During our recent ski trip, we had the chance to finally check out Mont Bellevue in Sherbrooke. It's located about 50 minutes away from my in-laws in Newport, VT, and on our other visits we've focused on the larger Eastern Townships areas. We discovered that they have a 2 hour ticket on weekends for a little less than $15 USD, so the price and conditions were right to make it over there.
We met up with our friend and fellow ski history buff Paul Giddings, who was gracious enough to give us the full tour of the area.
From left to right, Jeremy, Paul, and Scott
Mont Bellevue has 10 trails, and a 255' vertical drop (though official lift installations show less, it was definitely 255'). All the trails are beginner or intermediate in difficulty. There are no steep pitches on the mountain. It is served by a newer Doppelmayr quad, and a Magic Carpet. Sadly, one of their Pomas is no longer in service but isn't officially dead yet. Another poma was removed several years ago and is now a lift line.
Trail map:
Bottom of quad
Down the quad lift line
Summit area and giant cross
Semi-lost Poma
Most of the mountain was open, with packed powder conditions. They were making snow in the terrain park.
Trail 4, which had the "steepest" drop at the top of any trail
Bottom of Trail 3
Trail 4A, former Poma lift line
After getting in 10 runs, we headed over to Siboire, a microbrewery in Sherbrooke, recommended by Paul. An excellent choice! The beers were fantastic and the food was great.
Beer selection, and note the bike frames for lighting
My venison burger
Scott's salmon tartare. I'm not a big tartare fan, but I tried a bit and it was quite good.
Always nice to venture into Quebec. There's a lot to do just over the VT border and Sherbrooke has come a long way, along with Magog, compared to 25-30 years ago when I was in college. Before leaving, we stopped by Provigo (supermarket) and picked up some things we can't get back home - all kinds of pate (like kangaroo with kumquats, and deer with berries), ketchup potato chips, pain du chocolate, and some local beer.
