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We'll be visiting the mountain for 3 full days next week and were thinking about crowd avoidance. I know it will be impossible, but I was thinking of trying to keep to the North side and parking there as well.

Are there any blue runs in particular that seem to miss the crowds, or any other tips to avoid them as much as possible?

Just joined the site not long ago aswell!! Hope all goes well for T360!! Xmas is the busiest time at the resort and will be tough to avoid crowds on almost any trail. I would highly recommend getting out Xmas day morning and new years day morning if you are here then! Other then those two days it will be busy so get there first things and get a few in before it fills up.!!

Hey Richard,

For the benefit of a "Never Ever" new person to Tremblant
we're going to take some time to build this response, so it may
come in chunks as we're involved in some family travel/Holiday stuff.
No worries though, it's a good excuse to get away from the crowds
and it's a good question material.

Ideally it would be great if a boarder could come on and confirm
some of this because as a skier I'm aware that things are slightly
different for boards, say in the "glide" department where the odd
plateau can be skated out by a skier, for example.

That being said the North side strategy is an excellent one.
Seeing as how you are already close, it should not be too hard for
you to get around to the North fairly early. We use the North a lot
and basically, with it so close, the car acts as a locker.
I love "Last Run" on the North too. It's so quiet, you often find
yourself all alone, the whole run to yourself, which ever one you
choose, from top to bottom.

Before we get into run specifics we should quickly touch on the
summit "Traffic Signal".
When you get to the Summit, you're going to see this: (I took this pic 'cause it reminded me of my Daughter
at a young age... too cute!)
As you can see, it has lift wait times and it is usually pretty
accurate.

You want to keep an eye out for "Lowell Thomas" and TGV,
both mid-Mountain lifts to summit that are good for quick
circuits when bases are "Loaded".

Skier/Boarder traffic at Tremblant can be just like Toronto or
Montreal, while it may be busy, there are sometimes when
people just seem to melt away from an area for no particular
reason and this traffic signal is a good way to spot that flow.
The main object is that we just want to keep moving.

Think of Tremblant like a big wagon wheel. The summit is the hub.
Everything radiates outward from there. We recommend that you spend
some time on the animated Trail map at www.tremblant.ca If you swing it
back and forth between north and south, you'll see what we mean with this
"Hub" concept.

Some Trail samples that have good steady pitches would include Alpine,
Beauvallon upper, Duncan, top to bottom, Beauchemin upper, Rope Tow,
Rigodon, Lowell Thomas, the run and if you're confident, I would think
because of their nice width, Superieur and Geant would be good too.

Some will scoff at this, but even some greens like P'tit Bonheur and
Sissy Schuss can be great if there's safe room to build some speed.

Are you staying on the base of the Southside? If you are just hop on the Gondala in the morning it is the easiest and loads fairly quickly.
If you are off-mountain and driving in, P1 is the closest free lot, but is full by 8:00-8:15 in the morning. Then you have P2 which is ski in ski out, there is also a ticket booth here. You can just board the Porte de soleil chair at the parking lot and then crossover to either the Southside and board the Gondala or go to the Sunny side and board the Soleil chair.
It should be open next week so I suggest you do this and go to the Le Soleil chair if it is opened when you are there. It's the quickest way to get up the mountain. At the end of the day you take Beauvallon to Desserres bas down and cut to the left when you see the P2 sign. Build up some speed here cause it is flat for awhile.

If you want to get some laps in then get to the mountain early. Gondala opens at 8:30, you will be good to about 10 - 10:30 for crowds everywhere on the mountain. Chairs that don't have bad crowds later in the day are expo, flying mile after 12:30, TGV but only on the expert side of the line.

If the Soleil is open do the run Toboggan, big long blue run lots of fun, one of my favorite runs on the mountain. Beauchemin is a nice wide blue you want to try out also. Expo chair is a good place for intermediates because you have 4 different blue trails off of it and the lines here are not as bad if the Duncan chair is open. It will be hard to avoid lines after 11 though, so I recommend doing singles line, split up your group into singles and you will get up a lot faster. Hey you are skiing with them all day what's a few lift rides alone right?
If you are feeling good try out the run Mcculloch it's a black diamond, but has a nice easy pitch to it. Plus doing this run gets you on the expert side of the TGV which is known for little to no line.

Excellent, quality responses there guys, I really do appreciate it!

I like the idea of doing a loop, halfway up the mountain and down each side if things get really packed at the bases. I also like the look of the slopes for Geant and Superior, not even sure why they are considered black (at least according to the crappy videos on youtube, see my other thread about my idea).

One other question: the intermediate glade runs showing on the north side, can you give me some pics or any information on how gnarly those are for a decent blue run guy like myself? I've been on a few blacks and stuff and do ok as long as it's not too steep, and is wide enough (snowboarders generally can't handle the really steep stuff like skiers as when you turn down the fall line you are going REALLY fast for that second).

The ones I'm talking about:

#87, Reaction, shows blue square glade run
#90, Sensation, shows blue square glade run
#80, Windigo, shows blue square glade run

These blue glades are very simple, I'll give you a little description of each:
Windigo usually has tight moguls on it unless it has just freshly snowed and the moguls get filled in. The tree's here are at least 15 to 20ft apart. I'm not kidding the tree's are far apart, doesn't really feel like a true glade run. It's a nice length with consistent easy pitch all the way down.
Lower Sensation: Upper is a double black, but the lower is literally flat, pretty much an easy grade all the way down. No speed in here just easy cruising through the tree's which are nicely spaced
Reaction: Is basically like Lower Sensation as they run parallel to each other, but it starts higher up. Their is a steep pitch but nothing a strong intermediate could not handle. Same spacing as Sensation nothing to tight.

Now Lower Sensation and Reaction have only opened once this year, this past Saturday actually. It is sector Edge which is all natural snow, so we are having a good season, but not that good. If we get another good snowfall it could re-open, but for now they remain closed.

Also for Geant, Duncan and Superior they are opened on strictly natural snow. No snowmaking or grooms here just natural. Trust me it's natural get ready for moguls, rocks and a few creeks to jump over.

Here are a couple of Pic. samples from last season
on the Edge

Trail#87 Reaction
Riding up the Edge Fixed Quad Chair.
Note: this is not a high speed detachable.
the "up" cycle takes about 8 minutes (subject to correction)
Trail # 87 left, Trail #90 Sensation, lower, right. I'll try to find Pic's for Windigo in due time...
have to sort through a bunch of files to locate...





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That bit on the left looks a bit too steep and closely treed for me to try it on a snowboard, but the one on the right looks pretty fun. I might very well give it a shot.

Any tips on what runs will have moguls next week when we're there? it's a very bad idea on a snowboard!

richardvoyageur wrote:That bit on the left looks a bit too steep and closely treed
for me to try it on a snowboard, but the one on the right looks pretty fun.
I might very well give it a shot.

Any tips on what runs will have moguls next week when we're there?
it's a very bad idea on a snowboard!

It's a bit difficult to anticipate exactly which runs will be groomed
this far in advance, weather between now and then could affect that
as well as traffic and wear that could require attention, so what we'll say
is that all of the green runs will be groomed, just about for sure.

Before we move on to talk about the "Blues" lets discuss "When is a Green A Blue"

At Tremblant...
Speed is one reason a Green can be a Blue, a ton of fresh snow can make a green
a blue, and distance,or the length of the run can make it a blue. Nansen @ 6.2 Km
takes a lot of stamina to go "Top to Bottom", non-stop.

The point I'm getting at is that never having been on anything bigger than Blue Mountain
as I recall you may have said(?) at one point, the sheer size and scope of Tremblant's
terrain is going to place "Blue" demands on your energy, concentration, stamina and recovery.

Bottom line on that point is keep a flexible open mind about the greens at Tremblant,
they are some of the best Alpine carving surfaces in Eastern North America for all
skill levels. Period.

So then, moving on to the "Blues"... At this still early mark in the season, open barely
a month, there are some of the usually groomed blue runs that do not yet have enough
snow and/or have only been opened for a few days at this point and they have not gotten
to them with the packers. These may be difficult now, but if they're packed when you get
here, things could be different.

Part of your adventure is going to be the process of discovering the terrain and matching
it to your skill set. Another way to put it is that there will be sort of a "Trial and Error" process
until you are able to match skill and hill. For that we definitely suggest warming up on Nansen
or P'tit Bonheur and going from there. When Fresh, both Beauvallon to TGV and Beauchemin to
Lowell Thomas are 2 samples that should be no or low moguled with a bit more "Blue" in pitch.

We totally agree with Freeskier678 on Toboggan over on Soleil, if open.
That run is a roller coaster blast with a surface that is usually as smooth
as a billiard table!

Believe it or not, we actually know the odd board person that likes some moguls and uses
them as ramps for "Air to Air" turns.

You will see some Board talent here that can handle
anything and make it look easy.
(see below)


We will make a prediction here that by your 3rd day, you'll be tackling more challenging
runs that you do on day 1, if for no other reason than you have "climatized" to
Tremblant. It is this confidence from experience that we feel will allow you to gravitate toward
the right terrain for you.

Thought you might get a kick out of these Tremblant Board pic's

1) Taken last spring on Johannsen, just above the South Side
Resort Village Base. The bumps here are actually average
18 to 24 inches tall with about 8 foot spans between tops.
Telephoto lenses compress at distance, so you don't see the
surface "drama" the way it was, but as mentioned, he's makin'
it look easy!!! 2) Taken on Upper Beauvallon ... Speed and air make this
a real action shot... 3) Last weekend of the season last year, North Side, Rope Tow park.
Got Air? No Problem!