Mont Tremblant Resort
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| Mont Tremblant Resort | |
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| Location: | Quebec, Canada |
| Nearest city: | Montreal |
| Coordinates: | |
| Top elevation: | 875 m |
| Base elevation: | 230 m |
| Skiable area: | 2.53 km² |
| Runs: | 94 |
| Longest run: | 6 km (Nansen) |
| Lift system: | 1 gondola, 10 chairlifts, 1 magic carpet |
| Snowfall: | 382 cm/year |
| Web site: | Tremblant.ca |
Mont Tremblant Resort is a large year round resort about one and a half hours north of Montreal. It is best known as a ski destination, but also features a lake suitable for swimming, and a golf course in the summer months. The name of the mountain, Mont Tremblant, means "trembling mountain" in French. The summit is at an elevation of 875 m (3,150 feet), which makes it the tallest peak in the Laurentians.
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[edit] Joe Ryan / Château Beauvallon
The history of Mont-Tremblant is closely intertwined with the story and development of Château Beauvallon. Both owe thanks to an adventurous Philadelphian named Joseph Bondurant Ryan, whose great vision, determination and love of the region left an indelible imprint on Tremblant and helped fundamentally shape its destiny.
Born at the turn of the century, Joe Ryan was the grandson of Thomas Fortune Ryan, one of America's wealthiest railway tycoons. Along with his fortune, the younger Ryan inherited his grandfather's ambition. Ryan also possessed a love of exploration, wilderness and travelling.
In 1938, Ryan visited Mont-Tremblant for the first time, and after an arduous, unaided climb to the highest peak, fell in love with the mountain. From that point on, his life's goal would be to make the mountain accessible to others, and to transform the region into a world-class alpine village.
In 1939, Ryan married Mary Rutherford, and Mont-Tremblant was officially inaugurated. By the end of the year, Time magazine noted the Laurentians were a popular destination for American skiers, and Mont-Tremblant was the newest fashionable meeting place.
Joe and Mary Ryan opened the original Château Beauvallon in 1942. Initially meant to be a clubhouse for a golf course that was never built, the Château nevertheless became an important landmark in the Mont-Tremblant region. In 1949, the Ryans sold Château Beauvallon to Harry and Isabelle Stokes, who would run the inn for the next 11 years.
Throughout the 1950s, Château Beauvallon became the destination for parties. It was known as the best late-night watering hole in the region, where friends came together to relax. Guests poured their own drinks, wrote their own bills and enjoyed great food and live jazz sessions.
Château Beauvallon changed hands throughout the 1960s, but found more permanent proprietors in 1976. Alex and Judy Riddell renovated the property and operated it as a country inn, one that slept up to 30 people. Actor Paul Newman was a guest during the 1980s, and Alex Riddell took him skiing for a day.
In 1998, the Riddells sold Château Beauvallon to RHK Developments, who closed the aging inn. In 2003, the empty building was sold to Groupe Avantage, a development group led by another Philadelphian, Richard Masterson and Canadian partners Gavin MacDonald and Pierre Dupre. The historical significance of Chateau Beauvallon continued with Mr. Dupre. Dupre's father had been the first doctor in Tremblant, lured to the region by none other than Joe Ryan . On December 16th, 2005 the new Chateau Beauvallon opened to the public with 70 luxury condos and a brand new lobby and restaurant. The original Chateau Beauvallon was donated to the city and is located at the four corners.
[edit] History
The first chairlift was installed at Mont Tremblant in 1939. Mont-Tremblant Lodge was opened in the same year on the site it still stands today, in the pedestrian village though it was moved to fit the new expansion by Intrawest.
In its early years, Lowell Thomas, the American radio broadcaster, was an avid skier who helped popularize the resort. Thomas would broadcast many editions of his radio show from Mont-Tremblant. The resort has a ski lift and trails named after him and other early devotees.
Peter Ryan, son of Joe and Mary, developed into an accomplished downhill skier but citizenship issues precluded his quest for inclusion on the Canadian Olympic Ski team. He turned his competitive fires to motorsports where he excelled. His greatest victory was the 1961 Canadian Grand Prix. Peter Ryan was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in 1993.
The resort operated independently until 1991 when it was purchased by Intrawest.
Intrawest immediately began to build the pedestrian village, and new ski lifts including the gondola. Other changes included re-building the Grand Manitou summit lodge.
[edit] Pedestrian Village
The pedestrian village developed by Intrawest has made Tremblant unique amongst ski resorts in Eastern Canada, due to its pedestrian-only layout, exquisite shopping, nightlife, après-ski scene and slope side accommodations.
A visitor staying in the village can feasibly leave their car parked for the duration of their stay.
There is an open gondola-type lift called The Cabriolet which connects the upper and lower parts of the pedestrian village. From the top of this lift the main gondola is available to take skiers to the summit of the mountain.
It is important to note that the pedestrian village within the resort and the original municipal village of Mont-Tremblant, Quebec are two completely separate entities. The resort village is often referred to as "Mont Tremblant", which can lead to confusion.
[edit] Resort Facilities
As of 2005, Mont-Tremblant has been recognized by Ski Magazine as the #1 Ski Resort in Eastern North America for 8 consecutive years. The main ski resort offers over 600 acres (2.4 km²) of ski and snowboarding trails in 4 distinct areas: North Side (Versant Nord), South Side (Versant Sud), Sunny Side (Versant Soleil) and The Edge (Versant Edge).
As of the 2005 Winter season, the resort had 94 marked downhill trails, the longest being 6 km (3.73 miles). Of these, 16 were designated Easy, 31 Intermediate, 37 Difficult, and 10 Expert Only.
The resort features 13 ski lifts, including 2 gondolas, 5 detachable chairlifts, 3 regular chairlifts and 3 Magic carpets. The total lift capacity is up to 27,230 skiers per hour. Despite this, wait times to board the Gondola often exceed 40 minutes during regular season Saturdays.
The top of the mountain has a chalet and restaurant, Le Grand Manitou, open in the winter and summer.
[edit] Surrounding Area
The surrounding hills and valleys are filled with trails for cross-country skiing. The ski trails connect with other ski trails in neighboring towns, making it possible for nature lovers to undertake ski excursions lasting several days going (or coming from) as far south as Blainville, Quebec on the outskirts of Montreal.
Mont Tremblant is a four-season destination with activities going on during most months. The surrounding valleys have small lakes, dense boreal forests and thousands of vacation cottages. There are also golf courses, hiking trails and small rivers suitable for gentle canoeing and swimming.
There are many trails for mountain bikes and a special "route verte" rail trail paved for road bicycle use. The cycle path was built on an abandoned right of way of the Montreal-Mont Laurier railway, so the cyclists do not have to share the path with motorized vehicles.
The area also features a race track called Circuit Mont-Tremblant. It once hosted IndyCar, Formula One, Can-Am, Trans-Am competitions and currently hosts the Grand-Am Cup. In 2007, the track is due to host a round of the Champ Car World Series.
[edit] Lodging
Mont Tremblant has a wide variety of hotel and condo accommodations, many of which are situated in the pedestrian village at the foot of the mountain.
There are additional condo accommodations located adjacent to the pedestrian village which are managed by the resort. These accommodations feature shuttle bus service which provides guests some of the same convenience afforded to people staying in the pedestrian village.
Most accommodations in the resort area are privately owned. The resort acts as a rental broker for these properties by handling maintenance, reservations and other guest-related tasks on behalf of the owners. Most of the time the renting visitor is not even aware that this is the case. By using this model Intrawest does not have to keep its capital invested in owning additional real estate with its associated costs.
There are many privately owned chalets in the immediate area, but Intrawest aggressively discourages their use by charging excessive prices for limited ski passes to skiiers that are not lodging in one of their hotels or condos.
[edit] Future Expansion
In 2004 Intrawest announced plans to expand the lodging and skiing facilities at Mont Tremblant. These plans include two new pedestrian villages on the north side (Versant Nord) of the mountain, as well as the sunny side (Versant Soleil).
During the summer of 2005 work was performed on the Versant Soleil detachable chairlift and the land around the lift's base terminal was regraded in preparation for the new village's development.
[edit] Criticism
There is a lot of criticism surrounding the very expensive items.[citation needed] From parking to food passing by lift tickets and especially lodging, a weekend stay can reach excessive prices. Unless you are staying in Intrawest's hotels, ski passes must be bought for single or half days, which works out very expensive. Intrawest offers weekly individual and couples passes that include lots of extras, but these are more expensive than paying the daily rates. In essence, Intrawest is actively trying to discourage people from lodging at the many privately rented cabins and chalets in the area, by charging slightly higher prices to skiiers who are not lodging with them.[citation needed]
A comment often heard from people that usually ski in the Rockies[citation needed] is about the trail difficulty rating. A trail marked as "very difficult", a black diamond, would often be classified as "difficult", a blue square, in other resorts even within Quebec. This is because there are no official norms for trail classification and it is left to each resort to rate.
[edit] December 2005 Labour Disruption
On December 15th 2005 the union representing most resort staff at Mont Tremblant staged a work stoppage, starting at approximately 10:00am in the morning and lasting until 11:30am of the same day.
Two days later, on Saturday, December 17th 2005 the union started a general strike. Striking workers set up a picket line between the gondola and the pedestrian village. Despite this, management personnel were able to operate a small number of lifts, enabling skiers to use the ski area.
While the strike was only supposed to last 24 hours it did not end until January 2nd, 2006.
The strike action began the day after the region experienced its first major snowstorm of the season, and lasted through the winter holidays. Intrawest has reportedly lost in excess of $1 million as a result of the work stoppage when many people cancelled their reservations through the busy Christmas and New Year's holiday period. Ski lift revenue also took a direct hit with ticket sales less than half the normal volume during this period.
The union had demanded:
- A 15 percent wage increase over 3 years
- The creation of a pension plan
- Increases to vacation and sick leave pay.
