Hunting the ghosts of Monts Valin

After years of pandemic restrictions, groups of friends, and even complete strangers, can finally come together in the warmth of shelters. We are taking advantage of this great comeback to go ghost hunting…those of Monts Valin, of course.

At the Discovery and Visitors Center of Parc national des Monts-Valin, however, we are advised to lower our expectations: a recent windstorm has scared away the ghosts – the gusts have blown some of the snow that covered the conifers and their looked like ghosts. Bah, we will certainly succeed in flushing out some of them.

Our first objective is the L’Ulysse refuge, up there in the Monts Valin massif. We could do part of the shuttle ride (the famous Ghost Express), but it would be a shame to miss the very beautiful trails that lead to the refuges. However, we opt for the transport of one piece of luggage. A little luxury never hurt anyone.

Several routes are available to us. We choose the popular path that leads to the Tête de Chien belvedere. As it is well typed by the passage of hikers, we hang the snowshoes on the backpack and proceed on foot.

Along the way, we can play a little guessing game organized by park employees: signs provide various clues to guess the identity of a mystery beast. Succeeding in identifying the animal from the first clue confers a large number of points.

At Tête de Chien, the panorama is obviously spectacular. Another thing arouses our attention: a little further down, we see large round tracks in the snow. Ha ha! Here is another guessing game, but very real this time: what is the mystery beast? I’m leaning towards the lynx, but unfortunately there’s no sign next to it to give me the right answer.

After the lookout, we take a less busy trail that requires snowshoes.

This portion is magnificent: the narrow path skirts large boulders covered in snow and zigzags between the birches.

A little higher, the wind piled up and flattened the snow on the hillside. I take a step, I see cracks appear and a plaque begins to slide down. Nothing very dangerous, but it gives an idea, on a small scale, of the avalanche phenomenon linked to wind slabs.

Nice meeting

After this little adventure, we reach the L’Ulysse refuge. A nice surprise awaits us: skiers, Emanuel Pinochet and Charles Michaud, arrived before us and lit the fire. It is deliciously warm.

That’s all the fun of sharing hideaways with strangers. During the pandemic, only family bubbles could take advantage of shelters. It is now back to normal. You can meet nice people.

We chat, compare our experiences, try to find common acquaintances and end up playing dice together while sipping a small drink. We also share the chores of fire (putting a log in the stove once in a while during the night so as not to wake up in an icy refuge in the early morning) and water (fetching immaculate snow to make it melt). A few spruce needles still slipped through the snow, which gives the water a very good taste.

A light snow fell during the night. One can clearly see the tracks of a small animal that explored the surroundings of the refuge. Owl, another riddle, another mystery animal. After consulting a small pamphlet on animal tracks, I decide that it is an American marten and I baptize it Penelope.

Our new skier friends leave the L’Ulysse refuge before us. We follow them on a pretty path that runs along frozen ponds bathed in sunlight and which sinks between rock walls.

The Monts Valin massif was formed when magma cooled below the ground surface, becoming a very hard mass of anorthosite. The surface eventually eroded, leaving this mass to emerge. The passage of glaciers has shaped the massif a little more to give it its current appearance.

As we approach Le Fantôme hut, we begin to see spruce trees bent under the snow. The wind has done its work, the tallest conifers have lost their white coat.

But at their feet, sheltered, there remain small, low-legged ghosts. There are also spruce trees that have only kept a pile of snow on their tops: they thus seem to have the head of a marshmallow.

We climb to Pic Dubuc. At 984 m, it is the summit of the entire Monts Valin massif. The view is magnificent, but it is very windy. The temperature drops rapidly and we begin our retreat towards the refuge.

Once again Emanuel and Charles arrived before us and put some logs in the stove. It is a pleasure to have a good meal in the heat, to take revenge at the game of dice. Someone, however, takes a look outside: the sky is completely clear, the stars are bright, the constellation of Orion extends above the refuge. It’s an extraordinary sight, but it’s still nice to take refuge inside in a good sleeping bag for the night.

Other riddles before going home

The sun is out in the early morning. We bundle up for our last day of snowshoeing. The path descends, descends constantly. Fresh tracks enamel the snow. The guessing game continues: a fox has passed here, recognizable by its steps made one in front of the other.

In a clearing, there seems to have been a convent of martens: there are traces that come and go everywhere. But maybe it is one and the same hyperactive marten.

On Lake Gabriel, we see a black mass far from the banks. A bear ? No, he should sleep in his den. A beaver ? Maybe. But the mass does not move as we approach. And there are no tracks around it, which would suggest that it is just a rock (rocks don’t usually leave footprints in the snow).

As the path finishes descending the massif, traces suggest a tragedy. A hare has made several leaps and then, nothing, the tracks stop in the middle of nowhere. Obviously, there is an owl or owl feasting somewhere.

A little before the Hibernal refuge (where it would have been possible to spend an additional night), recognizable traces appear among all. They are those of a moose. Not crazy, he appreciates the fact of walking from time to time on a well-trodden path. I look to the right, to the left, I don’t see him. But maybe he is watching me calmly, well hidden in the forest. After all, we are at his home here. We are just passing through.