(Rigaud) Although it only has a 120-metre drop, Mount Rigaud offers a superb playground made up of more than 20 km of trails, some of which are truly astonishing, even exotic!
Reserved for experts, the Couloir trail is literally embedded between two rock faces, the kind of scenery you would expect to see in the Rockies. “When I saw the trails, I was blown away,” says André Guilbault, a former Canadian champion who is responsible for developing the trail network at Mont Rigaud. “I saw the potential, so I went to see the director and offered him a job. I’ve been working here for five years!”
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
André Guilbeault raced for 18 years in the Canadian Senior Championship, collecting about fifty titles along the way. At 56, he is thinking about starting the competition again next year in the Masters category.
The enthusiast devotes 40 hours a week to developing the trail network. We were even able to test a brand new trail with him that is still unfinished and therefore does not yet have a name – the resort’s regulars will soon be asked for their suggestions. Accessible and offering a perfectly smooth pace, the trail is like the others that have been updated at Mont Rigaud, a project that required an investment of approximately $400,000 over the last five years and which has doubled the surface area of the network.
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PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
The most recent trails on Mount Rigaud are fully equipped in the enduro style.
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PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
In the Le Couloir track, reserved for experts, André Guilbeault used mortar to fix the natural stone covering.
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PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Large launch ramp type jumps have been built into the José-Le-Diable trail, but intermediate cyclists can always avoid them by going alongside them.
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“Our new trails are more enduro type, with burms, rollers, table tops, but we are also keeping our trails from the beginning, with more technical routes and conventional single track,” assures Luc Élie, owner of the station.
We have something for everyone, but we always have families in mind; our goal is for all levels to come and have fun here.
Luc Élie, owner of the Mont Rigaud-Ski and Mountain Bike resort
In fact, it is always possible to get around the obstacles, so that most of the intermediate slopes can be negotiated with moderation – beginners can also count on an initiation park at the base of the mountain.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
It will be possible to climb to the top of Mount Rigaud by chairlift starting next summer.
Mont Rigaud’s offerings will be even more diversified next year, as the centre has just signed a contract to add hooks to each of the chairs on the main chairlift, an investment of some $50,000 that will allow downhill enthusiasts to go up to the summit by taking the ski lift. Luc Élie, however, assures us that enduro and cross-country enthusiasts will be able to continue to visit the mountain without having to pay for the lift.
The mountain, which opened its first trails in 2011, has already welcomed more than 25,000 visitors this year, from the greater Vaudreuil-Soulanges area, eastern Ontario, the island of Montreal and even the South Shore, via Highway 30. It now has everything it needs to welcome more!
Visit the Mont Rigaud-Ski and Mountain Bike website