la deuxième partie

The Chateu Beauvallon is an absolutely beautiful hotel/lodge. Lots of fireplaces and wood beams. It was very cozy and the perfect snowy retreat. It is also super convenient to the ski village without being right in the center of things. They have their own person who comes to the hotel and fitted us all with skis and boots and poles right there in the lobby so we didn't have to deal with the crowds when we got to the slopes.

Once we were all outfitted we piled on the layers, the goggles, the face masks, the long underwear and we headed out. Trust me... the face masks were necessary.

The hotel had a free valet to and from the slopes. They dropped off the kids (the parents had decided to skip skiing that day and do a little shopping instead) and we purchased half-day passes and were on our way. At the very bottom there was a big fire pit blazing. From there you take a cable car up to where the actual lifts start and the slopes end. Once there we strapped on our skis, adjusted our gloves, wiggled our fingers already starting to feel the tingling cold, as we hurried into the lift line.


Sitting on the lift I admit I was feeling a little nervous as we slowly climbed to the top. It had been a few years since I was last on skis and I wasn't sure how I'd do. The initial turn over the edge of the slope is always a rush. But we started off slow and it just comes right back to you. However I definitely noticed that I was more cautious and not as much a fan of that free-flying-sort-of-out-of-control feeling that you get when you cruise down the slope at top speed. I am pretty envious of the little kids that are just absolutely fearless and oblivious to the height or the edge or the ice. So I took wider turns and used the classic "pizza move" when it got icy. I declined to try the black diamonds and happily stuck mainly to the blue and green slopes.

After a few runs and a few hours we were worn out and hungry. So we slid into the town, loosened those boots that make you walk with a swagger and met up with TJ's parents for a snack. The perfect post-skiing snack in my opinion is poutine. French fries, gravy and cheese. What's not to love?

Since it only continues to get colder and icier as the afternoon wears on, they close the lifts at 4. Which was fine with us because we were full of poutine and our half day of skiing was just the perfect warm up for the following day. That night we hit up the outdoor hot tub, relaxed in the hotel, and TJ and I watched Netflix (I've gotten him hooked on 24 and somehow he's got me watching Archer). 

Saturday we woke up early again eager to get back out into the cold. It was a balmy 10 degrees and they were calling for snow a little later in the day. Basically conditions were perfect for skiing! This time all of us loaded up our skis and headed out. We had picked up our passes the evening before so we didn't have to wait in any lines. Since we had familiarized ourselves with the mountain the day before we knew that the versant nord (north slopes) would be the best place to start since it had more runs and happened to be the side that caught the sun more and the wind less.

I'm pretty sure that snow maker sees very little action.
The trees up at the top of the slopes looked like they were doing quite the heavy lifting under all that snow and in the distance from up top you could see the completely frozen Lac Tremblant. It was a bit of a struggle to pause on slope, remove two layers of gloves, un-zip my phone from it's inside pocket and snap these pictures, but the view was too breathtaking not to.

After another successful day of skiing we were sore and frozen and ready for some hot chocolate and a nap. The town gets really quiet once the lifts stop running but on our way back down we felt we had earned a beer and some maple syrup taffy!

I ordered quatre sticks and watched as the gentleman poured the hot syrup right into the snow. He instructed us to place our popsicle stick on one end and let it sit there for about 30 seconds. Then we rolled it up to enjoy. It's so sweet and sticky and it got all over me and my facemask but it was a nice jolt of sugar and just so yummy.  
That night we dined in the hotel bar and fell asleep early. We had to get up and moving and get back to Montreal in time for the Superbowl the following day.
The third and final (promise) recap tomorrow!