Exploring Domaine Saint-Bernard in the Laurentians

The Laurentians region is one of my favourite places to enjoy winter. And with the weather being milder than usual this year, I was looking for a trail where there was a bit of snow (there still wasn’t any in my area), so I decided to head to Domaine St. Bernard in Mont-Tremblant for the first time, as there were a few winter trails open there.

Domaine Saint-Bernard is a 1,500-acre ecotourism centre, located by the Devil’s River (rivière du Diable) in the Laurentians. There are around forty kilometres of trails there, and the place is often described as one of the best places for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing in the Mont-Tremblant area.

When I was there, as there was not yet much snow (just a lot of ice), only the snowshoe trails were open, provided you had good crampons. After paying the access fee ($16), I looked at the map and decided that I would follow a combination of trails that would take me to the summit of Mont Saint-Bernard. Might as well take the opportunity to explore the mountain that bears the name of the domain!

St. Bernard is considered the patron saint of skiers, which is why the estate bears his name. After having been exploited for agriculture, then as a hotel site, the land of the estate was acquired by the Brothers of Christian Instruction in 1951, who established there a vacation, training and retreat site for their members. They are the ones who developed the trails there, in addition to contributing to the reforestation of the site.

In 1999, the city of Mont-Tremblant acquired the property, then handed it over to a trust responsible for protecting the site in perpetuity.

I decided to start my hike by following the short Mélèzes (Larshes) Trail, an easy trail that allowed me to go around the small Chevreuil lake. Mélèzes Trail connects several of the other trails on the site, so from that one, I decided to follow Hirondelle (Swallow) Trail, which would take me to the summit of Mont Saint-Bernard.

In fact, I tried to follow Hirondelle Trail, but I read the map incorrectly, and ended up following Merle Bleu (Blue Merle) Trail instead. I only realized my mistake when I noticed that rather than going up towards the mountain, this trail seemed to run along the side of it. I turned back and walked back to the Hirondelle Trail, but this little mistake made me make a short round trip of more than a kilometre.

But once on Hirondelle Trail, what a pleasure! This trail winds up through the pretty mixed forest that covers the small mountain. Like the majority of trails I have hiked in the Laurentians, the trail is moderately steep without being very technical. There was a lot of ice (especially on the rocky parts of the trail), but equipped with my crampons, I could move forward without too much problem.

I took my time to fully enjoy this first real winter hike of the season. I also stopped a few times to observe the curious chickadees, numerous along the trail.

Hirondelle Trail goes up and down and winds through the forest. It is well marked, but I sometimes wondered if I was going in the right direction (I didn’t want to accidentally take the wrong trail again). But eventually, between the trees, I began to see the silhouette of the summit of Mont Saint-Bernard.

After a beautiful first lookout, the Hirondelle trail joins a 1.5-kilometre loop which goes around the Saint-Bernard Mountain summit. I decided to follow this loop counterclockwise. The climb was a little steeper, but I eventually reached the second lookout, located very close to the highest point on the mountain.

At 400 metres in elevation, Mont Saint-Bernard is not very high (especially since it is located very close to the famous Mont Tremblant and its Pic Johannsen, the highest peak in the Laurentians), but it still offers a beautiful view of the estate and the surrounding area.

After the lookout, the trail goes down, before a last good climb to reach the official summit of the mountain. At this point, I came across a junction which offers the possibility of going back down via the Mésange (Chickadee) Trail, a 3.6-kilometre trail considered difficult. My initial plan was to follow it, but I admit that at this point I was starting to get a little tired, and since the days are short in winter, I decided it was better to continue on my trail.

I completed the Mont Saint-Bernard loop, and returned to my starting point by retracing my steps on Hirondelle Trail again. On the way back, I could see the imposing silhouette of Mont Tremblant between the trees. Maybe a challenge for next time?

I didn’t have any problems on the descent, I just had to take my time in the icier parts. I got back to the parking lot after having covered about 9 kilometres, with an elevation gain of 259 metres. And above all, it made me look even more forward to the next winter hikes! I hope we can get a bit more snow soon!