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so am in the process of booking for xmas / new year and trying to figure out EXACT dates managed to find at least one very promising residence which will sleep as many as 19 people at a squeeze within 10mins of the best slopes and lots of other good stuff as well as been close to quebec city (very romantic) and some alternate ski resorts - whatever place it ends up being will be cutesy cutesy I promise so far I have as definites: woody and paula (and gracie) rex and anna del and catherine me and my imaginary girlfriend stuart sandra and luke makes 11 possibles: graeme kath and maybe holly and lucy makes 15 and obviously many more of you I'd like to see too so let me know if you are up for it and I've missed you out I dont mind booking a slightly larger place than we definitely need and taking a hit myself as you are all paying airfares. Accomodation looks like being around CDN$200 per person per week maximum. If we all show it could be as little as half that. Don't worry I wont let any nasty surprises happen there. Entertainment tends to be around $50/day for ski passes etc or less for other activities like snowshoeing or ski fond but with the exception of skiddooing which could be around 100-250 for the day - need to look into it but am not sure it will be for everyone anyway although its great fun am getting the impression at the moment that longer is better so am aiming for 10 days in the chalet or even two weeks if I can get a deal - esp as people are likely to turn up over a few days. food is cheap - we will likely cook breakfast between us anyway but even if we went out it would be no more than $10 each (5 pounds). A slap up meal for two would normally set you back $50 and a picture of beer is around $10. Coffee is refillable and you can sit there all day However the plan is to cook most nights and make our own fun but thought I would give you info so you know what it will cost if you go to quebec city for the day say. I have one vehicle which seats five and can be shared around and I dont mind ferrying people to and fro - if necessary we can all chip in on a minibus for the week or I may be able to borrow one. dont book flights until we have decided on dates cos those of you who arrive after a certain point would be better to fly into Quebec city rather than montreal (PLEASE - less driving for me) here is the website with some of the places am looking at - we might have to rent two places close to each other but hopefully not - here is a place big enough for all of us i think cant be arsed adding more links so google these terms alone or in combination if you want more info: ski le massif petit riviere st francois ski mont st anne charlevoix ski fond racquettes baie st paul le malbaie quebec city for those of you who haven't seen pix, I will post some soon in order to try to keep this thread near the top as we don't have the ability to sticky (so far as I know) BTW everyone speaks french in this area so you should have fun dusting off your high-school francais don't worry you will get by fine without it though

you say "a picture of beer is around $10. Coffee is refillable" How much is a glass of beer - or are you only allowed to look not drink? Seriously - great work!

argh, if only my shitty bbc salary would stretch to this i'd be well up for it. i'll start working on the wife now anyway. but as i've said before she's a real pussy when it comes to heights/slopes/ being rad. are there any other total beginners going?

good work nix... anna will be starting from scratch again and i've only boarded once before so we're happy to enjoy long easy runs rather than go mental ...

Me and Catharine are COMPLETE beginners, and catharine is same when it comes too heights/slopes/ being rad. but am working on that

Nice one. the chalets look amazing. in terms of food nix, you didn't mention poutine. If ever there was a dish that would go down well in Glasgow - it is essentially chips, cheese (kind of like paneer) and gravy and is yyyuuuuummmmm. we will be looking at the practicalities of coming over as we get used to having wee Gracie, so we should be on your probable list for now nix. we'll let you know.

All the people on my definites and probables list please answer the following questions selfishly and without regard to any other posts. Q1: what are your preferred dates? in particular when (after New Year) would you be leaving the chalet if it was up to you? Q2: would you like to be at the chalet for xmas day? (i.e. should I book from say the 23rd onwards) Yes there are beginers slopes and there is a long easy green run which takes a good 10-15 minutes to get down - lol - and lots of other lovely blue runs and the views are amazing - I quite often chose to just sit on my arse there and stare out over the St Laurence river so its not such a bad place to be a beginner Please get back to me ASAP whether you are definite or probable with your prefered dates as I want to book something in the next few days If the concensus is not for xmas then I promise to find cool things to do and places to go for those of you who turn up early winter fun is easy in Quebec BTW children under 12 do not pay for accomodation and will not be included in the food costs calc either.

a couple of pix of le massif which we will be all of 10 mins from the bottom of the lift is at the same height as the river all the way down there. You green run beginners might need to take a packed lunch to eat on your way down there

If we WERE able to come, I guess we would aim to arrive shortly after Christmas and return to UK weekend 6/7 Jan. I stress our attendance is far from certain at this stage, so no hassling us later if we decide not to come. Then again, if I just happened to be in Quebec with work in early January and was able to squeeze in a weekend of skiing......hhmmm *THINKS*