Sir Sam’s Ski Resort – Day 2 can be found here.
Up bright and early at 7 am. Fed the kids, loaded everyone in the car and then left for Sir Sam’s at 8:30 am. We learned our lesson from yesterday, and arrived with time to spare. Turns out that Google Maps was hallucinating a road in our area, so that explained our previous wrong turn.
The process went even smoother today – we’ll probably leave even later tomorrow, as we didn’t need a full 30 minutes to drive, pick up lift tickets, and get our equipment ready. 20 minutes will be more than enough.
And in other Sir Sam’s trivia – you can actually rent a locker here for the season! A rare find, indeed
The temperature had dipped in the night. The conditions were mildly icy but better than the previous day’s slushy slopes. It was only about -4 Celsius, though, so no drastic changes in terms of the clothing required.
We enjoyed quite a few runs – one after the next – grateful to have learned the lay of the land. The icy sheen came off the hill, and the conditions improved further. We were excited to get over to the Eagle’s View lift and explore the second half of the hill. And maybe – if we were lucky – they would also open the far side of the lift.c
But it was not meant to be. The clock struck 10 am, and we were still waiting for a second chairlift to open.
We tried to ask at the front desk to see if they had a sense of when it might get underway, but they didn’t have any information. They tried calling maintenance, but no answer. Hmmm.
Meanwhile, traffic was building at the hill. The lines were getting longer, and longer. We took a brief hot chocolate break in the hopes that the lift would be open when we finished. No such luck.
We re-joined the long-and-growing line, growing increasingly resigned to only skiing roughly 1/3 of the hill today when – huzzah! – the second lift finally opened.
So we were able to get in a few new runs, and the lines soon grew much shorter.
It wasn’t a long day today. We were all a bit stiff from the day before, so we headed off for lunch at 11:10 am. We beat the lunch rush, and were soon enjoying our chalet fare inside the pub.
The rest of the dining area isn’t bad, either:
(The pub has its own separate menu, but doesn’t start serving until 2 pm. In the mean time, guests are welcome to use those those tables while eating from the main restaurant.)
My son and I decided to switch it up today, and ordered burgers instead of chicken fingers.
Another day, another food item artfully photographed to hide the bite I took from it before I remembered to take this picture
My wife once again opted for the grilled cheese, while our daughter again had the hot dog. We also opted to share a single order of fries rather than each ordering our own. One order was plenty for all four of us.
It’s not cheap – a hamburger with cheese costs $15 – but it was tasty. Overall, I’d say the hot dog represents the best value for money at $8.
We briefly debated going back out for another few runs, but majority ruled and we elected to head back to our rental. The kids played outside for ages – the forest setting and playground keeping them thoroughly entertained. I had a brief nap, then headed to the nearby general store to pick up a few odds and sundry.
The shop was surprisingly well stocked, considering its size. There was a broad range of fresh and packaged foods, including a decent selection of wine and beer. You might struggle if you’re particular about brands or certain details, but overall you’ll find what you need.
(I wasn’t able to find whole milk in bags, for instance, but I did find 2%. We could’ve gotten whole milk if we’d opted for smaller cartons instead.)
Plus where else can you find both your mail and a tourist hoodie within arm’s reach at the same time?
Meanwhile, my wife had taken the kids out for a walk to see whether – in better conditions – we would have been able to ski in and ski out from this property.
There were obstacles barring our path…
… But eventually Sir Sam’s came into view
And the verdict? Probably! There is a tree across the end of the trail, but overall this seems easier to manage than it would have been at Tremblant, where we had to hike up a section of ski hill in order to make our way back to our condo. But that’s a story for another day.
The only potential challenge to ski in / ski out here is that you can only pick up your lift pass on the same day. So it’s unclear whether the lift attendants would let us board the far lift and then ski across to the chalet. But certainly it would work fine on the skiing out, thanks in part to the return trip being downhill.
With that question settled – or at least as settled as it could be, given the conditions – we sat down to finish Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, which was followed by a delicious dinner of bacon mac ‘n’ cheese.
The kids were utterly wiped at this point, and headed off to bed around 7 pm. The adults weren’t far behind them.
It was important that we get our rest – particularly with both skiing and dog sledding on the agenda for tomorrow!
Continue reading Sir Sam’s Ski Resort – Day 4.