jedimaster1227 Posted March 16, 2012 Posted March 16, 2012 So this may be a departure from my normal trip reports, but after having such a great time on Spring Break, I felt compelled to share my experience with the Random Forum (in my first venture here)! While it is widely known that I am a theme park enthusiast as well as a scuba diver, foodie and all-around travel-aholic, a lesser known part of me is my love of skiing. I've been skiing since I was four years old, and while it has been over five years since my last trip, it is something I find personal paradise in. Visiting our favorite mountain about an hour outside of Montreal, Quebec, Mont Tremblant is a ski-in-ski-out destination with a fantastic village and several attached mountains that are a part of the total resort. It is a sister property to Whistler and it is very much Americanized in its operation, despite its Quebecois background. English and Quebecois French are both spoken fluently here, making for a visitor friendly vacation for those not fluent in French or the local dialect. Seriously, everything about the mountain is incredible. The runs are beautiful, challenging and well kept. The staff are all very friendly and welcoming. The ski village is large and well diversified with unique shops and restaurants. They offer tons of alternative experiences to skiing and snowboarding, including snow shooing, dog sledding, carriage rides, snow mobiles, snow tubing, cross country skiing and much more. They even have an awesome, brand new casino attached to the mountain (complete with a special gondola that takes you all the way there from the main ski village). I could spend a month here if I had the time or money, but even the few days we were here were filled with some incredible experiences. We started off our first day of skiing at our favorite restaurant on the mount. La Diable is a microbrewery and restaurant in the ski village that features some incredible food and some even more amazing beers. This right here is the number one reason we come to La Diable. The Extreme onction is my favorite beer in the world, and for better or for worse, it is only available here. It is not exported or bottled, as the permits for the brewery only allow the beer to be sold within the restaurant's walls. Sheer perfection in a glass. I am in heaven! Our meal started off with some amazing french onion soup... Which you can tell we hated! I got the delicious La Diable burger with an awesome mushroom mayo, served with a side of Montreal-style fries! I seriously want these! Beautiful! As I mentioned, the restaurant brews its own beers here. I love little details like this! The interior of the restaurant is filled with little details here and there, which is a nice plus! The restaurant has several brews, but the Extreme is their signature item. Sadly, you can't buy these. Hop art! So... Poutine is a thing in Canada. Basically it is french fries with gravy and cheese curds. Not my thing, but it is big enough here to warrant a restaurant dedicated to different types of poutine. It was a little cold during our trip, but skiing conditions were perfect! The resort's mascot is a skiing moose. The Cabriolet from the bottom of the village takes you to the bottom of the skiing mount, passing over several of the hotels, restaurants and timeshares on the mountain along the way. Up at the top of the mountain itself, the view is stunning. Say hello to Ninja Adam! The main face of the mountain in the morning looks incredible after just being groomed. Fresh powder to be carved! The ski village is designed to really wrap around the ski runs. At the top of the mountain is Le Grand Manitou, a restaurant for skiings to relax at during their downtime from the slopes. The view from the balcony of Le Grand Manitou is no less impressive! This is definitely not Martin Short's (O) Canada! A zoomed in view of the village from Le Grand Manitou. Despite the sun being out all day, the frost didn't disappear. I thought this was kind of neat to see... This lets you know which lifts are open and the wait times for each. We're pretty high up! The Edge was a run we discovered on this trip, which is accessible only by taking a special side lift on another side of the mountain. By the time we had gotten here, no one else had carved the course yet. Thinking of canvasing this picture... What do you think? For lunch we at at La Pizzateria, another favorite of ours. I opted to start with a plate of toasted goat cheese. Incredible as always! Some of the best garlic bread ever! This pizza has no shortage of bacon! I had the Calzonne de Crevettes... An amazing calzone with shrimp, sun dried tomatoes, green peppers and lots of cheese! Some beautiful weather up at the top! Yep! They sell Coke products up here too! And yes, this is a play on my avatar on TPR. Tire su la neige is another unique favorite of mine that I've loved since our first visit to Tremblant, and it is extremely popular for the guests of the mountain. I remember when it used to be one Canadian dollar to buy this... First, they boil maple syrup... Then they pour it onto a pit filled with fresh (and clean) snow. You put a popsicle stick at one end and let the syrup settle for about 45 seconds... Then you roll... And you get an awesome maple syrup popsicle! "I love Tire." "Adam, are you just naming things that you love?" "I love Tire. I love Tire." Tremblant has hosted some winter sports champions... A monument to those athletes' greatness. The mountain has tons for courses for all types of skiers. I primarily stick to the greens and blues, but my brother ventures onto the black and double black diamonds, as well as the trick parks. I like maple syrup, but I'll pass. Time for more Tire! And more importantly, time for more Extreme Onction! They sell Coca-Cola here too! And they brew even more beer down here! I love Mont Tremblant! Marvel in its greatness! The first and last time I'll ever wear a buret. The Sweet Factory is a candy store franchise that used to be prominent in a lot of Floridian malls but disappeared many years ago. It is extremely popular in Montreal still and has some candies we can't often get here in Florida... Like these amazing licorice straws! A sweet ending for an incredible Spring Break vacation!
beatle11 Posted March 16, 2012 Posted March 16, 2012 Awesome! I've had the frozen maple syrup before at the winter carnival in Quebec City and it's great!
Ginny Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Great report Adam. I want some of that Extreme onction. Was that Elissa's dad making the maple snow?
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