Details

Venue Website: https://mountstlouis.com/

Located right off the 400 highway about a 1 hour 45 minute drive (weather/traffic dependant) MSLM is one of the easier hills to get to, and is located in a unique position where it's in the snow belt, and somewhat sheltered.  Coupled with a killer snowmaking system, this gives the hill some of the best snow conditions in southern Ontario.

With 36 runs across 170 acres of skiable terrain over two unique peaks (Mount St Louis and Mount Moonstone), there is lots of space and variety of runs to really fill out an enjoyable day on the slopes.

How Trips to MSLM Work

Being a public hill, and our home hill, OUTSLOPES Toronto does regular trips to MSLM throughout the season, which are open to all Blue Square Members and above (regardless of your home club, if you're in Toronto area, you can join the trip as long as you are at least a Blue Square Member).

Register for the trip on the event page of the day you want to go.  Registration for trips to MSLM typical involve a charge.  This charge includes special OUTSLOPES Member pricing for lift tickets which you will receive upon arrival.

Carpooling

Spots for trips to MSLM are limited based on the number of carpooling seats we are able to make available.  Upon registration you will be asked how you are getting there with 3 options:

I will be making my own way there - if you plan to drive yourself and are not able to accommodate offering up any seats to help get other members to the hill.

I will be driving and have seats available - this lets our trip leader know that you have a vehicle and have seats available to help get others there.  The trip leader will base your pickups on your starting location to keep things as close and easy as possible.  One or two nights before the trip leader will contact you by email to let you know who you are picking up, where to find them, and provide you with their contact information so you can find each other.

I need a ride - we will do our best to match you up with someone who has seats available and is in your general area.  One or two nights before the trip leader will contact you by email to let you know who you will be riding with, and provide you with their contact information so you can coordinate a specific pickup location and time.

Arriving

As you come off the 400 at Mount St Louis Rd West exit, you will come to an intersection with a sign for MSLM with two arrows pointing in different directions to the two bases.  Process straight ahead to the Mount St Louis Base.  We always base ourselves from the Mount St Louis Base.  The parking lot is large.  It's often very busy on weekends, but never has there ever been a problem getting a parking spot at this base.  Sometimes it may be a little bit of a walk, but you'll get a spot.

On Arrival

Get your lift ticket.  Different weeks have different numbers and different coordination. If we have an on-site trip leader that week they will have your lift ticket for you. If we don't, you will need to pick it up from the general ticket sales window which is located at the Mount St Louis side base lodge, outside, between the rental office and the front lodge entry. Some may be used to years gone by where we went into the office. DO NOT DO THIS anymore please.

Show up ready to ski!!  If you need rentals be sure to allow enough time to swing by the rental department and get your gear for the day.

Gear up and make your way to the back slopes side of the Mount St Louis base lodge.

Meet up

Mount St Louis Base - Under the Clock Tower
10AM

We meet under the clock tower at 10am.  If you arrive earlier feel free to do a few runs on your own, just be sure to make your way back to the meetup point for 10am so we can check everyone in and hit the slopes together.

Generally we'll make a group consensus at this time to decide when we'll be meeting up for lunch. This way if anyone gets separated from the group during the morning we have an easy time and place to reconnect.

We always do lunch at the Mount St Louis base lodge.  You can buy food from the cafeteria (the food at MSLM is pretty good and reasonably priced) or you can bring your own bagged lunch.

Generally we start coming off the slopes around 4 - 4:30pm and start meeting back up in the Mount St Louis base lodge.  But your OUTSLOPES Group Lift Ticket will be good for night skiing too when available (not available early and late season), so if those in your carpool want to stick around longer you are more than welcome to do so.

Have Fun!!

A day out on the slopes with OUTSLOPES is all about having fun, being social, and enjoying time with friends new and old.  Support and encourage each other.  We are all out for healthy recreational skiing and riding, we aren't a competitive club.

A Little MSLM Story

Owned by the Huter family, Mount St Louis Moonstone (MSLM) is one of the very few public ski hills that haven't been gobbled up by big corporations.  The personal passion of the family can be seen in the development and care of the resort.

Founded in the early 60s by Josl Huter, an Austrian ski racer, MSLM first opened for business on December 16, 1964, with only a couple of trails, and two T-bars.  The two T-bars is the core key to this family's approach to the operation of MSLM.  They were side by side because Josl didn't want to have to shut down if one of them broke down.

That passion has continued over the years seeing many expansions and improvements to the resort, including some of the best snowmaking equipment in the east.  When coupled with the geographic position of MSLM in the snowbelt area, this gives the resort one of the longest seasons in Ontario.

One of the drawbacks of MSLM used to be the 4:30pm closure of the lifts due to the stupidly short number of daylight hours in the winter.  To enhance the skier experience, and extend the day, in 2014 MSLM added lights across 80% of the terrain.  But the family tradition of excellence continued, instead of small pools of light down a slope from traditional floodlights attached to wooden poles, MSLM went with a state of the art MUSCO LED Lighting system, which provides nice even light across more of the run, allowing better visibility and more enjoyable and safer riding at night, extending lift operation hours to 9pm.

OUTSLOPES & MSLM

The Toronto Ski & Snowboard Club (TGSC) have enjoyed MSLM as one of their favourite local hills for over a decade. But it wasn't until December of 2013 where the relationship became much more formal, through total chance.

TGSC has for years sponsored a ski day for the youth of the Sherbourne Health Centre's SOY Program.  In 2014 as part of a growing relationship with GayWhistler, the organizers of then called "Winter Pride", now known as "Whistler Pride & Ski Festival", TGSC ran a Toronto Launch Party for Whistler Pride with proceeds going towards fundraising efforts for the SOY Ski Day.  As part of the raffle for the event, TGSC organizers contacted MSLM asking for a couple of lift tickets to include.  The relationship took an abrupt turn, for the good.

As had been typical for the LGBT community, TGSC had been operating fairly under the radar, not fully disclosing who they were, staying a wee bit closeted.  But as soon as MSLM learned that we had been skiing their hill for years, and hosting the SOY ski day there for years, they immediately wanted to be much more heavily involved with both the day, and the club.

In 2016 TGSC became a local member club of OUTSLOPES, and rebranded as OUTSLOPES Toronto.  That relationship with MSLM continues to grow as MSLM continues to be (the now official) home hill of OUTSLOPES Toronto, and a club favourite.

Mountain Stats

Number of Runs: 36
(35 percent for beginners, 50 percent for intermediates, and 15 percent for the expert)

Ski-able Terrain: 170 acres

Vertical Drop: 550 ft

Longest Run: 2 km

Night Skiing: YES

Average Season: December to March

Snowmaking Coverage: 100%

Lifts: 12

• Uphill Capacity - 23,600 people per hour
• 4 Six Express Chair Lifts
• 3 Quad Chair Lifts
• 2 Triple Chair Lifts
• 3 Magic Carpets.

Terrain Parks: 3

• SkooL YaRd Grom Terrain Park for learning
• Junkyard Progression Park for entry level rider
• Outback Super Park for the advanced rider)

Half Pipes: 2
(groomed by Zaugg super pipe machine)