Conditions Report
Report from Saturday, December 7, 2024
It never fails; the days leading up to the first day out on the mountain each season are a frenzy of emotions, mostly excitement and gratitude. Why we ride down snowy mountains on freshly waxed wood, seeking natural features to launch ourselves from, sometimes eludes explanation. The most accurate thing I’ve heard is that it must be what it feels like to be able to fly, a perfect balance of abandon and control.
Life is different for the lucky few in alpine sports that live the dream year-round. For most of us, there’s this period between May and December when life is entirely different. We ride mountain bikes, surf waves, concrete, or run rocky trails, dreaming of snowy peaks. I think about how, at over fifty years of age, I am still snowboarding every chance I get, still chasing powder, progressing. But then muscle memory sets in as you cruise off that first chairlift, and its “Oh yea, this is the ‘why.'”
I don’t want to risk injuring myself by going full throttle on the first day, and–Ullr forbid–that’s it; that’s all for the season. The hero stuff can come later. With this in mind, I was delighted to learn that Mont Rigaud–located 45 miles west of downtown Montreal, about an hour of driving towards the Quebec/Ontario border–had joined Indy Pass. Most of my family and friends live in Ontario. Over the years, I’ve driven past the pull-off for Rigaud a hundred times or more. I had to check it out.
Driving into the village, you immediately notice the Canadian Border Services College campus. It’s an imposing presence for those who believe Canucks don’t take such things seriously. Apparently, we do. Besides that, Rigaud is like many places scattered along the 401 and TransCanada highways: bucolic, far enough from the buzz and lights of a city, and never too far of a commute. The resort is a quick two-minute drive up the main road out of town.
I saw one chair spinning from the parking lot, machine-groomed conditions, and a mixture of natural and man-made snow. It is what you expect early in the season. Still, parts of Quebec, eastern Ontario, upstate New York, and northern New England have received good snowfall over the past few weeks (though nothing like what fell on Gravenhurst, Ontario, where my parents live. You may have heard about one on the news). Bluebird skies above, and maybe 60 other cars in the lot, if even; life is good.
I geared up in my warm car, grabbed my card from customer service, and a hot chocolate from the cafeteria–fuel for the next few hours. The women in customer service told me that I was their first patron on Indy Pass. I told them how stoked I was to be there and–jokingly–that I had chosen them over another resort closer to me. Rigaud is popular with local families but is otherwise under the radar. Mont St. Bruno, another local resort closer to Montreal, is better known but has similar terrain and clientele. Opened in the early 1960s, with a number of upgrades to facilities in the early 2000s, Rigaud is mellower. I appreciated the vibe here.
For opening day, they had their quadruple Doppelmayr chair spinning. The snow-making crew was blowing snow on the rest of the mountain throughout the afternoon, taking advantage of brisk temperatures. I gave them an appreciative nod in the lodge, the hardest working people in the snow business. I lapped the side hits on the main run, ‘Pepsi,’ listening to tunes, working out my legs for a trip to Jay Peak the following day, taking photos of a group of local skiers and riders who were ripping, and was back at my cozy house about 4:00 p.m.
Mont Rigaud made a great first impression on me. With a summit elevation of 574 feet and 13 trails (40 percent advanced), Rigaud is modest in size. Still, they run a serious operation here, with modern equipment, professional, knowledgeable staff, and a fun mountain to play on. They also run lifts with 12 miles (20 kilometers) of mountain bike trails in the summer. They are closed for the week, but it is snowing there as I write this, and sunny skies are forecasted when they reopen this weekend.
I’m planning a second visit here in a couple of weeks, one of two planned pit stops on my drive to Muskoka to see family for Christmas. This is one of the cool aspects of Indy Pass I’ve found. Depending on where you are, you can hit a number of places in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, upstate New York, and now Quebec-Ontario over a few days. During my travels, I also plan at least one visit to Calabogie Peaks in the Ottawa Valley on Indy Pass. I taught my daughters how to snowboard there over a decade ago. It’s time to go back.
There are now over 230 “uncrowded, authentic ski destinations across the United States, Canada, Europe, and Japan” on Indy Pass, and the list is growing. See you on the slopes!
