Mont Sutton, QC, Conditions Report: Triple Black Glades & Powder

Light and fluffy, with plenty to go around! | Credit: Liam Abbott

Report from Monday, February 20th

If you haven’t heard of Sutton ski area in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, let me paint you a picture: this place is the glade capital of Quebec and serves up some of the best glade terrain in Eastern Canada. In fact, if you aren’t going to Sutton to ski glades, then I’m not really sure why you are there. This makes for two common case scenarios when visiting:

Everything is skied out and icy (as East Coast resorts often are), and rocks, roots, and fallen trees will become close friends with the bottom of your skis.
It is an epic powder day, and this is the best ski resort in Quebec under those circumstances.

Today was the first day that I was at Sutton, where scenario two was present. After a mere 5cm (2 inches) of snow was in the forecast overnight, I woke up and looked outside to see what looked to be more like 19cm (7.5 inches) of fresh powder on the ground. It was game on!

Although it is President’s Day long weekend in the United States, and for most provinces in Canada, it is Family Day long week and/or winter break for schools and universities, Quebec had no long weekend nor winter break this Monday. This meant empty slopes and quiet lifts would allow for ample time to take advantage of the storm. So I did just that.

At Sutton, practically everything that isn’t a run is glades. Wherever I glanced and saw a lack of tracks, I went, and I was taken throughout the mountain. After working my way towards Chair VII, I laid my eyes on the steepest sections of the mountain and the infamous triple black diamonds that flanked the lift. I’ve heard about triple black diamond trails before at select resorts, and my initial thought is always that runs under that classification seem more of a gimmick than actually justifying such a rating. With that mindset, I told myself well, it can’t be that bad, and I have to do it to say I skied it.

After entering some of the tightest glades I have ever encountered, I was confronted with two paths. I could either continue to face a 7 foot cliff with plenty of trees at the bottom, or I could ski the only other option down – a narrow chute dotted with trees and laced with ice moguls from weeks before, where hop turns would be required to successfully stay on two feet the whole way down. I managed to do it and had the rest of the glades ahead of me, at that point, a breeze in comparison.

As I watched through the video of entering the triple black, the final thing I said beforehand was, “Well, how bad can this really be?” | Credit: Liam Abbott

The triple black diamond may have been an adrenaline rush, but I can’t say it was my favorite trail on the mountain. That title would have to go to trail number 62, Extase. After not discovering it as an open option until after lunch, Extase, along with two other double black diamond glades, are the sole trails that drop down the back side of the mountain and take you on an adventure of their own. They are the longest section of glades at the resort, and after you manage your way through them, you are then met with a 1.5km (1 mile) flat track back to the resort, which ends up on the completely opposite side on which you started. The trails, which had just been opened (or maybe reopened) that day, felt like you were completely alone out in the backcountry of Quebec, something I have never felt at any other resort. It was pure bliss!

Before you enter the back side glades, stark warnings are given to skiers. (Side Note – yes, the trail is closed, but I took this photo at the very end of the day after ski patrol swept it for people – I wanted to go back and ski it again).| Credit: Liam Abbott

Even after facing the steepest sections of glades on the backside, wave after wave of additional glades were required to navigate before eventually reaching the flat track back to the rest of the resort.| Credit: Liam Abbott

Weather Outlook

With my current plan being to return to Sutton next week, I have my fingers crossed that Friday’s rain-snow mix turns into just snow. We will have to keep our fingers crossed and see, but a high of 9ºC on Thursday is going to be a big hit for the recent addition of snow, and rapidly dropping temperatures in less than 48 hours after that will make for some icy skiing…

Even thought Sutton has a seemingly mere 230 skiable acres, I didn’t even close to touching half of the terrain on the mountain today. Many people have told me that Sutton only truly shines on a powder day, and now after skiing it on both a powder day and in early season conditions, I can confidently reaffirm that statement.

I can also add that of the two dozen or so days I have spent skiing in Quebec over the past five years, this was my favorite and is one for the books!