Mont Orford, QC, Report: Glades & Groomers for the Win

View going up the Chondola to the top of Mont Orford, the highest of the three peaks. Did you even know that Chondola’s were a thing?

Report from Sunday, February 18th

Today was a day I have been patiently waiting for for a long time. While I have visited and skied Mont Orford a handful of times, none have been great opportunities to fully gauge what this mountain can offer. Each time in the past I have visited Mont Orford has been during the Christmas holiday break, during which conditions the East Coast are still very early season when only a handful of trails are open.

Now that I was visiting in mid-February, I was pleased to see that 39/43 trails were open, and some additional flurries were coming in to soften things up!

Quick Facts & History

Date Opened: 1955
Multi-Destination Pass: L’Est Go
Number of Trails: 62
Skiable Acres: 245
Vertical Drop: 1933′
Base Elevation: 856′
Summit Elevation: 2789′
Number of Lifts: 7
Night Skiing: No
Other Activities:
- Ski Touring
- Hiking

Spread across three peaks, Mont Orford has something to offer for everyone. For beginners, the Mont Alfred-Desrochers offers great beginner and intermediate terrain and is the best place to explore, but a great aspect of Mont Orford is that the two other mountains also offer amazing beginner terrain that takes skiers from top to bottom. The longest trail on the mountain is 4km, and is a lovely green that wraps around the backside of the mountain, offering views to the south of Lake Memphremagog before winding all the way back down to the base.

For intermediate skiers, Mont Giroux is the place to ski, with the most terrain available. Nonetheless, all peaks have several trail options at this difficulty level.

For advanced/expert skiers, Mont Orford offers plenty of great technical glades that will challenge anyway off of both Mont Orford and Mont Giroux. The legend glades are the most expansive of this offering and comprise six double-black diamond glade trails that are located off of Chair 1. Unfortunately, due to warm weather the previous weekend, this terrain was significantly damaged and was closed during my visit, but eyeballing it from the chairlifts and picking lines of this area only made me jealous.

My personal favorite area of the mountain, where I found myself drifting back to throughout the day, was Mont Alfred-Desrochers. At first glance, it may seem like this mountain face does not have too much to offer, especially in comparison to the other two mountains, but their glades were nicely filled in, and the chairlift never had a lift line! Large expanses of gladded terrain were available on the resort area edges that were still fairly untracked even days after the most recent snowstorm.

Being a Sunday, I was pleasantly surprised at how subdued the crowds and lift lines were. If you stayed off the main mountain, lift lines were never a problem, but even for the main Chondola, lift lines never exceeded five minutes. A table in the main lodge was easy to snag even at peak lunch hour, and finding a parking spot for first tracks only put us a three-minute walk from the lifts!

Was it the cold temperatures that drove people away from the slopes today, or is it just always like this? Photo taken at around 10:30 am.

Mont Orford has partnered with the other three ski areas in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec (Mont Orford, Bromont, Owl’s Head, and Sutton) to go on a single pass – L’Est Go. The pass, which is only a couple of years old, is great as it allows you to lock in the lowest rate possible for lift tickets while having zero blackout dates at all of the resorts, allowing for ultimate flexibility and value. That means that while I spend four days skiing the Eastern Townships, I’m only paying a mere $74 CAD or, as an American with an exchange rate in their favor, only $54 USD. Definitely a price that is getting harder and harder to see nowadays…

A view of Owl’s Head (a member of the L’Est Go Pass) from the top of Mont Orford. On a clear day, you can see Owl’s Head, Mont Sutton, and even as far down as Jay Peak in Vermont.

Weather Outlook

Like most of the East Coast, Mont Orford is expected to receive some additional flurries through the end of today (Sunday). Continued cold temperatures will remain before a warm wave of air moves in, with a mix of snow and rain in the forecast (hopefully, that changes to only snow).

After finally getting the opportunity to ski Mont Orford in its prime, I was happy to leave, eager to return for another day. Having the resort spread out across three mountains really makes it feel like you have that many more choices, and the well-balanced mix between easy-riding groomers, advanced steady-pitched terrain, and challenging glades allowed me to change up the pace and feeling of skiing throughout the day!