Spring is always very pleasant for both recreational and competitive skiers. It’s warmer, the sun is stronger and the barbecues are showing up pretty well everywhere.

Young competition skiers have spent a fairly intensive training season. Now’s the time to relax the pressure and enjoy the parks and glades, in other words, to have fun skiing.

This past year I really enjoyed discovering Tremblant’s new glades, including Taïga, which is superb. I love skiing in it, particularly with my young daughters. I think that Tremblant did a very good thing in laying out some glades in particular, as doing so provides more usable terrain.

I’d like to emphasize that from my point of view, the conditions this season on the groomed trails were remarkable. I’m thinking of the Jasey-jay Anderson, the Erik Guay, and the Rigodon, which were magnificent. We have been very lucky up to now. We’ll see what March brings.

Spring skiing

Compared to the rest of the season when we got out on the slopes early to take advantage of the best possible conditions, I ski a little later on spring mornings to take advantage of the moguls and glades.

In the morning, the snow is still icy and provides good ski conditions for training. But personally, I prefer skiing the bumps when they’re soft, particularly on the North Side.

I’m particularly fond of Expo. You can see all of it from the bottom of the run. The lift, which is right beside the run, lets you watch the good skiers at work in the moguls and the folks, comfortably seated in their chairs, shout out encouragement. I must admit that I take a certain pleasure in going all out in those same bumps.

Last year, we had fun playing a game with my oldest daughter and her friends. I had to watch them ski the moguls their very best, with me seated comfortably on the deck at the base of the slopes. If they didn’t ski well, I went back up with them.

The youngsters gave their all so they could ski alone and in this way link up their runs, which allowed me to sip a good cold beer in the sunshine.

Debriefing the season

It’s always good to talk about the season: what was good and less good. What you can work on for next season. It’s also a good idea to think about what our summer will look like.

You want to keep the youngsters engaged in one or several sports to ensure they’re in good physical shape the following year. It’s important to plan: play soccer, rugby, baseball….

From my perspective, it’s also important to give our youngsters more freedom in springtime so they have happy memories of the season and will feel like getting back on their skis come November. They’ve spent the season training. There have been a number of races, some of which went well, others less so.

If you push training too hard, you can end up with a negative effect.

The technical side: the position to adopt

In soft snow, we have to stay solid on our skis, with knees bent. The snow can play tricks on us, otherwise. On a firm base, we prefer to leave a wider track to have more stability.

I’m not a moguls expert and it would be better to ask advice from Alex Bilodeau and Mikaël Kingsbury, but when you see them ski the bumps you notice that they always keep their legs stuck tight together, which gives them more space to manoeuvre in the bumps.

Happy spring skiing!

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