This is my second part of the trip after the Sutton/Owl’s Head portion.
My buddy Bernie and I drove up to the Gaspésie to ski and do an AST1 course (Canadian equivalent of the AIARE 1). We both independently met a guide at the Boston Ski Expo named Phil Gautier. Bernie organized talking with Phil and setting up the trip. We did three days of skiing and 1 day of class room learning with Phil.
Before I get into the trip details I just want to share this messed up piece of pizza I ate. We were at a pizza shop in town up in the Gaspésie. The lady working the counter didn’t speak English. I don’t eat meat so I just asked for two slices of champignon pizza. They gave me the pizza along with two pads of butter. When I bit into the pizza I discovered that instead of using sauce they used a layer of pan seared bologna. I ate it any way cause I don’t waste food but man I was dying laughing in this pizza shop.
Now onto some info on Phil. Phil wrote the guide book on skiing in the Gaspésie, worked as an avalanche forecaster in the area, and has been guide for over 20 years. He has guided on every continent and stated he skied 12 months a year for 15 years. He has worked as a safety coordinator for a Redbull and on ton’s of TV shows over the years. In short Phil is a man, myth, and legend. If you met him out in the wild like I did you would never know that. He is humble and keeps a low profile. Everyone in the area knew Phil. Every where we drove, skied, or skinned with Phil we met someone he knew. It was awesome to be able to see the area and ski community of the Gaspésie through his lens.
Doing the AST1 class with two people and 1 guide over 4 days was a dream. We skied during the day, had lessons on the skin track, and did more learning at night. Phil was able to present information in the field to give real life experience. The snow pack being pretty deep for this time of year along with many different wind slab problems lent itself to a great outdoor classroom to learn in. The first day Phil just wanted to get to know us. We went to Mont Ernest-LaForce (2700ft) and skied a few laps.
The conditions were unreal. We were skiing light fluffy snow 1-2 ft deep on top the snow pack. We skied through some beautiful low angle well spaced birch forests. It was like skiing in Japan. It will probably be the best snow I ski this year. After skiing later that night Phil came over and we worked on doing beacon searches in backyard.
The next day proved to be a difficult day of skinning and skiing. We went to Mines Madeleine which had 6km skin to a hut and then a skin up the side of mountain. I think we did 4.5miles of skinning that day. The wind was blowing and the visibility was low so we couldn’t get up high here.
We did some defensive skiing and skied back out the way we came. On the way out Phil dug a pit to teach us about Stratigraphy (snow pack layers).
The next day Phil brought us to a to backcountry area called the Mélèze that had just officially opened. On the drive up to the trail head we saw a pair of moose being considerate and using the moose crossing.
The skin up to the skiing was super fun. We went through some cool avy terrain and up into alpine terrain. The Mélèze is a larch tree which grows well in the area we were skiing. The stands made for some really fun skiing.
We stopped skinning as we started to get to the transition from challenging to complex terrain. The visibility again was poor up high. We skied down an open alpine field and into a sparse larch glade. The snow quality again was amazing and was a 10/10 run. Phil dug a hasty pit and noted the conditions. After skiing we stopped by the avalanche center and Phil gave a report.
That evening I took advantage of the balmy weather to take a dip in the St. Lawrence Sea Way.
Later that night we went to a brewery to attend a “State Of The Snowpack” talk. It was in French so I understood absolutely none of it. After skiing for three day’s with Phil we met enough people that were able to mingle and had fun. We met the back country ski shop owner Matt and if you get a chance to go up visit his shop!
The final day Phil invited us into his home for some classroom learning. We also did some companion rescue training in his backyard. We dug a big hole in his snow bank to practice shoveling!
All in all the trip was fantastic. We learned a lot and I definitely can’t wait to go up and ski in the Gaspésie again. If anyone is heading up there I highly recommend talking to Phil!
