learning
you’ve done is not easily applied if you have no
mechanical grip to offset pitch and gravity.


In The Sous Bois/Hors Piste/Glades And Un-Groomed:


Well established traffic patterns have certainly
generated significant challenge across the Sous
Bois range. The forgiveness is good, but it is
not perfect so for the sake of ski/board bases,
you need to exercise deliberately slow speeds
in order to be able to hop, skip, jump, stop,
turn, pivot or any other form of navigational
course alteration in order to safely descend
where bumps are large and with mixed ski
and board use, sometimes irregular. The
challenge can be that some rocky or wood
hazards are not visible from above, and/or
that in the flat, grey, very low contrast light,
some contours are difficult to distinguish and
too much speed in irregular bumps might eject
you skyward into an unpredictable landing.

This is “Experts Only” territory, but for those
with the skills and abilities, the feedback is
that the Sous Bois group are excellent fun
as long as you incorporate the appropriate
conservative speed control.






48/102(*) Open Trails on the Archival Copy of Official Open
Trails, Grooming, Snowmaking, Lift Status and Mountain Conditions
for December 17, 2025, Courtesy of Tremblant.ca


















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