Today would be our last day in Mont-Tremblant.  We thought about going skiing again, but thought we’d be a bit too rushed, since we had to pack and still get cleaned up in time to meet our shuttle back to the airport in the early afternoon.

Instead, we just had a lazy day enjoying the resort before returning to the airport.

Around 2:30, the airport shuttle met us in the lobby and we were homeward bound.  It was a very easy flight back, with only 11 passengers on board.

Below is the departures lounge of Mont-Tremblant’s La Macaza International airport (YTM).

Here is our plane, arriving right on time.

Reaching Toronto, we arrived in the baggage hall to find our luggage waiting for us.  This was a real treat, as anyone who frequents Toronto Pearson airport knows, baggage delivery often takes forever.  We picked up our bags, claimed our skis at the oversize bag room, walked to the valet parking desk to claim our car, and we were on our way home.

It was a great trip, and fortunately we have booked a return trip for later this winter.  Nadine wants to build on the progress she has made at learning to ski, so we’ll make a few trips to Blue Mountain over the coming weeks to practise, and return to Mont-Tremblant for another week at the beginning of March.

Nadine was feeling better today, so both of us set out early for a day of skiing.  We started by doing one run together, before Nadine went off for the rest of the morning to take another ski lesson.

Like yesterday, I returned to the Soleil side of the mountain, and repeated some of my favourite runs, while Nadine headed to the North side with her group.  We met up around mid-day at the base of the South side after Nadine’s lesson.

We skied one run together, and it was obvious that the lessons are working and she is becoming a better skier!

Since it was now getting close to 1 PM, we stopped into a restaurant in the village for a bite to eat, before heading up the gondola again for a couple more runs down the mountain on the North side.

Today’s weather was warmer than the previous day, but it felt much colder.  In particular, the humidity seemed higher, making it seem colder than it was.  Most annoying was how moisture hitting my facemask was not just evaporating like it did in the dry air the day before.  Oh well, the snow conditions were good, and it was still a good day on the slopes.

Returning to the hotel in the late afternoon, we again went to soak in the hot pools before having dinner in the lounge later that evening.

I didn’t take many photos today, so I don’t have many to post.  However, here is Nadine reading the paper and relaxing by the fireplace in the main lobby.  The stack of firewood is a nice rustic touch, but I suspect it’s just decorative, since this fireplace appeared to be running on gas.

The sunny skies from the day before are continuing today, which means today will be a good day of skiing.  The clear days are often colder than overcast days, but I find them to be drier and actually feel warmer than the cloudy days with a higher temperature.

Unfortunately, Nadine’s legs are still feeling a little sore, so I’ll be skiing on my own today, which will give me some time to explore some new ski territory.

Mont-Tremblant has four skiable sides…  the South (which is where the main village is located), the North, the Edge and Soleil.  Because the Soleil side doesn’t have any beginner runs, I had not skied it before when I was out with Nadine.  When we were up last year, Soleil was closed due to poor conditions.  Today, however, it’s open, and it is where I spent nearly the entire day.  The conditions were great and there seemed to be very few people anywhere!

My new favourite ski run at Mont-Tremblant is called Toboggan.  It’s a nice intermediate run, filled with little hills, twists and turns through the trees.  And unlike many of the runs on the South side, which tend to level out half way down before picking up again (there are lifts that allow skiers to ski just the top or bottom half of the mountain), runs on the Soleil side just keep going the entire way down, keeping up both interest and challenge all the way.

Here is a photo from the start of the Toboggan run.

After skiing about a dozen runs on the Soleil side, it was time for lunch.  Instead of heading down into the village, or going into the busy cafeteria at the top of the mountain, I skied over to the Trappers Refuge, which is a small cabin about one third of the way down the Soleil side of the mountain.  It is a rustic cabin, heated by woodstove, with a few tables inside.  There were only about six other skiers there, and I was able to pop in and get a sandwich and a hot chocolate.

Here are the “washrooms”, which fortunately, I didn’t need to use.

Here is the view from the porch on the front of the cabin.  This is definitely a better place to stop for a mid-day break.

After lunch, I continued to ski on the Soleil side for the rest of the afternoon.  When it was time to head back to the hotel, I took the Soleil lift back to the summit and skied down the South side.  I found a nice run called McCulloch, which while rated as a black run, I would call it an “easy black”, or and “advanced blue”.  It was a nice run to finish the day.

Back at the hotel, after our evening appetizers, we went downstairs to the Nansen Lounge for dinner.

After dinner, we returned to the room to get some rest for another day of skiing tomorrow.