Tuonela is a wonderful place for cross country skiing. I showed up on a bright warm sunny morning. The parking lot is located about 12 km off the Trans-Canada on the Cabot Trail. Take exit 11 on the 105 Highway in Cape Breton. The parking lot is small, and day users should just park on the side of the road, leaving the spots for people staying in the village. This isn't your typical ski area, as there's the small lot and the trail headed up hill. Although the initial hill is daunting, its short and with a ½ km you'll reach the sign in booth. The prices for day skiing posted were different from what I was told they were: $10 for an individual, $15 for a couple, and $20 for a family. A nice, gentle uphill ski will get you into the village, which I was told is about 4km from the parking lot. The power lines were about half way, and staying on the the sink-hole highway will get you directly to the village.

At the Village I was greeted by Chris, Tim, and a friendly black lab. They told me to head in to the lodge where I enjoyed a delicious bowl of homemade garlic-onion soup. I'm told that there's usually complimentary soup, made by Anne, and its a great pit stop for lunch. There are quite a few nice separate cottages available for rent up there, most nicely furnished having a woodstove for heat and propane cooking element. Water is available from the Lodge, but apparently you have to bring your own food. There's also a fine-looking wood burning sauna, that I unfortunately wasn't able to try out.

After lunch, I skied on some trails that Chris and Tim told me were their favorites, out along Xris-Xross, up Lightning Strike, and out around OutThere.com. This brought me around to the Telemark Hill and Chutes. The Telemark Hill was still closed, waiting for one more big snow storm. It is a glade run, but the trees are spread nicely. I then skied my way over to the Chutes. They were also closed, but were tight and steep, dropping a good 60-70 feet quickly. I was wishing they were open and I had my telemark gear with me. The telemark hill is accessed either by skinning up, or when the rope tow is running. I was told by Chris, that the rope tow runs if they have the right conditions: “Lots of Powder!”

I then worked my way back down Peligroso, a turny track, to Lightning Strike. Flying down Lightning Strike I was able to go faster than I though possible on cross country gear. I worked my up Kirby's Folly and found my way back to the Parking lot. The whole adventure took me around 4 hours.

Tuonela has a wide range of skiing available. It is more of a cross-country / backcountry oriented hill, so don't expect a downhill oriented telemark experience. The gear that they have for rental is all XCD (cross-country downhill) and not the heavy duty downhill telemark. However, this is the gear that suites the hill. They will also bring down gear to the parking lot if you call ahead so that you don't have to hike in to rent gear. Overall, it is a fun spot, run by super friendly folk.