Land Rover Houston North

Learning To Love A Rocky Road: The Land Rover Experience Driving School in Montebello

By Ken Aiken

Photos by the author

The vehicle slides sideways as sand-encrusted tires seek purchase on naked rock.  Even more unnerving is the radical incline angle of the Range Rover that limits the driver's view to treetops and sky. Yet all is as it should be: I'm attending the Land Rover Experience Driving School in Montebello, Quebec.

This is not a training school for those planning on running in the Baja 1000.  In fact, there's rarely an opportunity to shift the vehicle out of first gear while maneuvering around the obstacle course.  The focus of instruction is to build driver confidence, teach basic off-road skills, and train owners how to properly utilize these amazing machines. 

Following instructions, I angle the wheels and maintain gentle pressure on the accelerator.  The Range Rover Discovery (LR3) regains traction and pulls us to the top.  Now for the next lesson: descending a steep rocky trail.  With the transmission in first gear, my instructor, Simon, encourages me to take my foot off the accelerator (no problem) and off the brake (are you crazy!?) to allow the ABS (anti-lock braking system) to take control.  With all-wheel drive and independent suspension, the computerized system coupled with high-compression engine braking does a better job descending the trail than I could manage manually.

There are four Land Rover Experience Driving Schools in North America, and each provides a unique experience in terms of terrain.  Each is located at a five-star resort of international acclaim: Equinox in Manchester, Vermont; Biltmore in Ashville, North Carolina; Quail Lodge in Carmel Valley, California; and here, Fairmount Le Château Montebello in Quebec, where the first Land Rover Experience was established.

Located on the north bank of the Ottawa River about halfway between Montreal and Ottawa, Le Château Montebello is the retreat of world leaders and movie stars.  It's the largest log building in the world and has hosted major historical conferences including a recent G8 Summit.  Although the office and headquarters of the school are located in the relatively smaller log structure of the Sports Complex adjacent to the Château, the courses and trails are in the nearby Fairmount Kenauk Preserve, a 100-square-mile expanse of forest and pristine lakes.

My vehicle for the day turns out to be a LR3 with an optional winch.  Built to traverse the toughest off-road trails -- whether through jungle, across savannah, over desert, or in the Northern Boreal Forest -- the interior of this hundred-thousand-dollar technical marvel makes my Jag look almost plebian.  Make no mistake about it:  although the vast majority of these vehicles in North America are owned by soccer moms and commuting business executives whose off-road experience is limited to jumping a curb or traffic island, this Range Rover will tackle anything in the world that's seven feet wide and claims to be a road.

After a couple of hours of driving through trenches and ditches, over large rocks and outcroppings, along watercourses and deeply rutted roads I "graduate" to a real-world trail through the Kenauk.  

The beavers have been busy expanding their territory and I'm forced to drive over their dam and through the shallows to continue on the road.  The Range Rover is not an amphibious craft and there's a technique to driving through water that's deep enough to reach the top of the tires.  However, this is the good portion of the trail.

Sometimes teetering on three tires or scraping the skid plates of the undercarriage we slowly crawl along a trail of deep mud ruts interspersed with rocks.  On the street there's nothing so annoying as a driver who "rides the brake."  Off-road requires a bit of unlearning as the brake and accelerator are utilized simultaneously to minimize suspension compression and rebound.  My calf muscles are cramping as I apply this lesson to the real-world scenario.  Occasional bangs on the undercarriage indicate how well I'm doing.

We stop at the foot of the hill and walk the trail to the crest.  A steep incline with both loose rock and small boulders, this challenge is complicated by a tricky corner in the middle with a drop-off on one side.  Simon gets out to direct me, but this stretch of road has to be traversed by a combination of memory, "feel," and the wheel position indicators on the LCD display console.  

Slow but constant acceleration and careful maneuvering get me up the hill and around the corner, but I lose traction when climbing a series of large rocks.  Now I have to back down to the corner in order to make a second attempt.  The LR3 has an onboard camera that will provide a rear view, but I'm not about to take my hands off the steering wheel to seek the proper button!  Instead I carefully follow Simon's instructions.  The incline prevents me from seeing any portion of the trail, so trust in my instructor and the capabilities of the LR3 becomes of paramount importance at this stage. 

This school is about more than learning off-road driving techniques. Besides individual instruction, Land Rover Experience offers corporate team-building activities.  Mission Impossible, Geo-Cache, Scavenger Hunt, and Off-Road Challenge develop trust and communication skills in addition to developing personal confidence.

We cover about six kilometers (3.7 miles) during our two-hour drive.  Leaving the Kenauk Preserve, the single-lane gravel road feels like an open freeway in comparison. No, this is not the Baja 1000, but it's the most fun I've had behind the wheel of a car in many years.