It’s not very often that you’ll find me going to a big city…there’s something about that much pavement, that much noise, and that many people that gives me the willies.  But  some cities are exceptions, and Montreal is one of them.  It’s more open than most cities, has lots of interesting things to do, and a little less “bustling” feel to it…and GREAT food.  No, great CHEAP food…so two of my hot buttons get pushed!  My parents, Edie & Warner, love the place, too, and they’re fun to travel with, so we decided to go up together for a couple of days during Susan’s winter break.

Does this makes sense…head for one of the coldest cities on the planet in January?  Did I mention that I’m cheap?   Lodging deals in Montreal are fantastic at that time of year, since lots of other people  don’t like the cold.  And we’ve got all this wicked cool outdoors gear, so we can stay wicked warm.  Life is good.  And there are coffee shops all over the place, so the cold is an excuse to sip an afternoon latte…better still.  And then there’s the food…

My mother’s the ultimate researcher.  Give her a week and a computer, and she’ll have rated every restaurant in a city.  In Montreal, that’s about, oh, 5,000 restaurants…and she had them ALL rated by quality, price, and location.  Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration, but not  much!  She’d narrowed things down to about a dozen restaurants within walking distance of the hotel.   I always love the Indian food up there…it may be different ingredients, different cooking styles, but it’s always great, so that was an automatic.  Beyond that, she’d found Magdala, an Ethiopian restaurant that sounded fantastic…and it was!  Truly an experience, beyond the food itself.

When not eating, we spent a lot of time at the Biodome–a must-do when you’re up there.  Different habitats, different viewing angles, allow you to see the natural world in a whole new way.  Imagine being able to see a beaver swimming from below, or a whole array of northern ocean fish right next to you, then wandering through a tropical rainforest! Just amazing!  You’ll come away with a different understanding of our world…but no, you can’t take one of the penguins home.

But, this is EasternSlopes.com, and we’re about outdoors activities (mostly).  And it’s hard to do that in the middle of a city.  Luckily, Montreal  sits just west of an area of Quebec called The Eastern Townships, a compact, picturesque region where my partner Tim and his new bride Marilyn honeymooned this last fall, and that just happens to have several excellent downhill ski areas!  That makes it a no brainer: go East, young(ish) man!

But, we were traveling in a small car with 4 adults. A dilemma: how to carry all of our stuff?  Clothes, skis, boots, poles… just not enough room.  It’s the same dilemma that a lot of airline passengers face.  You’re headed to Montreal for a conference, and you’d love to get a couple of days of skiing in…but handling all that luggage is a pain (not to mention expensive, given the changes in the way airlines are making you pay).

Luckily, there’s a great solution…rent!  It used to be that rental skis were atrocious: heavy,dull, unresponsive junk.  But that’s totally changed.  Rentals are now  “real” skis…the same ones you can buy in a ski shop. And most areas have several models,  and can fit them to your height, weight, skiing style.  Add to that fresh tuning, and it becomes a bargain to rent …plus you get to try some different skis!  Pack your own clothes for comfort and your own boots and rent everything else.  One caution…make sure that the area rents helmets, or bring your own.  Boots, helmet, goggles, and clothing fit in one midsized bag.

With the decision made about how to ski, the question remained of where.  With that many ski areas, it’s a tough choice!  We finally decided on SkiBromont.com (easy marketing to

change the name to the website’s name, apparently!), for several reasons.  First, it’s about 5 minutes off Autoroute 10,  the main route east from Montreal.  Second, it’s got the most extensive snowmaking north of the border; in early January, that makes  good conditions much likelier.  Third, they’ve got an extensive rental shop, with high-performance skis.  Friendly people on the phone helped me organize our rentals and tickets, and everything was waiting for us when we arrived!  Sweet.

The Eastern Townships, as you head east from Montreal, present a fascinating topography.  Approached from that angle,  they’re as flat as Kansas…and then, out of nowhere, a mountain appears.  And another.  And another.  Pretty soon, we could see trails on different mountains…and my parents asked “which one is Bromont?”  That was easy…the one covered with plumes from snowmaking.  Hmm…time to get down to some skiing!

Now, if you’ve been paying close attention, you may be wondering…”what about the ‘rents?”  Good question…it’s sort of rude to leave them sitting in the lodge while we have fun.  Well…that’s one of the wonders of the Eastern Townships.  There’s a ton of stuff to do, even in winter!  Depending on your likes, there’s every kind of outdoor sport,  historic sites, zoos, museums; pick your favorite.  They couldn’t wait for us to get out of the car so  they could explore.  We’d arranged to stay at the Chateau Bromont (more on that later!), which isn’t part of SkiBromont.com, but is close enough that we could take a shuttle bus or walk, so they could do their thing without worrying about picking us up.

Off they went…and  off we went into the rental shop. I’d asked for some high-performance skis, and they put me on the Rossignol Avenger 82Ti, one of Rossi’s hottest new skis.  For Susan, they had Rossignol Attraxion 3s, a 2009 model…not quite as high performance, perfect for her intermediate skiing skills.  Both pairs were in excellent condition, and freshly tuned.  Mine were a blast…the titanium layer adds a “snap” to the exit from corners that’s just plain fun. In the soft stuff along the edges of the trails, they were controllable and confident.  Susan skied smoothly on hers, happily handling whatever terrain we covered. Certainly, one of my goals in trying rentals was met: I found a ski  I want to try again!

Speaking of terrain, Bromont’s got 7 faces, so there’s always something in sun or shade.  And, depending on where the last snowstorm has come from, there’ll be more natural snow in unpredictable places.  When we were there, the storm had clearly come in from the southwest, turning the “Versant de la Cote Ouest” into a confectioner’s sugar fairyland.  The skiing was fun, but the view was incredible.  Speaking of the skiing,

here’s a hint:  watch the groomers.  Bromont’s got an unusual business plan; they have a HUGE number of season pass holders, and most of them are for weeknight skiing.  They have more lit terrain than any mountain in North America, and Montreal is only an hour away. Another attraction: a nice slopeside restaurant/bar area.  Because of the constant skiing, they constantly groom, all day and night.  So…midafternoon,  when the slopes always get scratchy, we watched for the closed-off trails that were being groomed, then joined the people waiting to hit those slopes.  First tracks on soft corduroy at 2 p.m!  What a blast!

Not only was it a blast, but it was a bargain.  $48 Canadian (roughly $50 U.S. as this is written) isn’t much to spend for a mountain with 135 trails, glades everywhere, fresh grooming, and easy access.  So far, so good…now we can only hope that my parents had fun, and that our lodging would be good.  Since it was such a short distance, we walked over…and into an unexpected experience.  Chateau Bromont looks like it might be a typical slopeside “grand” hotel…imposing on the outside, rustic in the foyer, functional but unexciting in the rooms.  Um…no.  The lobby alone was a shock…contemporary and elegant.  And our room had an electric fireplace (some rooms have the real thing) for ambiance, a big, elegant shower, interesting decorations.  Much different, and much better, than I’d expected!  We headed over to my parents’ room…theirs was of the same quality; better than our 4-star hotel in Montreal, by far!  Oh, please…let the dining room live up to the bedrooms…

How had my parents had fared in their wandering?  They certainly hadn’t been bored!  Given that the weather wasn’t conducive to outdoor activities, they’d focused on the indoors ones.  The Eastern Townships are a culinary wonder, with food of all sorts being raised, artisan cheeses produced, even a surprising range of wines. Here’s an amazing statistic…the  Brome Lake Duck Farm produces…hold on to your hat…40,000 ducks a week!  That’s a lot of mallard or moulard, however you slice it (actually, they raise a version of Peking duck).  They’d had a chance to go to one winery, L’Orpailleur, which is one of many in the Townships, and wins loads of awards.  Being good boys and girls, they’d limited their sampling, but enjoyed the “Vin de Glace” dessert wine…who said that you can’t make good wine in the northlands?  While they were limited in how much wine they could drink, chocolate was another matter…and how can you resist a “museum of chocolate”???  No kidding, the Musee du Chocolat is exactly what it sounds like.  You can see the history of chocolate, how it’s produced,  sculptures and frescoes in chocolate…and incidentally, actually taste some of the stuff.  Shocking.  They had what they pronounced as the best hot chocolate they’d ever had…and were told exactly how it was made.  Better still, they brought us some of the chocolate back and told me how to do it.  Mmmm…we got to ski, and still get the chocolate!  With that, and some shopping at boutiques, they’d filled their day, and only wished they had more time.  Sorry, Mom, Dad…next trip!

By now, it was time to head down to dinner.  The main restaurant at Chateau Bromont, Les Quatre Canards, follows classic French tradition, but with a real focus on local ingredients.  Duck (of course!), foie gras, local cheeses and meats…the list goes on.  And the food lived up to the reputation…everything was beautifully prepared and presented, the flavors of the main ingredients complemented but not covered by the exquisite sauces.  Yes, we had the duck, and it was fantastic…not greasy or fatty at all, as duck often can be.  It didn’t hurt that while we ate, we could look across at the mountain, lit up like a Christmas tree for night skiing.  And look down at the ski area’s parking lot…packed on a Wednesday night!

By the way, SkiBromont.com offers packages with a number of area hotels, including Chateau Bromont.  Tip: The bargain deal is with Motel Bromont (no relation to the Chateau!), which has kitchenettes.  In the village of Bromont there’s a wonderful Metro supermarket with interesting local foods, as well as the usual things…create your own smorgasbord!

The night,was peaceful and comfortable in our room, and the few times that I woke up, I could see the fleet of groomers working.  4 A.M., 6 A.M…and even at 8 when we were having our breakfast, they were still at it!  Clearly, SkiBromont.com is obsessed with giving skiers the best snow that they can.

Alas, we had to head back south, so no skiing for us.  But we couldn’t leave the Eastern Townships without one last stop: Lunch!  In Magog, at the head of Lake Memphremagog, at L’Ancrage, lunch was of the same quality as everything we’d eaten over the previous few days, with a bonus…out the window, we watched skaters on Memphremagog being pulled along by parasails, and “normal” skaters on a path that the town maintains around the waterfront.  It was like a scene out of Hans Christian Andersen…peaceful, rustic, and charming, and a lovely way to end this trip to the Eastern Townships.  But, summer is coming…and they  have several mountain bike parks…hmm…