Mont Tremblant to Québec

I am so glad we stopped in Mont Tremblant. When I first got onto couchsurfing.com I started a thread on the messageboard about the documentary and asked for people who were interested in participating. Karen got in touch with me, and I figured we could pop by between Montreal and Québec, and so it ended up on the schedule. I had no idea what to expect, and I'm finding that's the best way to travel. No expectations, and no preconceptions.

The village of Mont Tremblant has the feel of a Swiss town nestled in the Alps. There are some fundamental differences, but the feel is the same. With creperies and cafés and specialty resort shoppes. Dylan, Frank's son, was our guide for the day. He took us around the village, and up the lift. We hooked up with the ski patrol and hung out with them for some time, interviewing patrollers including Victoria Fletcher, a World Cup Telemark Skier. We also got to meet Luc Bombardier, who's devised a sort of steadycam to be skied with, and he went down the hill with Victoria to film her skiing. Awesome footage, can't wait to play with that.

To top off the day, they agreed to take us down the run on a patrol toboggan - Dylan, Neil and myself all on one. It was like going down the hill headfirst at top speed. They had a patroller at the front and one behind to keep us steady and upright, but it was still a close call a couple of times. Snow flew everywhere, and little ice nuggets pelted our faces. I was sitting in the middle and had my head buried against Dylan's back, and my fingers digging into his shoulders. Neil was stuck at the back and was leaning back, so he didn't have the same cover I did. But I could hear him howling and laughing all the way down the hill. It was such a rush.

That pretty much wiped us out for the rest of the day. I went out with Karen after she got off work, and I was just exhausted. Though I did try the sampler of the locally brewed beers - the wheat beer was awesome.

And now off to Québec. (The first thing I learned about the province Québec, the capital is also referred to as Québec, not Quebec City. Hence the confusion, which will probably continue.) We have to go back through Montreal, but we won't be stopping to do interviews here until the route back. What with stopping in Ottawa instead of Montreal, and then staying an extra night in Mont Tremblant, we gotta get moving before the whole schedule goes completely out the window.