Elevation Gain: 203m
Distance: 10.4km
Total Time: 3 hours 3 minutes
Date: March 25th, 2022
My 3 month long journey abroad had finally come to an end and I found myself in Montreal for a 17 hour layover before returning home. The weather was warm, by Montreal standards, but rainy and all around dreary. Nonetheless, I didn’t want to spend a full evening in the hotel so I decided to walk around and explore. I initially thought about going for a workout, but then it occurred to me there’s an easy peak within striking distance. That’s none other than Mont Royal. A short summit that over looks the downtown core and is accessed via a large network of hiking trails. I still wasn’t 100% committed, but after getting some dinner I decided why the heck not.
The major downside is I only brought my normal street shoes and was too lazy to run back to the hotel to grab something water proof. Oh well, it’s a short outing so I’d just see how it went. I had really no idea what condition Mont Royal would be in, but it definitely looked snowy as I approached from Downtown. I left from Sumo Ramen and took boulevard st-laurent all the way to boulevard mont-royal. Then I started along the side walk up boul. mont-royal. Unfortunately, it terminated much earlier than expected and I was forced onto a slick, ice-covered path to the left of the road.
I managed my way up the path for a ways before cutting across the road again to a more obvious path in the forest. Here I followed more slick path ways up to a view point for cars. From the view point, I took a snow covered set of stairs up to the top where a couple of man made structures presided over the summit. I aimed for the true high point at the base of some radio tower. Pleased with getting the summit, I then wandered over to a well-lit cross that over looked all of Montreal. I took a few photos and then returned course back to the car view point.
Back at the view point, I simply took the my ascent path down. It was now getting dark and the added slip factor made for additional challenge, but I had fun with it. Once I reached the road again I set a brisk pace back to the hotel; happy to have had some fresh air!