Reminding me of the Ice Cream Parfait that I used to eat in The Laurentians, north of Montreal, at Chantecler ski resort when I was a child. It was always colorful in a fluted glass and was served with a tall spoon so you can get the creme de menthe or Grenadine at the very bottom.. They had an amazing all out fancy restaurant that was included in the rental of a ski house. The menus was amazing, things I had never seen before...very old school French...My memory holds on to the following things...in free association form.
Baked Alaska, Quail, propped on top of an apple (quail in a cage)...Baked alaska on fire carried by waiters through the large dining room...Tomato juice started...served on a saucer with a cocktail napkin under it...a red cylinder...and Shirley Temples to rival the adults cocktails. We all sat and a big long table and many people smoked. My Father helped me parce the menu and we tried unusual things and he would finish what I turned my nose up at. Limburger Cheese! We both loved it and tried every cheese they had. All food was included, we tried it all...such fun.
I am guessing I must have been about 11 or 12 years old. I think we went 3-4 winters...maybe we stayed for a week each time.
We always stayed in House # 42...a big house with many rooms in a pine wooded community of rental houses that though were different, all were made of blonde wood and big rough grey stone. The house had a freestanding classroom sized blackboard in the kitchen, secret rooms and stairways, boxes of Mother in Law Tongues, I had brought my little record player ( orange and white run on a battery) The song that comes to mind is ...Spiral Staircase's I lLove You More Today"., clomping around in lace up ski boots, very very cold,...going down to the dining room in the dark, in a big group, through covered walkways...super ski shop. Curling! They had a whole curling structure that we could go watch...Breakfast in the sunny dining room that sat right on the slope with big windows. I don't remember the breakfast food as well. Sea foam colored ski jacket ( long and slim) with a bit of a shimmer to it...that I begged to get.
The last year we went, the resort was starting to change …They were expanding the slopes and the service was nowhere near as good, so we never went again. For me, the major problem was that they had not lined up the new areas to ski with the old…so, in order to get to the new area you had to wait for a group to assemble in a staging area, then a big snowcat with a rope tied behind it would pull up, everyone would grab the rope and then they drug/dragged you over to the other lifts. It was a pain. I believe you had to take to cat on the way back too. It was too far to go on regular skis. It was time consuming, not to mention dangerous. Back in those days, dangerous wasn't really a thing to consider. When I think of all of the quirky ski lifts I have taken over the years I realize safety was a pretty low concern. Also, Chantecler had Poma Lifts which are notoriously dangerous, especially for kids…many a time I was lifted off of the ground.The Poma would turn you around and eventually you would fall and jam up the works for everyone else….pray that your skis stay on.
Freedom! There were 2 other couples with kids all around the same age ( 4 boys!). I was the tallest kid and used to boys. Freedom because the adults were all about partying, lots of serious drinking, laughing, and we, the kids ran wild...great break for me who was always being micromanaged.
Stuck for additional days as the temp dropped to 45 below...going to an Italian restaurant in town and having "green" lasagna and never forgetting it....It was so cold, cars could not start even with a jump...I skied a little...it was hard to breathe. We couldn't leave due to the temperature.
Cold ride home in my Father's light turquoise Peugeot 405 with a sunroof and skis on the top. Myself, 4 boys, and my Father ... so much fun! ( no controlling mother...she had gone in another car hours before)...stopped at the barren wind swept border crossing in a blizzard where my father declared bottles of bourbon (?) ( I think most people didn't declare) He did not have money to pay the customs charge ( my mother had all the money)she had my fathers wallet!)...We sat in the freezing customs building for hours until finally a customs agent loaned my father the money ( I think it was like $12) . My father became good friends with the man...that was so like my father. Of course he returned the money and sent a gift of some sort too.
Chantecler is much different now.. no longer fancy.
https://www.skichantecler.com/
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