tremblant

Date traveled: February 22-24, 2019

I planned to ski but it’s just so damn expensive to try. Growing up in flat and relatively mild southwestern Ontario, skiing was reserved for rich people, aka no one I actually knew. I’d still like to try it sometime when I can dedicate myself to an expensive cold day of effort to learning a new kinesthetic skill, but this trip ended up being about a low-key weekend of walking around and taking baths.

I haven’t seen too many urban deer since living in Victoria, and when I do it always makes me smile. I know you’re not supposed to feed them, but I probably would if I had deer food on me and they’d take it.

This particular deer family was looking for garbage to eat. The way they posed with their ears forward reminded of my rabbit when he’s showing attitude.

Aside from what comes along with hyper-tourist areas, which I’ve described at length in previous posts, Tremblant had another layer to it. It reminded me of some books I’ve read from the early 1900s where the author described people going on holidays. There were a bunch of rich people staying in the same area, and how prestigious your holiday was seemed to depend a lot on who else was there when you were. There was lots of talk of what aristocracy were around, class, and those sorts of things.

Another thing the environment reminded me of is when I’ve found myself accidentally stumbling upon a sub-culture I was previously only vaguely aware of. When going to the beach in Tofino for the first time, I saw dozens of people in wet suits charging into the waves and trying to stand on their boards. These people were in small groups, all interacting with each other in their surfer community. In Tremblant, the type of people who were there were much different – upper middle class families with children, mostly – but there was an obvious grouping that I had never come across before in such a large number. I was a clear outsider.

It feels like it would be a cool place to do a documentary, or some kind of investigative journalism piece – finding out the stories of all the people and what brought them there, what ties them together.

One thing I like about places with very specific activities like Tremblant is at night, you can wind down without feeling too guilty that you aren’t making the most of the trip. All the skiing is done during the day, then people might have dinner and drinks after – and I’m sure there are bars for the young folks, i.e. people my age and younger – but you can also wind down a bit after the sun goes down, sit in a jacuzzi and watch bad reality tv. I recommend Three Wives One Husband for this particular trip.

I’m not sure what it is about winter sports and Beavertails in Canada, but the only places I see Beavertail stands are around at Banff, Tremblant and the Rideau Canal in the winter.

I wouldn’t exactly consider Tremblant rural, but the surrounding areas are. It’s interesting to me that rural parts in one province are so different from in other provinces. Rural Ontario, rural Quebec, and rural BC have such different cultures, and in a lot of ways, different landscapes as well. Even though they get all the attention and tourists, urban areas are much more interchangeable, I think, and increasingly so.

Tremblant was one of the last places that could reasonably be driven to for a short weekend or a day trip that I hadn’t yet gone to. I’ll add it to the long list of places I would go again if it just so happened to fall into place but not one I am aching to revisit.