Chic-Chocs 2002 Trip Report

Day 0: A Gold Medal Drive

Joe, Marta, Christina and I left Montreal around 7 am. We drove to the South Shore and headed east on the 20. At 3pm, we turned on CBC radio and listened to the Gold Medal Hockey game as we drove thourgh the hills along the St. Laurent, which is so wide as this point that we cannot see the other side. As we could see the Chic-Chocs, our english radio station became static and we were forced to listen to the game in French. This proved interesting since Marta can mostly speak French, Joe sort of, and Chris and me, not at all. We knew when there was a goal because the crowd would go wild but it would take several minutes for Marta to figure out who is was. Canada won (yeah!) as we pulled into the parking lot of Le Gite du Mont Albert. It was getting dark so we set up camp and went back to Ste. Anne des Mont for dinner.

Day 1: Champ de Mars

After a warm nights sleep in the tent[1] , we got a beautiful view of Mont Albert[2] (1070m) which was completely invisible in the snow the night before. We originally planned on going to Hogsback but the parc people said that there was some avalanche risk there. Champs de Mars seem to have a nice snow field and was safe. Somehow we did the trail[3] backwards and had to skin up the snow field[4]. There had been about 15 people on the slope during the day. We skinned up Champs de Mars[5] while a few people were taking their final runs of the day. It took about an hour to reach the top where we took a short break to eat food and drink tea. Since we went up the slope, we decided to go down the trail most people go up. This trail is best described as a luge run, in that it is narrow, steep, and has lots of turns. Its my favorite kind of skiing. About 2/3 of the way down, Marta pointed out that she did not see and snow plow tracks when she followed me down. I had never noticed, but I guess I just ride the trail out and stop when there is room. I took a couple of spills, mostly on purpose because I was going to hit a tree. We arrived back at the car shortly before dark and went back to the heated bathrooms that smelled like a boys locker room to clean up.

[1] [2] [3] [4][5]

[1] Camp MOC, [2] Mont Albert, [3] trail to Champs de Mars with Champ de Mars in the background, [4] Marta skinning up the first hill on Champ de Mars, [5] Champ de Mars with many tracks down it from the days skiers.

Day 2: Up and Up

We packed up camp and drove to Saint-Octave-de-L'avenir where we were to start our five day backcountry ski. We arrived there at about noon to find out that the other group, Steve, Aurore, Stephenie and Sam, were sleeping in one of the huts. At 5 am, Aurore's car sould not make it up the snw covered hills and they had to ski 6 km to the trail head. After driving all night and skiing at dawn, they needed to sleep before they started. We started at 1 pm, three hours later than planned, for Le Huard, our first hut. Joe said it was about 7 or 8 km. As we started, we could see the mountains in the background and the ski seemed overwhelming. Luckily, the first 3 km was flat through pines followed by a nice gentle down hill for a 2km. By the time we reached the base of the pass that we had to climb up through, the winds were blowing around 50 km per hour. We put on our skins and began to climb. I did not have any trouble with the climb on Champ de Mars the day before but now with a 40 pound pack on, I found the climb very difficult. The trail was covered with snow dunes from the wind. Half way up, we stopped for chocolate. This gave me a second wind and my legs did not complain the rest of the way up. At the crest of the pass, we took off our skins and skied a few kilometers to the hut. It was dark by the time we arrived, but this made the warm hut all the more appriciated. Steve said they would be only an hour behind us. Joe expected them to catch up with us. Since they did not, we figured they did not start and would meet us at the next hut the following day. At 9pm, 4 hours after dark, they arrived taking 7 hours to ski the 12.5 km (did Joe say 8km?) to the hut. This hut was not only was warm but had two floors and a very cute weasel that came to the window near my bed. Sorry, the wind was strong and the ski tough so I kept my camera in my pack.

Day 3: Liquid Snow

"Do you hear what I hear? Shit, rain." Winter here in Montreal has been less than great. That's why we spent hundreds of dollars and drove many hours to go skiing in Gaspe. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Our original plan was to ski the 5 km up to La Mesange before noon and then spend the day playing on the slopes of Mont du Blizzard a.k.a. Mont Holy-Fuck. We took our time and enjoyed the dry hut since play time was canceled. We put red wax on and headed out. Tthe rain had become a drizzly mist. The red wax did not ski and we were forced to put on our skins.[1] I love the mist especially when hiking. Skiing in it was a new experience, pretty, but not one I would want because it means the snow it terrible. We reached the hut in the light(!?) and changed into dry clothes. Overall, it was not an eventful day. I skiied by myslef most of the time and just absorbed the whole landscape.

[1]

[1] Joe putting on skins, Christina skiing.

Day 4: Many Skis

After our ski in the rain, we prayed to the snow gods for -10 C and about 10 cm of snow. Our prayer was answered. Even though the weathered was nice (there was some sun!), there was a nasty crust in the snow. On the first little hill, a few of us couldn't stay up.[1] But we didn't let that stop us[2]. The first part of the trail was down to a lac. The slope down was tricky with packs but good fun. The lake was another story. We began to cross the lake, 50 meters apart with the straps on our packs loosened to be safe if the ice broke. I went first and noticed a pressure crack which means the ice is very thick. When I reached a piece of land, I could not see the trail marker. The wind here was very strong and I saught shelter in some near-by trees. Steve took the lead and we continued to cross the lac in the bone chilling wind[3]. On the other side of the lake, the trail returned to the sheltering trees but went up. We put our skins on and up we went in the nice sunshine. My choice of program, physical geographny, paid off twice on this ski. The first time was seeing that I was changing drainage basins and that I could take off my skins and have a nice long ski down the hill. The second was crossing the flowing creek[4]. Steve had inspected the area for crossings and did not come up with anything satisfactory. My geography instincts lead me to a tree that had fallen across the stream. We built a snow bridge on the tree and crossed without major incident (my foot did poke throught the snow and my boot got wet and was encased with ice). We were met by the guy who services the huts on snowmobile. He wanted to make sure that we were okay and that we make it across the lac. It was nice to know he was chacking up on us but this meant that our fresh snow was now compacted by the snowmobile. This made the next hill very difficult to go down. I tried to ski from edge to edge but ended up ski to the edge, falling in the deep snow, flipping over my pack backwards to get my skis on the trails and repeating until I was far enough down the hill to do for it. However, when I went for it, I met the stream at the bottom of the hill which stopped my skis and sent me flying head first about 12 feet where I completed a nice head plant in the snow, ouch. The rest of the ski was very nice and sunny. The last 3.6 km were on a very gentle down slope which was very nice at the end of the day. The day's ski was diverse and the Lac Cascapedia was a nice treat at the end[5]. The hut was also a treat. We rented a fishing hut with a large living room and tree bedrooms. There were even two rocking chairs. It was rough.

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5]

[1] Ben, Aurore, and Christina making snow angles... [2] Aurore climbing a small hill on the trail [3] crossing the bitterly cold lake [4] There's a river across the trail! [5] Lac Cascapedia

Day 5: Play Day

We stayed in our wonderful fishing hut for two nights giving us a day to play. Five of us, Joe, Sam, Christina, Aurore and I, decided to go back up the trail from the day before, check out Lac Gouache and Pic du Brule. Without packs on, the 4 km ski[1] to Lac Gouache took no time at all. At Lac Gouache, I decided to take a hiking trail to Pic du Brule. The problem with hiking trails in winter isn't that they aren't maintained, it's that the markers are only a couple on cm above the snow. When the trail started to go down, we saw a peak and cut cross country to it. The get to the top of this hill, required some rediculous side stepping. It would have made sense to put on our skins and climb up but we did it the hard way. As we were climbing, we could see the next mountain over with a large ice falls on its rocky face. By the time I climbed up with my camera, the sun was gone and it was snowing so we couldn't see the mountain. We celecrated our accent anyway![2] As our climb was rather steep, we went down the gentler backside which was full of trees.[3] Sam lead us into a very dense tree stand and over a 1 meter drop. Sam and I jumped. Aurore and Christina slid down. Joe fell and bent his pole 90 degrees. Dooh! Lac Cascapedia did not disappoint us for sunset[6].

[1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]

[1] Chris, Aurore and Joe skiing along Lac Guoache [2] Joe, Sam, Chris, Ben [3] Chris trying to ski through the skis [4] Aurore attempting to walk [5] Joe sporting the latest in ski fashion [6] Sunset

Day 6: Down and Out

We packed an emergancy role pf toilet paper in case on of the huts did not have any. It turned out none of them had any. By the night of Day 5, we work down to 8 sheets for 8 people. Luckily, the French people in the next hut gave us some TP and we were saved. Our last ski was 10 km on a road: 1.5 km up, 6 km down and 2.5 km flat. When I started the down portion, I noticed the sign that read next 6 km 8% grade and I knew it would be a good run. With a good kick, I tucked and went down the hill. 20 minutes later, Chris, Sam and I had descended 300 meters over 6 km. I was sweet. Steve met us at the bottom where he had been waiting for several hours. Steve, Aurore, and Joe left a couple of hours earlier to go get the cars. While we were waiting, Sam and Stephanie shared sausage[1] and we played a game of skiball[2]. The ride home was uneventful and the warm shower at the end amazing. I shall return next year to explore Mont Logan and "real" snow. One meter just isn't enough.

[1] [2]

[1] Stephanie and Sam sharing the meat [2] What else do you use skis and snow for?