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MLBLUE
WINTER2017
TRAVEL
words :: Dan Rubinstein
The massive basilica in Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, half an hour east of
Québec City on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, is the second
oldest Catholic pilgrimage site in NorthAmerica. Nearly one million visitors
come to the town every year to renew their faith at a shrine dedicated to
the grandmother of Jesus. Miracles have been happening here for more
than 350 years, say believers. Pillars inside the basilica’s front entrance
are adorned with crutches left behind by people whose ailments have
been cured.
Lit up against the black sky, the basilica looks impressive, but I’m drawn
to the hills that rise behind the town. Mont-Sainte-Anne boasts 71 runs
and a 625-metre vertical drop, but my pilgrimage stretches a fewminutes
farther up the road. Resorts of the Canadian Rockies runs both the
Mont-Sainte-Anne alpine slopes and NorthAmerica’s largest nordic ski
centre—200 kilometres of trails that receive an average annual snowfall of
around four metres, whichmakes for a long and heavenly nordic season.
And though there’s no shortage of steep, curving descents on the network
of paths through the forest on the flank of the Laurentians, world-class
grooming and wide corridors mean there’s little chance I’ll end up on
crutches at this mecca.
NORDICPILGRIMAGE
THROWAWAYYOURCRUTCHANDEMBRACEMONT-SAINTE-ANNE’SMASSIVENORDICTRAILSYSTEM
