Mont-Tremblant by trail: sampling singletrack in Quebec

Located two hours northeast from Ottawa and about the same distance from Montreal, Mont-Tremblant sits nestled in the beautiful rolling hills of the Laurentian mountains. Surrounded by lush forest and littered with exposed rock features, the area has all the terrain you would expect for great mountain bike trails.

Mont-Tremblant is unique to the area thanks to the extensive village filled with dozens of hotels, shops and restaurants catering to visitors, and offering a wide range of services including bike rentals. The village serves as a perfect home base for exploring the trail network in the area. In just a few minutes of pedaling from your hotel, you can roll into Tremblant’s trail network, which is signed and marked with the standard Green circle, blue square, black diamond difficulty rating system. Thanks to the Canadian shield Tremblant’s trails are strewn with fun, ridable rock features and, in some cases present challenging line selection providing a great range of terrain for all ability levels.

One of the stand out features of the trail network is that no matter what trail you are riding, you are not very far from the village. Many trails weave in and around several golf courses in the area, which adds to the atmosphere and makes for some really fun riding in between trails. For the most part the trails are marked, and maps of the network can be found easily all over the village and in hotels. To really maximize your experience Tremblant also offers guided tours of the trails. Since the trail network is still being developed, using a guide to help navigate the network will avoid any confusion and ensure that you are riding the trails in the preferred direction.

Although Tremblant is not as storied in mountain bike history compared to it’s big sister to the east Mont-Sainte-Anne, Mont-Tremblant has played host to Canada Cup mountain bike XC and Downhill events for over a decade and is no stranger to building challenging, fun and flowing singletrack. Be prepared to earn your descents, because Tremblant only opens lift access to the public for bikes during the weekend of the Canada Cup. For the rest of the year you can choose to tackle many of the trail networks steep and technical climbs that will reward you with fantastic views of the forest covered hills and fun challenging descents.

Many of the trails are multi use, and it is not uncommon to come across hikers. As a result of the higher traffic and rocky terrain, there are many exposed rooted and rocky sections that make for fun and challenging riding. Line selection is key, especially if you are on a hardtail. If you plan on pushing yourself or riding for multiple days, a dual suspension bike will help you to get the most out of the experience. Thankfully the rating system does a good job of identifying difficult terrain, so you never have to worry about getting out of your comfort zone.

If Mont-Tremblant wasn’t on your short list of mountain bike destinations yet, it’s worth checking out. With great atmosphere, food and entertainment within the village and fun trails only a few pedal strokes away from your hotel, Tremblant makes it easy to enjoy your time there. Also if you are a fan of skinny tires and drop bars, make sure to bring your road bike too, because the roads in the area are amazing!