Mont-Tremblant

Joe Ryan, an American mining heir, opened the ski area in 1939, making it one of the oldest in North America; Intrawest bought it in 1991 and rebuilt the base as a pedestrian village in painted Quebec vernacular style, steep roofs in strong colours stacked up the slope, which is either charming or a theme park depending on your view. The mountain has a vertical drop of about six hundred and forty-five metres, the largest in the Laurentians. A gondola runs year-round. The Algonquin name means trembling mountain, from a story about spirits disturbed by anyone who violated the natural order.

History

Algonquins lived here before European settlement, and the name of the mountain comes from them. The parish priest Antoine Labelle brought settlers in 1872, and the parish was formally established in 1879; a railway from Montreal reached Saint-Jovite in 1892 and Lac Mercier in 1904, and the village grew around that station, living on farming and logging. Joseph Bondurant Ryan's Mont-Tremblant Lodge ran its first chair lift in 1939, and his family sold the resort to a group of investors in 1965 (Wikipedia, Mont-Tremblant).

What you'll find

• The pedestrian village - painted vernacular buildings stacked up the slope.
• The gondola - a year-round lift to the summit.
• The 645-metre drop - the largest ski vertical in the Laurentians.
• The national park - a large provincial park behind the resort with lakes.

When to go

December to March for skiing, June to October for hiking, biking and autumn colour, which peaks in early October. The village operates year-round with events most weekends.

Good to know

The village is a purpose-built commercial development, not a historic town, and prices reflect it. Lift queues and parking are heavy on winter weekends. Accommodation is expensive.

Nearby

The P'tit Train du Nord passes; Montreal lies south.

Key facts