102/102(*) Open Trails At #Tremblant.
“Be Prepared”.
It’s not just the Official “Boy Scouts” motto,
it directly applies to every single skier on the Mountain.
This is going to be a mini case-study of Versant Soleil,
Official Trail Number 43, “Tiguidou”, where it is an
example of conditions common to both its steeply
angled upper entrance portion, as well as its shallow
angled mid and lower portions.
These individual steep and shallow pitch angle conditions
are broadly applicable across many of the similar pitch
angels of the groomed Mountain footprint.
2.8.26.Soleil.Tiguidou.Mid.POV.Up.b.jpg
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Above/Below:
Basically, Tiguidou represents a micro-sample of most of
the groomed terrain because of the natural contrast that
exists between its very steep upper entrance half, and its
very gentle, shallow pitched bottom half. In this case, which
is somewhat typical, the steep upper portion was directly
subjected to forceful wind-blast and that moved a lot of
loose snow cover off, leaving the firm base substates exposed.
In addition to the firm hard-pack, there are some icy bits.
Slow speeds and careful attention to visible colouration in
the surfaces will help avoidance, but your absolute best friends
are sharp edges.
On the shallow pitch angled lower portions you can see the obvious
excellence in the immaculate grooming that has retained virtually
all of the beautifully compacted surfaces that had far less wind load.
Almost all the snow that fell here recently is still exactly where it
landed, skillfully integrated into the pre-existing all-snow base.
That is typical on all similar Green and Blue slopes over the whole
Mountain footprint.
2.8.26.Soleil.Tiguidou.Mid.POV.Down.c.jpg
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Weather Notes:
Are we ever going to get a break from this cold?
Yes, starting tomorrow, there is going to be a dramatic
change in the ambient daily temp ranges towards a far
more normal span and it will definitely be perceived
by regular seasons pass holders as a huge relief.
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--------------- 2.9.26 - Regional/Continental Weather Context: --------------
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---------------------------------
Conditions Notes:
In The Groomed:
As noted in our Tiguidou case study, the shallower pitch
angles, which we are going to generally categorize as
Green/Beginner, and Blue/Intermediate terrain trail groups
are all going to be superbly excellent, high traction, very
forgiving, and super-easy learning progression surfaces.
The steeper pitches are generally quite fine, but in some
cases have been exposed to frontally-facing direct wind
blast and that has generated some slick or icy bits that
can be encountered.
The way you perceive these steep conditions will be directly
proportional to the tune of your gear. period.
If you have recent/fresh sharp edges you will have traction
and the zones will seem small and insignificant, if you have
dull/worn/rounded edges these zones will seem larger, icy
and your control will not be optimal.
It should be noted that the exposed steep zones are not universal,
they are what we call select, because the wind did not hit all the
steep's in the same way. So, there are many that were in the lee-side,
wind sheltered, and those ones will just be well packed but steep,
with comparatively even traction/grip all the way down their descent
lines.
As a consequence of these variables it is advised on all initial
Expert Black Diamond explorations, to slow down approaching
all crests, before blasting over the top, especially where you
can’t see below well in advance.
In The Sous Bois/Hors Piste/Glades and Un-Groomed:
Within this trail group, the Un-Groomed are the most
sensitive and in some cases showing granite and wooden
hazards.
As a case study of that all at once, we have Versant Nord/North Side
Trail # 64 Marie-Claude Asselin, MCA for short, and this is one example
where you need to be really careful regarding equipment and tripping
hazards.
That’s granite under there and in a brush with your edges,
it will not be your edges that win.
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There are some large bits of fallen tree within the trail edge,
normally you’d just drive around them but if you had just touched
the granite and lost directional control, you could end up a runaway
into the wood(s).
Be careful here and we’d have to say this is not the zone for
Experts to be dragging their Intermediate friends into, unless
and until Mountain Crews re-set these trails with the periodic
grooming they get to harvest deep trail edge snow into the
middle to clean and level them up.
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It should be noted that in the Hors Piste there are many horizontal
trees. Any season that has such abundant snowfall has gravity
exerted on the trees and snow can definitely be heavy enough
to bring down weak, old, broken trees so you need to be mindful
of just what might be under the little ridge you’re facing, especially
if it’s right next to an obvious broken tree stump.
It may be a good idea to cheat a bit in the unknown by leaning back
and keeping your ski tips visible if you think there’s any question.
Summary:
The Sous Bois group needs some snow and thankfully,
that’s in the forecast over the next 48.
102/102(*) Open Trails on the Archival Copy of Official Open
Trails, Grooming, Snowmaking, Lift Status and Mountain Conditions
for February 9, 2026, Courtesy of Tremblant.ca
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