In the bright snow I skied from the town of Staedare in Laurenten Mountains, Quebec, headed eight miles to Prevost. Just a few minutes ago, I had a decadent three-course meal the night before and came out of AU Clawland, a historic inn that has been resting since cross-country skiing days.
Skiing from town to town, through forests and pastures, then running all night long in relatively luxurious near trails was something I'd never experienced in North America.
Au Clos Rolland is just a few blocks from P'Tit Train Du Nord. My guide and I skated through it for a few minutes and headed into the woods of the small, unroomed Wizard Trail. That's where real fun began.
For the past two days I have been following East Root of Rate Blanche. This is a new series of ski tours created by many a century ago, in a vast network of Southern Laurentian Nordic Backcountry Trails. There are three options. The 28-mile route I skied connected three small towns over three days, with two nights (approximately $700 per person, twice as much occupancy) near trails, meals and luggage transport. Skiers can use the guides just like me or try them out for themselves (approximately $42 on maps and parking, with accommodation and food added). The Montrembrandt-based North Route includes two-day guided skiing on expert-level trails. On the more steep, 32-mile western route, skiers are now responsible for booking yurts and backcountry cabins. A guided trip for the next winter is offered.
I also have my own history in this area. I learned to downhill skis at a former resort called Greylocks when I was five years old. My German immigrant parents loved the area so much that they bought a lakeside cottage that my mother was selling when I was 13 years old. I live in Colorado now, and the Laurentians are still tugging at my heart.
Pioneer Trail Builder
The Laurentians have been skiing destinations since the early 20th century.
In the late 1920s, Herman Smith Johansen, known as Jack Rabbit, a Norwegian immigrant and avid skier, moved to the town of Shawbridge and became a prolific designer of the backcountry trails. He promoted the idea of ​​a trail that would become almost parallel to existing train lines and allow skiing between towns, and recruited volunteers to clear it. The approximately 80 miles of Maple Leaf Trail opened in 1933.
Like other trails of that era, sections of that trail still exist. However, their consciousness plummeted, especially after the Laurent Auto Route ended in 1959 and people began driving to the slopes rather than on the train.
Now Les Root Blanche is changing that.
Through the forest, in the shower
The first day of my tour began with the P'Tit Train Du Nord Trail. This quickly headed towards an unroomed trail written on tracks by several skiers.
My guide, Hotopf, and I follow this path all day. We started with a Nordic tour setup for rent at Val-David. Unlike the cross-country skis I use at home, these were slightly wider and had metal rims for better control and maneuverability.
We passed the bushes of Alder before gliding along the terrain rolling east white pine and red cedar. The detour leaned over the small circle. There we were staring at Mont Alta. Mont Alta is open to skiers willing to ascend to the power of their own quad to ski.
The trail ran near the outskirts of Val-David, but the town looked far away. “You feel like you're in the wilderness, but you're not at all,” Hotopf said.
Yin and Yang, who are in the backcountry but close to the comfort of creatures, embodies the charm of Les Root's Blanche. Sometimes we were deep in the woods and we seemed all ourselves. Otherwise, we skied in our homes and in our backyards. The smell of wood tickles your nose. I occasionally crossed the road. However, we only saw a handful of other skiers.
After the trip, I spoke with Jean François Girard, a guide based near Montreal.
In 2009 he discovered a meandering road during a day trip. “I was intrigued by these trails,” he told me. “And I got lost a few times by them.”
He began studying them and was soon inspired to revive the town's ski traditions. Girard has found a partner for Sopair. Sopair is a nonprofit dedicated to trail conservation and development in the area and currently oversees Les Route.
When I skied, Les was routing Blanche, which had just begun this winter, so Hotopf stopped occasionally to stick direction signs on the trees. One well-marked intersection led to the Gillespie Trail, built in the 1930s by another trail builder, Gault Kerr Gillespie. In the early 1920s, Gillespie and his brothers skied to school, and their routes were along part of this trail.
Late in the afternoon we skied across the frozen lake and passed the spot where residents had cleared a small skating rink at the dock. Avoiding a steep slope at the far end of the lake brought us to the Mustafa Trail and another detour to the peak. As the light faded, a monochromatic landscape spread beneath us.
Less than 30 minutes later, I clicked on skiing at the Far Hills Resort Hotel, on the outskirts of Val-Morin, where a hot shower was waiting, more than nine miles from the starting point of the day.
Ski time travel
I woke up to 4 inches of new snow and frustrated everything in the woods when I left to tackle the 12.4-mile route of the day. The prolonged copper and faded gold beech leaves highlighted the dark green coniferous trees. Occasionally, the snow will fall off the cedar branches like soft exhalations. If this was a forest bathing, it would be a cold rush.
Soon we hit the Legacy Maple Leaf Trail. There I was previously transported. There, in these landscapes, I fell in love with skiing and felt welcomed in the Quebecoa culture.
I was given cell service almost the whole time, but I still felt I had unplugged for a few days, as if I was in a snowball.
That day we crossed five lakes. Gliding across the snowy ice, I imagined living in one of the lovely lakeside houses that had interrupted the coastline. At Lac Lucerne, Hotopf mentioned Emile Kochand, a Swiss immigrant who founded Canada's first ski school and trails near the site in the late 1910s. We had a picnic at Lac Deauville in a floating dock wrapped in ice.
After a long and gentle tumbling down, we stopped by a cleaning shelter, warmed up on the wood stove, then skied towards the Pats train towards the final 2.5 mile town.
Skiing is life
That night at AU Clawland I learned more about James Jackson's Trail, Director of Soper Airlines. his wife, Rebecca McDonald; Cross-country skier Chris Schracher.
Jackson described the Root Blanche project as “participating in the backyard” across the region. Some routes have been lost due to new property owners who no longer allow access to developments or trails across the land. “What we want to reach is that landowners want their own land path,” Jackson said.
The route on the last day included the rise of Sonmet Olympia, a ski hill uplift. We pasted mountaineering skins on our skis and then headed up the slope, then skied from our back, still following the wizard trail. Finally, we arrived at another section of P'Tit Train Du Nord, skiing for the last mile before finishing the stairs from Microbrasserie Shawbridge.
But first, more skiing. The snow glowed under the sun. The barren trees formed a dark line background that was directed in any direction. A sturdy pioneer, Johansen might have thought of me softly for the soft skiing experience I just had. And I don't object to that. There's something I have to say to his stamina. He is now 111 years old. As long as you can ski to the end, you will be happy to take a short lifespan.
