Mont Orford - December 15, 2022

The 2022-23 season has finally begun. I arrived just before 8:30, and the temperature was already just above 0 degrees with a mostly cloudy sky. Four trails were available today, along the Giroux North quad, and the Magic Carpet. The Familliale, Magog, Jean d'Avignon, Mitaine were the choice of runs. Mother Nature hasn't been great to us to start off the season, but that will probably change for tomorrow. It's supposed to snow....finally. What we skied today was mostly machine made snow. The mountain ops team has done a great job to get what was open! Coverage was really good for the start of the season. 

The first run of the year was down the Famillale, a nice easy Green run. Coverage was great, and no ice or obstacles to avoid. At the top of Giroux it was a touch foggy, but not socked in. The fog had burned off by 9:30, however the main mountain was still quite foggy. There was a small wait for the quad to open, and then from there it was practically ski down, and on to the lift.

Looking Down the Famillale:

It was then on to the Magog, an Intermediate trail. Coverage was great as well. There were no early season "golf balls" that you'd normally see. Grooming all round was really well done. Third run was the Jean d'Avignon another Intermediate trail, and again nothing to worry about for early season obstacles. 

The Magog Looking Down the Trail: (The Trail Does Hang a Right Just Before the Bare Section)

The Jean d'Avignon:

Something new at Orford. The mountain has introduced an RFID system at all lifts. All daily lift tickets, and seasons passes are all on the system this year. "Paper" tickets are a thing of past. It worked well. I didn't have to get my RFID card reactivated!

After a small break at about 10, I managed 4 more runs, 9 in total for the first day not pushing it. I had a really great first day. I left at noon, and the sun was completely out. The mountain ops team did a really great job with what weather we'd been having lately for the start of the season. It's just the beginning! 

Some More Scenes From the Day: