We had kept today open as the second day we might go skiing.  However, after spending Tuesday afternoon snowploughing down the mountain, Nadine’s legs were still rather sore.  Instead, we made today another day to relax.

Nadine wanted to explore the old village of Mont Tremblant, which was in the valley on the other side of the lake, about a 10-minute drive away.  The hotel valet shuttled us over there in the hotel’s brand new 7-series BMW.  Once there, we explored the old streets, walked around some of the trails, had a coffee in a local restaurant and then returned to the hotel.

We mostly spent the day relaxing.

In the evening, we wanted to have dinner at the Mont Tremblant casino, which has a very nice restaurant.  They’re generally only open Thursday through Saturday evenings, so this was our first chance to get there.  There is a dedicated casino gondola to take guests over to the casino, which is not located right in the village, but is up and around the mountain a bit.  Unfortunately, that gondola doesn’t run on Thursdays.  Instead, we had the valet drive us over in the BMW again!

Before dinner, I played blackjack for about 45 minutes and was fortunate to win a little over $100, which was just about enough to pay for dinner, so it was a good night!

The photo below is about the only picture I took all day.

After skiing yesterday, we planned to take today as a rest day.  With yesterday being Nadine’s first time skiing, as expected, her leg muscles were very, very sore!

Instead of more skiing, we walked around the village and relaxed at the hotel.  Because we knew today would be the first day following a day of skiing, we had made arrangements for massage treatments at the hotel spa.  I had a sports massage which really helped.

These photos were taken from the gondola that carries people from one end of the village to the other.  Walking down the hill was fine, but the lift was most welcome getting back up to our hotel at the other end, since we’re still nursing some sore leg muscles!

Shown below is our hotel, the Fairmont Tremblant, at the top of the village.

Warming up by the fire…

Walking around the village…

Back at the hotel, we relaxed by the fire in the lobby before going up to the lounge for snacks.

In the evening, the staff typically put out a large spread of appetizers in the gold lounge.  However, Nadine and I are the only guests left on the floor!  Instead, the hotel allowed us to go downstairs to one of the main hotel restaurants or lounges for complimentary drinks and a meal.

After dinner, it was time to get our outdoor gear back on, since the hotel offers snow tubing at night.  Here are some photos.

Exploring the village at night…

Nadine eating a Beavertail!

More of the village…

Our hotel…

Snow tubing…

Nadine is really excited about tubing!

Looking back at the village from the tubing area…

Walking by the pools on the way back into the hotel…

The plan today was to go skiing!

After breakfast in the gold lounge, we got our ski clothes on and headed downstairs to pick up our ski equipment.  The hotel has a full ski rental shop downstairs, right next to the access to the hills.

Since Nadine had never skied before, we felt the best thing to do was for her to take a ski lesson.  So, Nadine was booked in for a lesson in the morning while I would go up the mountain and get some good runs in.  Then around lunchtime, the plan was to meet, grab a quick bite to eat, and try some skiing together.

Visibility was rather poor at the top of the mountain, but the snow conditions were great.  The weather, while a bit cloudy, particularly at the top of the mountain, was much warmer than the day before.  The trees were just covered in snow, indicating that there had been some rather heavy snowfall recently, which was great.

Nadine and I took the gondola up to the top of the mountain to eat lunch at the cafeteria on top.  Then, we would see if she felt she could try skiing slowly down the beginner run.  It was rather scary for her at first, but she did well.  The visibility at the top was rather poor, which only added to the fear factor.  She had the option of getting back on the gondola to ride back down, but she wanted to try it.  So, for the next two hours or so, we slowly made our way down the beginner hill.  There were some falls along the way and a lot of sore legs from snowploughing, but Nadine officially skied down Mont Tremblant from the top!

Here are some photos.

We were slow, but we made it off the mountain.  Actually, by the time we made it to the bottom, I think the lifts had been closed for nearly an hour!  But, it was a successful first day of skiing.

After making it back to the hotel, we got out of our gear and had some dinner before again relaxing in the hot pools to soak some sore muscles.