Mont Tremblant Canada

Legendary

A trembling mountain named by the Algonquin, turned into Canada's first ski resort by a Philadelphia millionaire.

Photo by Andrea Black

In 1938, a Philadelphia millionaire named Joe Ryan strapped seal skins to his skis and hiked to the top of a remote Quebec mountain. He was so blown away by the view that he vowed to build a world-class ski village right there on the spot.

Eleven months later, on February 12, 1939, he opened the Mont Tremblant Lodge with Canada's very first chairlift.

The mountain had a name long before Ryan showed up. The Algonquin people called it Manitou Ewitchi Saga, meaning "mountain of the dreaded Manitou." They believed a powerful spirit lived inside and would shake the earth when humans disturbed nature.

French settlers translated it simply: Mont Tremblant, the trembling mountain.

Ryan didn't just build a ski hill. He constructed an entire French Canadian village from scratch, more than 90 buildings designed to look like a traditional Quebec hamlet.

American radio broadcaster Lowell Thomas, who'd made the original climb with Ryan, kept coming back and aired his national radio shows live from the resort. That put Tremblant on the map across North America practically overnight.

Ryan died suddenly in 1950, and his wife Mary ran the resort for another 15 years. The mountain changed hands several times before Intrawest purchased it in 1991 and rebuilt the pedestrian village with colorful Quebec City-inspired architecture.

That car-free village is the one you'll walk through today. The Quebec government protected the surrounding wilderness back in 1895 as a provincial park. Now called Parc national du Mont-Tremblant, it covers over 1,500 square kilometers with more than 400 lakes inside its borders.

Ride the panoramic gondola to the 875-meter summit for a full view of the Laurentian Mountains and Lake Tremblant below. Kids can race downhill on the Skyline Luge, a gravity-powered cart on a winding track.

In winter, over 100 ski trails cover 650 acres of terrain. In summer, the lake opens up for kayaking and swimming. Grab poutine or crêpes in the pedestrian village, catch a free outdoor concert at Place Saint-Bernard, and ride the open-air Cabriolet gondola through the village as many times as you want. It's free.