The first day at a new ski hill always starts poorly, and this trip was no different. We had remembered to bring the kids’ snowboard boots into the house overnight so they could warm up, but did not do the same with our own ski boots – and it was cold enough that they had actually shrunk to the point where my wife was unable to put hers on.
I was experiencing my own issues – the liner of my ski boot had started to tear last season, and I immediately made that tear far, far worse. Indeed, it was only by using my toque (wool hat) as a kind of shoehorn that I managed to get my foot into the boot.
Thankfully, the other aspects of our arrival went relatively smoothly. Google Maps led us to Parking Lot 1 without incident – a mere 5 minutes’ drive away – and there was still plenty of room near the front of the lot at Bromont’s 8:30 am opening.
I first attempted to pick up our ski passes from the main ticket office, but instead had to go to the unmanned scanner. But there was no line, and the tickets were spat out seconds later. If you buy a ticket bundle – as we did, with an Apex 3 day pass – then you only need to do this once.
We then trundled over to the main village lift, put on our gear, and we were off and away.
A lovely view from the top of the mountain:
And the runs weren’t too bad, either:
The conditions were surprisingly good considering the recent heavy rain. Bromont clearly had a very solid base from early December, and must have been running the groomers overtime to get the hill ready for today’s opening.
There weren’t a ton of runs available, unfortunately, but the ones that were open were in good shape. Unsurprisingly the green runs tended to be fairly busy, particularly with the Bromont Ski Team warming up. These kids have an unfortunate tendency toward aggressive skiing, which caused problems when they cut off beginners.
With a few runs under our belt, we decided to stop at the lodge on top of the mountain for some hot chocolates. Unlike more touristy places like Tremblant and Le Massif, our French was getting a real workout here – but we managed to muddle our way through ordering hot chocolate and whipped cream (‘chocolat chaud avec crème fouettée’). Cappucino remains ‘cappucino’.
The Versant des Cantons lift had opened at that stage, so we crossed over via Medicine Hat. This section of the mountain was much quieter. Our daughter particularly enjoyed Calgary (a green circle) while my son was fond of Edmonton (a blue square).
We made it til around noon, at which point we headed down to La Debarque in the main village for lunch.
Photo credit: VAD Interior Design
Despite it being an upscale sit-down restaurant, the prices were actually comperable – if not better – than those of the cafeteria next door, but without the lengthy wait in line.
Our daughter had the pizza:
Our son and I had the burger:
And my wife had the poutine:
Poutine for four, anyone?
Food arrived mere minutes after it was ordered. Very tasty, indeed.
At this point we’d managed about as much skiing and snowboarding as we could for the day, so we headed back to Sô Lodges for a bit of apres ski, starting with their sauna:
Photo Credit: SÔ LODGES – The Belvedere
And then continuing on with the hot tub:
Photo Credit: SÔ LODGES – The Belvedere (proper hot tub-focused picture coming soon)
They had warned us in advance that the sauna takes roughly 30 minutes to warm up. I accidentally used the delay timer in white – as opposed to the actual sauna timer in black – but I realized my mistake and the sauna warmed up soon thereafter.
The hot tub is kept at 98 Farenheit but it didn’t take long for it to warm up to a toasty 104 Farenheit.
My wife and I each had a nap in turn, while the kids built some KitKat houses:
We cooked dinner at the rental again tonight – chicken madras with couscous, naan and green beans. We’ve been impressed with the well-stocked kitchen. The barbeque is also well-maintained, which can be a rarity at vacation rentals.
We took a moment to admire the well-illuminated ski hill:
And then it was time to call it a night in the hopes that they will open a new lift – Versant du Lac – bright and early tomorrow morning.