For day skiing, there are 71 available downhill ski trails covering 71 km (44 mi) the southern, northern and western sides of the mountain. For night skiing, there are 19 trails covering 15.2 km (9.4 mi) the southern part of the mountain only.[2] It is the highest vertical for night skiing in Canada. The average natural snowfall at the summit is 475 cm (187 in).[3]
History
Ten trails and four lifts (including a gondola) were featured on the mountain inauguration day 59 years ago in 1966 on January 16. That year, the resort was already making its appearance on the world scene with the Du Maurier International, followed the next year by the first Canadian Winter Games.
Skiing at Mont-Sainte-Anne goes back to the 1940s though. Volunteers and skiers from Beaupré and Québec City, cut the first trail in the fall of 1943. Three years later, the first skiing competition was held, the competitors having to climb by foot up the mountain, bearing all their equipment. The only trail available was groomed "manually" by local volunteers using their skis while climbing up.
Since the mountain became privately owned in 1994 by Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, investments have been mostly aimed at cutting new gladed trails and improving the snowmaking system.
In 2023, it hosted the Snowboard Cross FIS World Cup. The event, called Battle Royale, featured two competitions, an individual World Cup and a team World Cup.
Cross-country skiing
Mont-Sainte-Anne's Cross-Country Ski Centre features 212 km (132 mi) of trails, including a 125 km (78 mi) network for skating stride, which makes it the largest cross-country ski centre in Canada, and the second most significant in North America (after Royal Gorge, California).[4]
