MOUNTAIN LIFE - Blue Mountains | Winter 2019

42 ML BLUE WINTER 2019 There’s a certain magic in ski trips. You dream about them for weeks ahead, you study the trail maps online, you browse photos of the resorts and watch the weather, hoping for the type of snowstorms that start just after you’ve arrived and hopefully close the highways so you get the place all to yourselves. When the day arrives, you’re usually up early, leaving in the wee hours, butterflies in your belly, sipping coffee, listening to good tunes on the road, and feeling the anticipation of good things to come. You’re with your peeps, about to shred deep pow. What could be better? The plane ride to BC, however, can indeed be a bit of a buzz-kill. So is going through security. Planes rides: Meh. Whatever. So this year, our usual crew of guys decided to go east. Road trip. Our destination: the fabled eastern champagne powder and steeps at both Le Massif de Charlevoix and then onto Mont-Sainte-Anne. We were pumped. Was Highway 401 a bit of a buzzkill? Sure. The excitement of stopping at Tims for some cardboard sandwiches and watery coffee has long ago lost its shine. But whatever. We cranked some tunes and rolled on east, navigating transport trucks and barreling down what we dubbed the New Powder Freeway, Eastern Route: the 401. RESORT TRIP POWDER FREEWAY EAST: MISSION QUÉBEC words :: Philip Nathans