Skiing is a sport of progression, no matter who you are and what you have skied, there is always a segment of the sport where your skills can be elevated.  It can be venturing into the parks to learn to ride a rail, zipper lining a mogul field, hucking off a cliff or dropping into a glade to go tree skiing.  Over the past 10-15 years, ski area management at areas such as Jay Peak and Mont Sutton, began to see skiers going into the woods and saw them coming out smiling, so instead of banning the activity, they embraced glade skiing and began thinning the stands of trees to create glades.  Since those early days, tree skiing has become immensely popular with just about every resort and Mom and Pop area offering tree skiing.  However, many folks find tree skiing intimidating because it generally involves some of the more difficult conditions found in skiing such as moguls, powder, ice, cliffs and always involves trees!  In the woods, all species of trees are hardwoods, they all hurt regardless if it is one of Vermont’s famed Sugar Maples or a “soft” Balsam Fir – even saplings feel like you are involved in some sort of “Fifty Shades of Grey” whipping activity.

Many skiers have resorts such as Aspen, Whistler, Verbier, Kitzbühel and Portillo on their bucket list. However, after a recent trip to Le Massif de Charlevoix, I am convinced Massif should be, at a minimum on every East Coast skiers bucket list. In fact, the mountain is listed in Chris Santella’s book, “Fifty Places to Ski & Snowboard Before You Die”. Le Massif de Charlevoix, most commonly referred to as Le Massif (translation The Massive), is a Canadian ski resort located approximately one-hour east of Quebec City (7 hours from Boston and 9 hours from NYC via car), in the province of Quebec.

Spring doesn’t officially begin until begin until March 20, 2016, but now is the time to start thinking about one of my favorite times of the year, which is spring skiing! The longer day bring more sun, higher temperatures and soft snow, and with soft snow brings moguls, big moguls.

While the popularity of mogul skiing has dropped, since the heyday of the 80’s and 90’s, when just about every ski company made a mogul ski and just about every ski area held a bump contest in the Spring, it is still an enjoyable activity, especially when the bumps are soft and forgiving.