Weren’t they suppose to close on May 12? One weekend pass the anticipated last day of the season and MSS is still spinning the lift. Only two trails remained in the East this weekend, but Superstar at Kiilington wasn’t possible due to my busy weekend in Montreal.
Another Sunday at MSS. I mentioned in the first outing in May that I had only skied MSS in May 4-times: 3-times from 1994-2012. I’ve equalled that today with my 3rd outing at MSS in May 2013! This is somewhat similar to the relationship I had with Gray Rocks back in May 1982 and 1985 with repeated weekly visits, however this year was more of a convenient detour with return trips to Montreal than back to the unique skiing days of the 1980s.
Another weekend where I had to be in Montreal, unfortunately things spilled over into Sunday morning. I had an extreme late departure from Montreal, it was already past noon. Saturday was the day for skiing in the sun, but I was over my head in Montreal. I was detouring via St-Sauveur to head back to Ottawa. The sky was gray and looked like it was going to rain: rain was in the forecast for the evening.
It was a Green, White and Gray day. Trees are now totally green, a pretty rare sight when you’re skiing. Although the sun wasn’t out, the temperature was +17c. This Sunday is long sleeve skiing weather versus t-shirts two weekends ago and vest last weekend. There were cars in the parking lot, however it would seem more people were here for the Viking and Dragon in the Amusement Area: zipline and tobboggan on rails as I’ve seen in the Alps.
Conditions were similar to last weekend and similar amount of people. I meet up with a few people I keep seeing at MSS: Parti en ski (Done skiing) from Zoneski that I recall seeing at each visit: I know he’s already above his 100 ski days this season. We were started talking, Gerald showed up. I had skied with him last May and skied with him again two weekends ago and today. We ended up spending more than 15 minutes talking at the top. But it was that type of day; I was unwinding from a busy weekend.
Started skiing at 1:30pm and almost made last chair at 3:55pm. It was 3:49pm on our last ride when the liftie mentioned it was the last ride. Gerald next to me told him if we ski fast enough we might make it…just then, the chair slowdown for maybe 30 seconds. As we got the bottom, the patrol was getting reading load on the closing chair and liftlie smile at us. Thirty seconds were the difference between making that last chair. It was a short and condense day, 17 runs and 2:30 hours. We had gotten a few odd rain drop, but it held off
I arrived at the car. The rain continued until I reached Ottawa. MSS is attracting slightly more than more than the Montreal-Laurentians market, there were some people who drove from St.Albans VT mostly for the skiing. As I was getting my stuff in the car, I noticed a couple going for after-hour turns.
The base was very firm, icy and covered with some loose granular. I had my old slalom skis that could carve ice which was a good thing. The ice was gray and it was like skiing an old glacier. Snowdepth was still important, we are talking about approximately 4-10 feet along most of the trail. The only thin part was the flat top off the lift. MSS was suppose to open on “choose the name you like (Victoria, Dollars or Patriotes) Day as it is a Holiday in Canada, but just not named the same, but they weren’t going to spin judging by today’s weather. Is there going to be skiing next weekend at MSS? I don’t know? I believe there is enough snow for an extra weekend or two!!! However like everything in the Spring, it can changed really fast and MSS generally doesn’t open if the weather doesn’t cooperate, regardless of snow. Let’s hope for another clear weekend.
After-hours: Hikers in the rain
Recent MSS May Days and my last 4 May Days:
M.S.S. QC : SUNday May 6, 2012 – May Skiing Saviour
Mont St-Sauveur QC : May 5, 2013 – Skiing in May, Encore!!!
Mont St-Sauveur QC : May 12, 2013 – May, Mothers’ Day and Montréal
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GeekZone:
This was the 42 days of the season and 201 days since that memorable start in West Virginia for Halloween.
Last May 12 was the first time I had ever skied on that day. May 19 was the third time. I have now skied Gray Rocks, Killington and now MSS on this day.
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Forties are wild:
All ski areas with 40-49 days: Position #4 to #8 in MadPat’s ski visits since keeping track in 1981-82. Lifetime numbers is greater for MSS*.
42 : Ski Days in 2012-13 to date
43 : Ski Days in 2011-12
44 : Mont Cascades QC
44 : Mad River Glen VT
46 : Killington VT
46 : Mt St-Sauveur QC*
47 : Chanteclerc QC
48 : MadPat’s age in June 😮
49 : Days since someone from my family last skied. 😦
The irony is that I’ve skied MSS and Kiilington the same amount of days and are the only two options left for liftserved skiing in East. Will the tie be broken soon?
Who will head up on top?
Who will closed last?
When is Eastern liftserved skiing end?
Where am I going to skiing next?
MadPat’s Gallery:
Mont St-Sauveur – 19 mai 2013
Nice! Looks Superstar-esque.
In a shorter, mellower version without moguls and much older.
Vertical of runs : 607′ (185m) versus 1199′ (365m).
Also 30 miles from Montreal versus 189 miles for Kiilington…or 105 miles from Ottawa versus 300 miles. Not much time…but it’s a short detour on the way to and from Montreal. I have to return to MTL next weekend.
Bonjour,
Quelle programme est-ce que vous utilisez pour le graphique et vos statistiques de votre journée de ski?
Merci
Il y a maintenant des systèmes plus sophistiqués que celle que j’utilise. J’ai une montre Suunto S6 que je me suis acheté à l’hiver 2006 pour un voyage, mais elle est arrivé trop tard.
Je ne sais plus si la montre est toujours production ou elle a été replacé par un nouveau modèle? Elle venait avec un logiciel et un câble interface-PC pour transferer les données sur son ordi. La montre a aussi un altimètres, chrono, alarme, inclinometre, bousole, etc.
It would seem I missed the last chair of the season at MSS by 30 seconds. Thirty seconds!!!! MSS has just announced that their season is over. It’s a shame with so much snow left; but skiers were rare sight with the gray clouds on Sunday. *sigh*