| Mount Orford (French: Mont Orford) is a ski resort in
the Eastern Townships region of the Canadian province of Quebec, Canada. It
is a few minutes away from the town of Magog and one hour from Montreal.
The ski resort consists of three summits: Mont Giroux, Mont
Orford and Mont Alfred Desrochers, and four sides. It is the home mountain of
Olympic medalist Nicolas Fontaine, and there is a glade named in his honour.
The main summit, Orford, is served by a $6.5 million "Hybrid Chairlift"
or Telemix. This means that on one single cable, instead of only gondolas or
only chairs, there are both 8-person gondolas and 6-person chairs. This system
is rather common in Europe, but it was the first of its kind in North America.
In 2006, the provincial government and then-Environment Minister Claude
Béchard announced the increase of the size of Orford as a national park.
In addition, they would have sold the ski resort and golf course to private
interests despite opposition from environmental groups. Inside the 80 hectares
sold, developers planned to built condominiums, restaurants, boutiques and a
hotel which opposed several groups. The planned development was to be similar
to Mont-Tremblant but to a lesser degree and several project were planned in
the past. However, on May 7, 2007, new Environment Minister Line Beauchamp announced
that the province will not sell Orford. |
