My Hotel Geek

Last week end, I had the chance to join a group of hoteliers and enjoyed a perfect skiing day at Le Massif. This mountain is considered by the locals as the best mountain in Quebec with the best snow conditions. I could not agree more. The view over the St Lawrence River, as you ski down, is breathtaking.

Back in the 80s, avid skiers were going down the virgin mountain on fresh tracks and were going back up with a school bus. 25 years later and 3 high-speed quad chairs, Le Massif welcomes 170 000 visitors per year and is looking to increase its business. Le Massif was bought for 9,2 million dollars in 2002 by former Cirque du Soleil President, Daniel Gauthier, who’s injecting huge amount of money for his new endeavors. A series of projects have been announced including a train service from Quebec to La Malbaie, train stations, 400 new accommodation units (200 units at the base, 50 mid-mountain and 150 in Baie St-Paul), etc. The first phase of the project will be completed in 2013. I look forward to learning more about the housing projects. Currently on the mountain, there is no ski-in ski-out accommodation.

Another great highlight of my day on the mountain was meeting our 1994 Freestyle Olympic Gold medalist, Jean-Luc Brassard, spokesman for Le Massif since 2005. Jean-Luc is actually doing a great PR job and it at ease with his ambassador duties. It was an honor to ski with him after I skied with Nancy Green in Sun Peaks a few years ago.

I look forward to seeing the development of Le Massif and its area as Charlevoix will largely benefit from this investment. In the meantime, I strongly recommend to all of you skiers out there to escape to Le Massif this winter, it’s a true paradise…