Village Squire, 1976-01, Page 20Snow, Sunshine and long runs are ski area trademarks at such Quebec Eastern Township
mountains as Mont Sutton or at Mont Sainte -Anne near Quebec City. [Canadian Government
Office of Tourism Photo.]
Travel
Quebec in winter - great visit
for winter sport buffs
BY LARRY GRAINGER AND TONY SLOAN
No matter how you figure it, numbers win
the argument. Each year in Quebec a
half -million alpine skiers and half that many
cross-country cousins take to the slopes and
hills. That should settle any dispute of where
the great skiing is. After all, 750,000 people
can't be wrong. Right?
For most Quebeckers and visitors alike in
eastern Canada, the ski week or weekend
begins in Montreal or Quebec City, the two
main hubs of travel. Both cities are well
serviced by air, bus or train and once there
skiers can travel to the hills by bus or car.
East of Montreal and linked to it by a
two-lane super highway is the Ski East
region, consisting of six mountains with an
everage vertical of 1500 feet. Bromont,
Mont -Orford, Owl's Head, Mont -Echo,
Mont -Sutton and Jay Peak in northern
Vermont have been operating in association
for 13 years and advantages of co-operation
are best demonstrated by Ski Ventures 76, a
package that includes:
•six nights hotel -motel accommodation with
complete bathroom facilities, starting with
dinner on arrival Sunday;
•six skier breakfasts and six dinners during
your stay;
•five days skiing with access to all ski lifts at
all six Ski East mountains. (Recommended for
those why enjoy travelling between•hills as
well as down them);
•full use of a compact completely skier-ized
Avis rental' car for one week with 1,000 free
miles (gas and insurance extra) available
upon arrival at Montreal. International
Airport.
The cost is just over $200 per person.
Options available at additional cost include
VIP accommodation with deluxe rooms, some
with log -burning fireplaces, and a Saturday -
Sunday "ski -over".
The height of luxury for most skiers would
be to step into your bindings just outside the
chalet door and swing down.a gentle warm-up
slope to the lift terminal. Several hotels in the
Ski East region provide onsite accommoda-
tion.
La PaMpolaise Lodge is located right on the
hill at Mont -Sutton. Owl's Head Lodge
features tiered rooms which enable the
children to bunk in a loft with their own view
of the mountain. Hotel Joy is so close to the
mountain that you can leap over your private
balcony and be or your way. Stairs are
provided, of course, for those who don't mind
wasting time.
Not every hotel is so convenient to the
slopes, but most are only minutes away.
Horizon Hotel, within walking distance of
Mont -Sutton, has an indoor pool perfect for
soothing aching muscles and its lounge
(famous or infamous, depending upon which
side of the noise you're on) is ideal for slaking
that apres-ski thirst.
Then there are accommodations several
miles from the hill which have special
qualities. After all, a ski vacation is much
more than simply going up and down a hill.
Hovey Manor is such a place. Its excellent
cuisine has for decades pleased the palates of
gourmets who could not distinguish a ski pole
from a pitch fork, The Canadiana furnishings
are the envy of collectors.
Auberge Lac Brome is justifiably proud of
its Danish smorgasbord and hot, spicy
gluhwein. Guests get the first mug "on the
house."
Skiers setting out from Quebec City, the
provincial capital, have a choice of three
mountains. Mont -Sainte -Anne is a huge
complex owned and managed by the
government. But private enterprise is alive
and well as demonstrated by the two other
areas, Stoneham and Lac-Beauport. All three
are less than an hour's drive from the city.
Mont -Sainte -Anne is undoubtedly the best
known, having hosted several World Cup ski
races as well as a 50 -metre world jumping
championship and the 1975 North American
cross-country ski championships.
As one would expect from a moyntain with
a 2,05b vertical, several runs are for experts
only, but that still leaves two-thirds of the 25
trails designed with novices and intermedi-
ates in mind.
VILLAGE SQUIRE/JANUARY 1976, 19