Christmas/New Years Ride 2017

[DaveTess]

Well we know it's early for this and it's steamy hot out there today and we believe the last thing most of you are thinking of is SNOW, be we are and Tess and I are trying to plan a trip at Christmas to New Years this year and would like some advice as to where we're most likely to get and have snow for that time of the year. We know Mother Nature can be fickle but we've always managed to find snow somewhere with a few hours of Everett for New Years. Last year was over Tiviotdale way, the year before that was at Fortunes in Barry's Bay so I'm sure there will be snow somewhere.

 

We're thinking something that some of you have already stayed at and have had a good experience with for a couple of old farts and has the ability to stay say a week or so and do multiple day trips from.

 

As some of you that we've had the pleasure to ride with in the past know, we're about the scenery and the ride and not necessarily trying to pack on hundreds of miles in a day and travel four hundred miles an hour. 

 

We've been looking at all the Quebec information and to be honest a little overwhelmed and confused. We don't speak a lick of French. Trying to find a nice, perhaps cabin setting, or nice retreat that will cater to Tess if she wants to be pampered yet give us multiple options for sledding.

 

We thought we would try this idea for Christmas and New Years this year. I know a lot of you have large families or families in general and will be with them at this great time of year. Unfortunately Tess and I don't. Our two sons, one is new to the OPP, will be both working over the Christmas break so we don't want to sit home and thought this would be a good idea.

 

Any suggestions would be great.

 

Perhaps some past experiences, pictures, web links would be helpful.

 

We've found this group on here to be just a great bunch, always willing to lend a hand and help a fellow sledder.

 

Perhaps we could make a group out of this.

 

Anyway enjoy the Hot weekend. Wont be long and we'll all be sledding soon.

 

Happy Trails.

 

Thanks

 

Dave & Tess Team2UP! 

 

 

[PISTON LAKE CRUISER]

Sounds like a good time to start planning Dave. Obviously the weather can make quite a difference on where you can ride that many days. Mont Valens in the Chicoutimi area of Quebec always seems to have snow then and is very scenic mountain country. Nunz and Karen were there last year in the New Years timeframe so he would be a wealth of info. for that area. In Ontario the best bet for groomed trails is Cochrane otherwise its likely a wait and see who gets enough snow to get thins opened up. Good luck with your planning.

[slomo]

Agree with PLC - with the weather being dicey around Christmas and New Year's it is good to have several possible destinations in scope and be able to nimbly apply them to some early season riding. A knowledge of which areas are probably going to receive snow the earliest is vital as is keeping track of conditions basically from hour to hour. Last year, I reserved in Kap for Boxing Day and the motel proprietor thought it wasn't worth while the drive - but a blizzard blew in and trails were open just in time - basically by knowing likelihood of snow in the area at that time, keeping an eye on weather forecasts, knowledge of accomodations with trail access and fitting it in to your style of riding. Trails just opened were not up to much, so spent a couple of days there, moved to northern New Brunswick, got rained out after a day of pretty good trails, (returned for a week in March) and just missed eastern Ontario trails due to rain in that area - but just missed!

 

Research preparedness and ready to goness is key-

 

 

 

 

 

From personal experience, having been socked in for days by weather around Christmas time, the St. Lawrence valley and regions proximate will get early season snow. This year my target is the above hotel in Rivierre du Loup - sledder's special meals and accomodation $99 / night. Plenty of day tours from the hotel. If Tess wants to be pampered, have a look at this place. Send away for maps and trail maps from Quebec tourism. (actually being socked in by weather along highway 20 is not a big deal - a main trail follows the highway so you can sled while the snow storm passed on) After touring St. Lawrence river valley and the Gaspe by highway this summer, poor ability to speak French is not a problem - was treated with courtesy in English in all our stops along the way. (in RDL asked the guy at the desk "Anglais?" he replied "certainment monsieur" we both had a laugh)

 

There are other far more knowledgeable folks on the forum here who can line you up with various options out of province - hope they chip in as I am willing to learn things as well. BTW - some of Ned Nickerson's tours can be useful in knowledge searching, but keep in mind he only mentions places that give him a deal. My own research has often turned up better alternatives. Your results may vary.

 

(I tend to bookmark in Explorer as it is easier to transfer them to my computer at work and to a laptop on the trip)

 

[Nunz]

Good Morning Dave and Tess, Glad to see I'm not the only one thinking about New Year's Ride, We are also starting to plan our ride for New Year's, In the past couple of years we have done the Cochrane/Hearst ride for New Years and had some really good early season riding and a lot of fun with a bunch of peeps from here. Weather is certainly a factor for sure. A couple of winters ago we took the big drive to Mont Valin and had an amazing time and stayed at Auberge du 31km Resort, Fantastic place right on the trail excellent restaurant but not much else as far as facilities, I have a friend Linda that also went and stayed at a place called Passions and loved it, about an hour closer as well, We are seriously considering booking  there this year as we are planning on a few trips to Quebec this winter, Also going to do the Gaspe trip finally in February. We have never had an issue with the language barrier in Quebec. The other place we are considering is Le Bannick in Ville Marie area, again depending on the snow and trails.

 

If you are interested PM me and we can start to make some early plans.

 

That being said, if we get a ton of early snow and trails are open we will also be looking into the Cochrane area as well, as it is one of my favourite areas to ride.

 

Hope this helps.

[UsedtoSkidoo]

Who here searched slomo's web cache names for some unsavoury sites????????????????????

[gobills]

that hotel slomo put up looks great.  May have sparked my interest now as well  LOL

[slomo]

1 hour ago, gobills said:

that hotel slomo put up looks great.  May have sparked my interest now as well  LOL

 

Just found this as I thought it might be missing from the hotel web site due to it being summer but it outlines winter activities:

 

http://www.hoteluniverselrdl.com/winter-pleasures-d2-48.php

 

The pdf's on the page show trail maps on which it is quite easy to devise a few day tours for yourself or expand into other areas. You might have other members of your group who aren't sledders but enjoy both types of skiing - links to that also.

 

There are a number of other less expensive motels in the area that on are the trails as well in the same proximity.

 

http://www.bassaintlaurent.ca/en/snowmobile/accomodation

 

 

[PISTON LAKE CRUISER]

Slomo's pick of Hotel Universal is a great one. Trail to parking lot / multi unheated locked sled storage / locked truck/trailer compound / outside locked sled compound. Gas station right next door. 2 restaurants on site. Newer section of rooms at rear of Hotel.

We've based 4 of our 6 Gaspe trips from this hotel.

Personally, I would not assume that they will have lots of snow at Christmas right around Riviere du Loup.

[Spanky]

Hi Dave & Tess, nice sled LOL!  Colleen and I and two other couples are already booked into Cochrane at the Econolodge December 29 - January 1.  We did the same last Christmas and had a great time (In the next room to Nunz and his lovely wife Karen...we ended up at Econolodge thanks to Nunz, we all were booked into the North Adventure Inn, but the Nunz's arrived there first in a bad situation and thankfully found us all accomodations elsewhere.  Nunz rocks!)...having said that, if Tess would like some pampering, unless you do it yourself, it won't be at Econolodge.  Still, we had a blast, lots of places to eat (including Terry's on site, great food), and amazing trails.  Hopefully, the Abitibi Canyon loop is on our bucket list this year.

 

Following this thread with interest...and great timing!  Tired of summer...

[Nunz]

2 hours ago, Spanky said:

Hi Dave & Tess, nice sled LOL!  Colleen and I and two other couples are already booked into Cochrane at the Econolodge December 29 - January 1.  We did the same last Christmas and had a great time (In the next room to Nunz and his lovely wife Karen...we ended up at Econolodge thanks to Nunz, we all were booked into the North Adventure Inn, but the Nunz's arrived there first in a bad situation and thankfully found us all accomodations elsewhere.  Nunz rocks!)...having said that, if Tess would like some pampering, unless you do it yourself, it won't be at Econolodge.  Still, we had a blast, lots of places to eat (including Terry's on site, great food), and amazing trails.  Hopefully, the Abitibi Canyon loop is on our bucket list this year.

 

Following this thread with interest...and great timing!  Tired of summer...

Hi Spanky, Great seeing your post, We actually all stayed at the Thriftlodge lol, You may very well see us there this year again, Hope all is well and thank you for the kind words!!!

 

Chat soon

[Spanky]

46 minutes ago, Nunz said:

Hi Spanky, Great seeing your post, We actually all stayed at the Thriftlodge lol, You may very well see us there this year again, Hope all is well and thank you for the kind words!!!

 

Chat soon

Yes, my mistake!  We are booked in at the Thriftlodge...praying for snow in August.

[Techdenis007]

5 hours ago, Spanky said:

Yes, my mistake!  We are booked in at the Thriftlodge...praying for snow in August.

 

 

That's always a happy thought....

 

We might join you this year ... 

 

 

[Spanky]

8 hours ago, Denis007 said:

 

 

That's always a happy thought....

 

We might join you this year ... 

 

 

Sounds great Denis007!!  

[JohnnyB]

Look into the laurentians, Lanaudiere region just north of Montreal,(St Michel des saint, St Zenon) they get some good early snow most years. We've spent 6 of the last 7 there, washed out once only. Le Cabanon is a great central hub for rides in 4 directions, it's cheap with a pool, hot tub, decent food but the worst rock hard beds. I brought a foam matt last year. Some in our group got newer beds....about time. La Glacier is similar but no pool.

  For some upscale accommodations try Sacacomie or View Moulin, St Donat has a few hotels but if the lake doesn't freeze there is only one direction to travel.

 It's a 6.5 to 7 hr drive from T.O, so it's a bit shorter than Mt. VALIN or RDL

 

Nunz's advise for Valin is spot on and almost a snow guarantee! And a must see. Passion Quebec offers a ski hill a few feet away if your  into that.

 RDL Universal is another great spot, usually good snow, another must see is Gaspé. RDL is a good start point.

10 to 11 hour drive for both from T.O

 

  If your interested I can give you advise on trails, travel etc.

 

Language is no issue, most have a decent hold on English.

 

 Johnny B

[gobills]

Saccomie is on my list of spots to go.  That place looks so cool looking out over the lake.

[DaveTess]

Good Morning everyone

 

Thanks for everyone that's has chimed in so far for your information. I knew you guys would be able to help Tess and I.

Please keep the info coming. I have been looking at your suggestions and JohnnyB I would definitely like some info on trails.

 

We ride a Grand Touring, although it has lots of pep, Tess and I cruise along and enjoy the scenery and special spots to stop. If you do 50km's and see tons or if we do 200 km's and see tons, it's all about the ride and not being beat to tar when we get back.

 

Only have 1150 km's on this sled so we're still getting used to it so trying to break trail or ditch bang with a two up sledobago is not for us. 

 

Thanks again everyone. Look very much forward to following this thread and seeing if we can put something together.

 

Dave & Tess Team2UP

 

[Viperules700]

6 hours ago, Team2UP said:

Good Morning everyone

 

Thanks for everyone that's has chimed in so far for your information. I knew you guys would be able to help Tess and I.

Please keep the info coming. I have been looking at your suggestions and JohnnyB I would definitely like some info on trails.

 

We ride a Grand Touring, although it has lots of pep, Tess and I cruise along and enjoy the scenery and special spots to stop. If you do 50km's and see tons or if we do 200 km's and see tons, it's all about the ride and not being beat to tar when we get back.

 

Only have 1150 km's on this sled so we're still getting used to it so trying to break trail or ditch bang with a two up sledobago is not for us. 

 

Thanks again everyone. Look very much forward to following this thread and seeing if we can put something together.

 

Dave & Tess Team2UP

 

Hi Dave. If I could get some time off I could join you. Can ride 2 up with my girl too and have the same sled as you, except it is a 2017 Se 900. 

[DaveTess]

That's sounds great. As we gather some information and get a couple ideas together we will post them  and see if anyone else is interested in joining in. I have done some digging and to be honest the Mount Valen area really catches our eye but until we get more information we will keep this thread up to date with our findings and any input from others.

 

Thanks 

[Viperules700]

I agree with you on Quebec. Mount valin seems like the place to go to be guranteed good early season conditions. Some years they start in November at higher elevations. 

[jimbob]

My wife and I would also be interested in going somewhere over the Christmas holidays. 

[DaveTess]

Still gathering information. Will let everyone know what we come with. Keep the information and thoughts flowing though. Never done a trip like this before so all the help and input is greatly appreciated. 

 

Dave & Tess

Team 2UP

[Viperules700]

4 hours ago, Team2UP said:

Still gathering information. Will let everyone know what we come with. Keep the information and thoughts flowing though. Never done a trip like this before so all the help and input is greatly appreciated. 

 

Dave & Tess

Team 2UP

If it is a normal winter, there will be lots of riding options at x-mas time. Quebec seems to be the spot to go, since they claim they average 22 weeks of riding per year at Mount Valian. That is insane and will be worth 12 hour ride in the truck to go for 5 days or so.  Quebec seems to have grooming frequency all figured out and can maintain high traffic trails really well, if all the riding reports I have been reading. I want to do the 5 summit tour :-).  

[DaveTess]

Hello Everyone

 

Received this note yesterday in response to our inquiry from Auberge Cabanon:

 

Just wondering what your thoughts are for this one. I know a couple of you have mentioned this already but I wanted to keep you up to date as to our search. We have sent our other inquires but haven't heard anything back as of yet. 

 

We still have rooms for the new year’s break

Since we are here( 31 years) only once the trail was not very nice for christmas and we call the one who have reservation to cancel

We have a hotel with 58 rooms, bar, dining rooms, inside swiming pool and a look place for your truck and trailer an a look place for your snowmobile at night

All the trail are groom directly from here at lees every second night and more often every night

Our ckub groom over 500 km of trails

Diane

From: David Shibley

Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2017 3:46 PM

To: Aubergecabanon@xplornet.com

Subject: Snowmobile Season this New Years

 

Hello

 

I received your information form a fellow Snowmobiler, Johnny Biasi who I understand is booked with you over the New Year’s break this season.

 

My wife and I are looking for a place to come to in Quebec to enjoy the Christmas Break at and do some Snowmobiling and other things.

 

We ride a 2016 Grand Touring SE so were looking for something that is likely to have snow and nice touring trails.

 

We want to be able to stay a week and go out for loop trips.

 

Was wondering if you could send or point me in the correct direction for your establishment where we could get some idea as to what your rates are, food if on site, other activities you may offer and what type of rooms you have available at that time.

 

We are thinking of heading out from here in Everett, probably Boxing Day and head home the weekend after News Years.

 

Thank you in advance for your assistance. We look forward to hearing from you.

 

 

 

 

[Viperules700]

3 hours ago, Team2UP said:

Hello Everyone

 

Received this note yesterday in response to our inquiry from Auberge Cabanon:

 

Just wondering what your thoughts are for this one. I know a couple of you have mentioned this already but I wanted to keep you up to date as to our search. We have sent our other inquires but haven't heard anything back as of yet. 

 

We still have rooms for the new year’s break

Since we are here( 31 years) only once the trail was not very nice for christmas and we call the one who have reservation to cancel

We have a hotel with 58 rooms, bar, dining rooms, inside swiming pool and a look place for your truck and trailer an a look place for your snowmobile at night

All the trail are groom directly from here at lees every second night and more often every night

Our ckub groom over 500 km of trails

Diane

From: David Shibley

Sent: Wednesday, September 13, 2017 3:46 PM

To: Aubergecabanon@xplornet.com

Subject: Snowmobile Season this New Years

 

Hello

 

I received your information form a fellow Snowmobiler, Johnny Biasi who I understand is booked with you over the New Year’s break this season.

 

My wife and I are looking for a place to come to in Quebec to enjoy the Christmas Break at and do some Snowmobiling and other things.

 

We ride a 2016 Grand Touring SE so were looking for something that is likely to have snow and nice touring trails.

 

We want to be able to stay a week and go out for loop trips.

 

Was wondering if you could send or point me in the correct direction for your establishment where we could get some idea as to what your rates are, food if on site, other activities you may offer and what type of rooms you have available at that time.

 

We are thinking of heading out from here in Everett, probably Boxing Day and head home the weekend after News Years.

 

Thank you in advance for your assistance. We look forward to hearing from you.

 

 

 

 

Area sounds promising, but that motel has mixed reviews. Not sure what to believe. Sounds like basic accomdation and good food. I don't think it is my kind of place to stay for a week though. I know Quebec has awesome resorts in Laurentians. Maybe Nunz can help us out.

[extreme600]

Hey there.  Great place to go.  Basic, but clean, nice pool, great food, sledding atmosphere, gas on site, Groomers stationed right there, secure and FUN FUN FUN.  I agree with Nunz.  We have been there a couple times now and plan on going back again.  Diane is a SWEET HEART.  No BS from that lady.  They are spot on with their trails, signs and info.  They would never steer you wrong and they make sure you enjoy your stay.  They are in the main hub of the trails there.  Lot's of places to go and see.  A wide variety of terrain and very sccenic.  They love sledders!!!!!!!!!  Can't say anything negative about the place.   Enjoy you won't be disappointed.