In Quebec's Charlevoix Region, Le Massif offers winter recreation with flair and elan on the banks of the St. Lawrence River.
The feeling is distinct. You're skiing directly into the ocean. It looms large, partially frozen at the bottom of Le Massif ski resort.
No, wait. That's not the ocean down there. It's the St. Lawrence River.
Okay, okay. So, you're skiing directly into the St. Lawrence River. Some river. At this particular spot, it's 12 miles wide.
That's an ocean-going freight ship moseying along just beyond your tip as your snowboard is rocketing down La Petite-Riviere, a wide, groomed slash that cuts straight down the hillside.
It's a sight and a feeling you don't find anywhere else.
Le Massif once drew its fame came from this: it had but five trails and uphill transport was supplied by school busses. A four-run day was typical. Now, it holds 43-plus runs on three peaks accessed by three high-speed lifts. The resort boasts the largest vertical in eastern Canada.
Le Massif is headed by Daniel Gauthier the man who founded the theatrical circus company Cirque du Soleil and built it from a few folks doing street performances in Baie Saint-Paul, Quebec, to a world-class operation. He appears to be approaching this ski area with the same verve, energy and imagination.
"You've heard about the plans they have here?" my friend Chris and I were asked by any number of people during our two-day visit last week. Not just by my charming friend Isabelle Vallee, director of communications for the resort, and by Louise Prudhomme, who served superbly as our guide for a day, but also by a woman whose small son we helped to recover fro ma dramatic, but harmless, fall on the slopes.
Well, yes, we certainly have heard about the dramatic changes that are coming:
- two new hotels, one in nearby Baie Saint-Paul, one at the slopes' base
- reviving the train line that runs along the river so visitors can arrive directly to the ski hill by rail from either Baie Saint-Paul or Quebec City
- more ski runs
- well-hidden, on-slope guest chalets
- and, get this, a 10-kilometer, family toboggan run.
All this in a place where they already do things like stage a "painters on the slopes day," have a man on stilts skiing with kids in ski school, and have jugglers performing the summit lodge at lunchtime.
And, speaking of lunchtime. We dare you to find a ski resort that serves better food. No burgers. No fries. Only real, homemade fare with an eye to the healthful, natural and tasty. Really tasty. Escargots, anyone? No kidding.
Why Painters?
Original art is everywhere—throughout the base and summit lodges, in most hotel and inns' lobbies and, most importantly, in the myriad galleries that line the main street of Baie Saint Paul.
So wonderful is the natural light reputed to be in this area where a the St. Lawrence bends grandly, that an artists' colony sprang up here years ago. Now the prolific painters' work can be seen everywhere, most of it done in a broad-stroke style with bright, happy colors.
It exudes the same upbeat spirit that spawned Cirque du Soleil.
That spirit spills onto the slopes.
You can find st Le Massif, as at most major ski areas, terrain for all abilities. But, here the tracks are unadorned. Beyond the base and summit lodges, no condos mar the natural surroundings. (And, when the hotel and chalets do appear, they will be widely spaced and well-hidden.) Only the pint-sized village of Petite Riviere Saint Francois can be seen far below along the river banks.
Here, you can ski "sous bois"—under the trees—to your heart's content, and some of those sous bois are trees challenging. Here, too, you can ski natural bump trails that demand primed technique. And, here, you can plunge straight down the steeps.
Yes, yes, you can glide along blue-rated cruisers, some of them incredibly long as they race to the river. You can learn to ski on a gentle, isolated slope. You can dawdle, awestruck, as you watch the ice flow bobble in the water and the freighters float slowly past.
New France, Oui
Set about an hour's drive east of Quebec City in the heart of a region called Charlevoix, Le Massif stands deep enough into Quebec to retain a distinct French flavor. Sure, most of the folks you deal with in the tourist trade—at the hotels, the resort, the better restaurants—can handle English. But, French is the local language. It all adds to the ambience.
And, speaking of things French, there is some amazingly fine local and French fare to be had here. We dined in Baie Saint-Paul one night at Restaurant Le Marion, hidden inside the charismatic Auberge La Grand Maison B&B where we lodged, on Charlevoix dishes that were nothing short of superb. The next night, it was French cuisine at a new restaurant called 51—a pair of cassoulet and pork dishes—that could easily have been served in one of Paris' finer restaurants.
No, that's not an exaggeration.
Nor is it an exaggeration to say that the trip to Le Massif combines superb skiing (here you find eastern Canada's largest vertical drop), with a touch of French exotica and an unadorned ambience that adds up to a unique experience.
You only wonder what it was like to ride those school busses back in the day, when the trails were rough, the skiers hearty, beer was served during the half-hour uphill ride and sing-alongs smoothed the bumps in the road.
Those days are long gone, of course,. But something of that simplicity remains. C'est bon!
