Mont Tremblant - Part 2

We returned from Mont Tremblant on Sunday. It was a 7 1/2 hour ride, mostly through a snow storm, but we all arrived home safe and happy for the experience. The trip turned out to be a fantastic success -- one that I am sure these kids will remember for the rest of their lives.

Phil Weisner turned out to be the perfect co-chaperone. We see eye-to-eye on everything and it made the trip stress free as we handled the care, feeding and logistics for 11 teenagers. Not just any 11 teenagers, but great teenagers. This is a fantastic group of kids -- they were a pleasure to be with and we did not have a single incident of unpleasantness. These kids made group decisions, stayed together most of the time or broke into smaller groups based on the activity or skiing ability. It was a completely inclusive experience and everyone had a great time.

Since a lot of the kids were paying for some or all of their own expenses, we tried to be as economical as possible. We drove instead of flying, we found a wonderful realtor who got us a great deal on a beautiful 5 bedroom condo 2 miles from the mountain and we made all our own meals. Our Realtor, David Coderre, was more like a tour director -- he was able to provide us deep discounts on lift tickets and our group dog sledding activity. He came by the condo every evening to see how our day had gone and gave us advice on where to ski the next day and other activities we might enjoy. He was truly extraordinary! In the end, for transportation back and forth, six nights lodging, three meals a day, five days of lift tickets, a day of dog sledding and one evening spent at the water spa, it cost everyone $628 each. Not too many places you can have this much fun on vacation for $105 per day!

The group was 10 snow boarders and 3 skiers. We ranged from raw beginners to experts and skied (or boarded) everything from the beginners Magic Carpet area to tree skiing in the glades in fresh powder. I think everyone got better as the week went on and as we got to know the mountain better, the last few days became truly epic. Certainly, I will never forget them.

Everyone was a little sad upon returning but grateful for the experience. We are already trying to figure out how to do it again next year, which will be a challenge as most are off to college in the fall. I hope they figure it out because I would love to go back with them next year. My only fear is that a ton of their other friends also want to come along -- and some of their parents as well.

Pictures from the trip: http://2009monttremblanttrip.shutterfly.com/