'SH Ski & Snowboard Club hits Quebec
On January 5, the members
of Penn State's Ski and
Snowboard Club from
Harrisburg, Berks and
University Park, along with
Bloomsburg University
loaded low-budget buses
armed with ski equipment,
personal gear, and Pepsi.
Our destination: Mount Treblant, Quebec.
On our journey to Canada, we watched snow
boarding movies, Gladiator, Dumb and Dumber, and
some other movie that I do not remember since I had
a few too many Pepsis. I did manage to read most of
Irving Welsh's novel, Acid House. It was so good I
was laughing hysterically, out loud, while sitting by
myself.
During our treck (which lasted about 14 hours)
we made three stops; two in New York state, and one
in downtown Montreal. The Canadians were very
receptive, and they even spoke English, in addition
to the regional tribal tongue, "French." The crois
sants were phenomenal.
Upon our arrival in the ski
resort town of Treblant, we
unloaded into our hotel, the
"Khandahar."
The rooms were spotless,
and most of them had full
kitchens. Each room had a
two-person bed, as well as a
pull-out couch in the living
room and a fake fireplace.
In the morning, there was
a free breakfast buffet,
which I capitalized on four
out of the five days there.
On our first day, Monday,
we went for some free food
down in the hotel lobby,
and headed off to pick up
rentals for the two non-ski
or snowboard owning losers
of the group: Becky and I.
Once we filled out the
paperwork we were Off the beat and path: the view is almost as nice as the white powder.
promptly given our gear
and we headed to the slopes. It was Becky's first
time on skis, and Jesse and I were going to be the
instructors
A daytime view of
couple miles from
By MARKO PRIMORAC
Foreign Correspondant
We were all very impressed. The town was
very colorful, there were restaurants and bars
everywhere, and a handful of clubs.
To our pleasant surprise, there was a group of
drunken American students thundering about as a
mob, chanting, "Blame Canada! Blame Canada!"
I was fighting back the tears of pride...
The nightlife was banging, and everyone from
our group was partying like rock stars. In fact,
the entire hotel was filled with college students
drinking and playing beer pong. Suspicious pun
gent smoke and odors filled most floors of the
hotel, nearly every night of the trip. There was
also an outdoor hottub, and half-a-dozen bars
within walking distance.
Mount Treblant, which is a Unfortunately, the temperature began to drop
drastically, and the skiing turned into a battle
Montreal. against the elements. It did not matter though
"I can't slow
down," was the
catch-phrase of
the day. Jesse and
I did our best as
instructors. By
the end of the day,
and a few bruises,
Becky was skiing
like a pro.
The wind was
bad that day.
Since I always
forget something
on every trip, it
was only logical
that I forgot two
things for this
vacation: my gog
gles and face-
People walk the streets in downtown Mount Treblant, attempting to
keep warm. At night, the wind chill felt like it was minus 30.
mask. The wind
burn wasn't too
bad, but my eyelashes were freezing together, keep
ing my eyes shut as I shot down the slopes.
The first night, we explored the town. Doug,
Becky, and I walked around for about fifteen
minutes.
The clubs were wild
from what I heard I stuck to the a pizzeria-pub I dis
covered, Ya 000000! , and the exquisite beer they sold,
the Quebecois Borealis.
The Mount Treblant ski trip was a blast. The ski
ing was good, and everyone in our club is real easy
to get along with. If you didn't go, you're stupid.
Treblant has scenery, slopes, nightlife, friendly
locals, good food, and most important, good beer.
It's not really 14 hours away (except on budget
buslines), so try to get out there. Just remember to
say, "Ey?" at the end of every sentence and question
photos by Marko Primorac
since the slopes were
good, and the ice was not
too bad. Walking back
from the bars at night
really began to suck,
since the windchill made
the temperature feel like
it was minus 30.
We had snow storms,
as well as snow-makers,
so the powder was there
at all times. The absolute
best attribute Mount
Treblant had was the lift
that went straight through
the center of town to the
base of the mountain.
When you came down to
the base, you could ski
down to your hotel, since
they had snow-makers
keeping snow on the
ground.