MONT-TREMBLANT - The effusive Lachance brothers are so steeped in winter sports that they're like ambassadors from snow country.

Owners of businesses in Mont-Tremblant, Pierre and Daniel Lachance are exceptionally knowledgeable about the area. Both enjoy downhill skiing and telemark to such extend that they spend summers on the slopes in South America. While in Tremblant, they live the mountain life and encourage others to do the same.

Boutique Daniel Lachance sells clothes and equipment, from tuques and mitts to avalanche and back-country gear; snowboards, telemark skis, cross-country and downhill equipment. Daniel's wife, Sylvie overseas a superb collection of fashionable outdoor sportswear - suits, pants, sweaters and parkas.

The merchandise is pricey, but the Lachance are adamant about good value. There's a sale rack for clothing and budget-conscious deals for equipment. Because the shop is in the original town of Mont-Tremblant. Prices can be lower than those in the mountain's base village where the stores add a two-per-cent tax.

While Daniel Lachance equips visitors to Tremblant for every imaginable winter sport, his brother Pierre lodges them with one the warmest welcomes in the Laurentians.
Pierre Lachance owns Auberge Le Lupin with his wife, Sylvie Senécal - yes, both men married women named Sylvie.

Le Lupin is a cosy nine-room inn with a great location one kilometre from Mont-Tremblant. Nothing fancy, mind you, but it's bright, cheery traditional country lodge with an inviting living room whose centrepiece is a stone fireplace and an open kitchen decorated in the sunny colours of Provence. Renovations are a perennial affair at Le Lupin, its nine rooms have gleaming white tiled private bathrooms, wooden dressers and tables and queen size beds covered in colourful patchwork quilts.

Pierre had been in the ski and resort industry for 15 years as a waiter and hotelier before buying Le Lupin in the 1990's.

"This is what I do", he said. "I take care of the guests who come to my area. It's a family affair - my wife and I, my children, my brother and his wife - we're all involved.
"Our inn is where I blend my passions - bringing up my kids and talking about skiing, generally enjoying the mountain life."

Just mention the words skiing, history or Tremblant, and Pierre Lachance proudly will show off vintage books and photos of the good old days - well before he was born. He Know fascinating anecdotes about ski pioneers Joe Ryan and Lowell Thomas as well as the development of the Laurentians since the first lifts were built in the early 1930s.

Le Lupin is a monument to local lore. Poster of downhill champions and wooden skis are part of the decor: Add a fireplace and a mounted deer head, complete with antlers, and you have the ambience of a ski lodge in the days of rope tows and apres-ski hot toddies.

In fact, Lachance collected most of the 1930s and 1940s oak furniture in the living room from classic hotels where he worked, including the slope side Mont Tremblant Lodge(now transformed into Intrawest's village) Cuttles Club(now Club Tremblant) and Manoir Pinoteau, a lodge that has morphed into a huge condo development.

Le Lupin also has a strong architectural heritage. Victor Nymark, became a Laurentian legend with his distinctive log and beam style. He built scores of building, including the world's largest log building - the Seigniory Club, now the Château Montebello - as well as the Alpine inn and Mont-Gabriel Club in Ste-Adele and a small church in St.Sauveur.

Sporting his pastry chef's cap and a white apron, Pierre Lachance is Le Lupin chief cook, and he loves it almost as much as he loves skiing.

"My mom thought me" he said. "I like dishes with vegetables or fruit, anything healthy. I know that people still like bacon and eggs, but I always prepare a vegetarian option."

A small buffet offers fruit, juices, cappuccino or tisane, cereals and home baked apple cake, and Lachance cooks up both sweet and savoury main course every morning. Some favourites are omelettes with shrimp, green onions, cheddar, garlic and saffron or with smoked salmon and cream cheese, crepes with banana, brown sugar and cream or French toast with lemon custard and orange sauce.

"I want the cuisine to be different because people are on vacation, but we also aim for familiarity so guests feel at home."

Snow sports are paramount at the Lachances' and at Mont-Tremblant, and there's a way for never-evers to get in the spirit. The mountain is offering a $10 discount today and tomorrow on its IniSki and IniSurf beginner program as part of National Ski and Snowboard Week. The regular price is $59 to $69 includes a lift ticket, equipment rental and ski lesson.