Mont Tremblant, Canada

Mont Tremblant, Canada    December 20-27, 2017

 The northeast has been a family skiing destination for the Hixsons for Christmas since 1982. This year we returned to Mont Tremblant, Canada. 

Our quaint four bedroom chalet that we are spending our second year in a row  Mont Tremblant family Christmas holiday.

View of the lake and slopes from our chalet

             With 67 inches of snow so far this season and our driveway, being covered with fresh snow, it was quite a slippery slope to get up, but.....

We packed the car up with ski boots, skis, poles, hats, gloves, neck warmers, goggles, and hankies  and headed for a day of shooshing down the mountain on theThursday morning before Christmas .

 The road to the slopes was a ribbon of snow covered trees....a magical snow globe of beauty.

The view across the frozen lake that our chalet sits on.

                  The lodge on the north side of the mountain....our favorite side to start our day on.

                          Northside slopes....Diamonds on the left and blue and greens on the right.

Since it was such a beautiful sunny day, we had to catch a few pics  of Larry with his two girls before heading out on the mountain. Kristy and Kathy have been on skis since they were around three years of age. They learned to ski here at Mont Tremblant.

             Larry and Kristy....with the sun out, it was a cool 5 degrees at the top of the mountain.

Larry and Kathy

A cold, happy family....Larry, Kay, Kathy. Chad, and Kristy

         With the sun high in the sky, the scenery was a sugar coated canvas...absolutely gorgeous.

Mont Tremblant has 96 trails covering 49 miles with 14 lifts. 91 trails were open for us to enjoy on this holiday.

Kathy and Chad on the top of the mountain

Mont Tremblant has an elevation of 2871 feet with a vertical drop of 2116 feet.

What a snow covered sight! It snowed three of the six skiing days this year.

 We are looking for a moose....not a reindeer. One was spotted on the Soleil Slope a few years back.

All these skis.....Where are the skiers....inside the hot chocolate hut.

"I own this mountain!"

Southside Mountain Ski Village....Mont Tremblant 

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  South Side Gondola

       It is great to warm up inside the gondola on the way  to the top of the mountain.                

                  It's not any warmer on the Southside.

 Brrrrrrrr!

                                                                Mountain Ski Village

                                       The ski village is a gorgeous European sight.....but back

in the 80's when we first came here to ski, there was only a lodge with beer mug lights hanging from the ceiling and a series of interlocking trailers with benches to sit on while putting your ski boots on. It was very rustic. Someone certainly had a vision in creating this five star four season resort.

                  An old memory....Hotel Mont Tremblant....our  first ski home for many years.

While visiting the local ski shop by the hotel, we were lucky to meet Erik Guay, a Canadian World Cup Alpine Ski Racer. Guay won the World Cup season title in super-G in 2010 and was the world champion in downhill in 2011, as well as in the super-G in 2017. While getting his little six year old daughter's boots fitted, he climbed a ladder and signed his picture for the shop....what a nice guy.

                                                    Snow biking and.....

                                               snowmobiling were popular activities too.

                                           Mont Tremblant South Side Slopes and Village

We always feel lucky to be able to catch a day of skiing with the sun shining....this year we had two days.....Thursday, our first day and Sunday, Christmas Eve.

                                              The village is quite beautiful at night too.

                           Enjoying a stroll through the village at night to see the Christmas lights.

"Who needs lunch when the slopes of powder are calling?"

Riding the lift to the top....Larry, Kathy, Kristy, Kay

What beautiful sights!

Two mountain men....Chad and Larry

                                Kathy caught an action shot of Kay flying down the mountain.

After a long ski day...

                                  it's nice to go home to a warm, blazing fire, hot chocolate,

                dinner, movie and card games. Us Hixsons know how to enjoy a cold winter night.

Packed to leave on Boxing Day, we planned this vacation just right...The rest of the week was calling for negative temps and that according to Kay is just REALLY TOO COLD for skiing.

Happy Hixson Family at the end of a 35 year and running Christmas ski holiday.