Benable — create shareable lists of things you recommend!
E.g., products you love, local businesses, travel recs - you can add anything to a Benable list!
I Finally Tried Dog Sledding in Mont Tremblant and Packed All Wrong
28
items Planning a winter trip to Mont Tremblant with dog sledding on the agenda? Quebec cold hits different than anything you've felt in the lower 48. I showed up in regular winter gear and spent the first hour regretting every choice. This is everything I ...
Sections
7
Dog Sledding Outfitters Near Mont Tremblant
Base Layers That Survived Minus 30 Celsius
Outer Layers for Sitting on a Sled in Open Wind
Restaurants in Tremblant Village Worth the Walk in the Cold
Protecting Your Face and Eyes on the Trail
Keeping Your Phone and Camera Alive in Extreme Cold
Dog Sledding Outfitters Near Mont Tremblant
Finding the right outfitter made the whole experience. Some are tourist traps with a ten-minute loop. Others let you actually drive the sled through real backcountry trails.
Grab a spot on their half-day run if you want actual wilderness, not a parking lot loop. The guides let you take the reins after about five minutes of instruction, which was terrifying and incredible. Book early because January fills up by November.
Le Centre d'Activités Mont-Tremblant
Try this one if you're the type who wants to understand the dogs, not just ride behind them. They walk you through the whole operation before you go out. My kids still talk about meeting the puppies in training six months later.
Dog Sledding
Drive about an hour from Tremblant but completely worth it for anyone who wants a more remote, quieter experience. Smaller groups mean you're not stuck in a caravan of sleds. Felt like we had the forest to ourselves.
Expedition® 2-In-1 Stroller Wagon Plus (Infant/Toddler/Kids)
Keep an eye on their winter schedule if you want to watch competitive mushers before booking your own ride. Seeing how fast those teams move gave me a whole new respect for the sport. Free to spectate, and the energy is contagious.
2026 Schedule of Events
Base Layers That Survived Minus 30 Celsius
Cotton almost ruined my trip. Twenty minutes into the ride I was soaked in sweat under my jacket, and then the wind hit. Merino wool saved the second day entirely.
Wear this under everything. I was skeptical about spending that much on a shirt, but after sweating through a cotton tee on day one and nearly freezing, I bought this at a shop in the village. Night and day difference.
Men's Classic Thermal Merino Base Layer Crew Nightfall
Pair these under your snow pants if your thighs go numb in regular cold weather. Standing on the sled runners means wind is blasting your legs nonstop. These kept circulation going even at the worst gusts.
Women's Merino 260 Tech High Rise Thermal Leggings
Swap out whatever thick socks you were planning to bring. My toes were the first thing to go on day one. These fit snug without cutting circulation, and they dried out overnight without smelling like a crime scene.
Women's Mountaineering Knee High Hiking Socks
Use moisture-wicking underwear or you'll regret it within the first mile. Nobody warns you how much you sweat while mushing. Regular cotton underneath all those layers turns into a cold, damp nightmare fast.
Quest Quick-Dry Mesh Boxer Brief - Black
Outer Layers for Sitting on a Sled in Open Wind
The guides all wore the same kind of gear, bulky, windproof, nothing fashionable. I took notes and came home with a completely different packing list than what I arrived with.
Get a parka that goes past your waist. My hip-length jacket left a gap between coat and pants that let wind pour in every time I leaned forward on the sled. This one covers you down to mid-thigh and blocks everything.
Arc'teryx Therme Parka & Therme SV Parka: 2026 Review
Toss your regular ski pants for these if you're doing anything that involves standing still in wind. Ski pants are built for movement and moderate cold. Sled dog riding is standing still in extreme cold. Different animal entirely.
Outdoor Research Stormbound GORE-TEX Down Mittens
Switch to mittens if you've been a glove person your whole life. Your fingers share heat in mittens. On the sled, your hands grip the handlebar for an hour straight with wind blowing over them. Gloves cannot compete.
Canada Goose Arctic Down Mitten - Men's - Accessories
Pull this over your nose and tuck it under your goggles. The wind chill on exposed face skin at sled speed genuinely hurts after a few minutes. I used a regular scarf the first day and it kept slipping down. This stays put.
Merino Wool Neck Gaiters
Restaurants in Tremblant Village Worth the Walk in the Cold
After three hours in minus 25, I didn't care about ambiance. I wanted hot food, fast, and a seat near a fireplace. These four delivered exactly that.
Snag a table near the stone fireplace and order the poutine before you even sit down. After a morning on the sled, the combination of hot gravy and melted cheese curds felt medicinal. Not exaggerating.
La Forge Bistro-Bar & Grill
Try the pasta if you need something heavier than pub food after a full day outside. The portions are massive, which is exactly what you want when your body burned 2,000 calories just trying to stay warm.
Coco Pazzo
Bring anyone who's skeptical about Quebec food beyond poutine. The smoked brisket here changed my friend's whole opinion of the trip. Get there before 6 PM on weekends or you're waiting 45 minutes.
Shake Shack
Grab their winter ale after your sled run. Something about drinking a local craft beer while your fingers are still thawing out feels incredibly earned. The brewery atmosphere is loud and warm, which was perfect.
La Diable – Microbrasserie
Protecting Your Face and Eyes on the Trail
Nobody told me that wind plus snow plus sun at the same time would leave my face sunburned AND windburned. I looked like a lobster by day two and my eyes were watering nonstop.
Wear proper snow goggles, not sunglasses. The dogs kick up snow constantly, and at speed it pelts your face like tiny ice bullets. These seal around your eyes completely and the magnetic lens swap is clutch when light changes.
Smith Squad MAG Goggles
Slather this on every exposed inch before you head out. Snow reflects UV like a mirror and I got the worst sunburn of my life in January. Nobody expects to need sunscreen at minus 20 but your nose will thank you.
Anthelios Melt-In Milk Sunscreen for Face & Body SPF 100
Keep a small tube in your inner pocket where body heat stops it from freezing solid. Apply to lips and around nostrils every hour. The dry cold cracked my lips open on day one and nothing else healed them as fast.
Aquaphor Baby Advanced Therapy Healing Ointment
Use this under your helmet or hat if the neck tube alone isn't cutting it. On the afternoon run when temperatures dropped further, having full face coverage except my goggles was the only reason I lasted the whole trail.
Polarverse Balaclava
Keeping Your Phone and Camera Alive in Extreme Cold
My iPhone died at 87% battery in about twelve minutes. Twelve. All those incredible trail photos I planned to take? Gone until I figured out how to keep electronics warm.
Toss your phone in this and keep it inside your jacket against your body. The case protects it from snow and moisture while your body heat keeps the battery alive. Pulled mine out for photos and it worked every time.
RunOff® Waterproof Phone Case
Stick one of these in whatever pocket holds your phone. The chemical heat keeps the battery from draining in cold air. I went through about four per day between my phone pocket and my mittens. Buy the bulk box.
HotHands 10 Hour Hand Warmer | 40 Pairs
Bring a GoPro mounted to your chest or helmet instead of relying on your phone for video. It handles cold way better than any smartphone and the footage of the dog team running ahead of you is worth every penny.
HERO12 Black
Keep a fully charged power bank in your base layer pocket as backup. Even with all the warming tricks, my phone still dipped below 20% by afternoon. Having a warm power bank ready meant I never missed a shot on the last run.
Anker Power Bank, 10000mAh Portable Charger
Booking and Timing Your Trip Right
I went the second week of January thinking it would be quieter. It was, but the temperatures were also brutal. There's a sweet spot between crowd size and survivable cold that I wish someone had told me about.
Book through the resort site instead of third-party platforms for lodging. Packages that bundle ski-in access with activity credits saved us about $200 over booking everything separately. Check their early bird winter rates around September.
Mont Tremblant Ski Resort Official Site
Set alerts for Montreal flights starting in August. Prices spike hard after October when everyone locks in holiday travel. Flying midweek in late February cut our airfare nearly in half compared to Christmas week quotes.
Track flights & prices - Computer - Travel Help
Check the outfitter calendars before you book lodging, not after. We almost missed dog sledding entirely because we picked dates first and then discovered every sled tour was full. Sled availability should drive your whole schedule.
Tremblant
Look up average temps for your target week before committing. There's a big difference between minus 15 and minus 30, and that gap determines whether the trip is fun or just survival. Late February tends to be the sweet spot for cold without misery.
Laurentian View, ON - Monthly Report