Category: January

2009-2010 Season, January, Mount Abram, Powder Day, Video

Mount Abram Powder Day

Hey Rocky! Watch me pull an epic two foot powder day with refills out of my hat!

Guess I gotta get a new hat…..

Mount Abram is the lesser known ski area that you see from Route 26 before proceeding to Sunday River where you will pay $79.00 to ski brutally groomed scraped down cruisers with no elbow room or character and wait twenty minutes for a lift. That little area? Only one thousand vertical feet? Only 44 trails? Only two double chair lifts and no high speed quads? Yes! This is Mount Abram.

The Rocky & Bullwinkle themed ski area has a family and local community vibe. It only runs Thursday through Sunday and holidays but does offer night skiing on select days of the season. The area features a tubing area and cross country skiing trails. The practical lodge is well staffed with friendly employees and a burger, fries, and soda will only set you back an Alexander Hamilton and some change. Tickets are only $49.00 full price ($37 on Liftopia in our case) and the mid-week value is exceptional with two-fer Thursdays and Car Load Fridays ($79.00).

With epic powder forecasted for Maine and high winds forecasted for the entire region, plans were hatched to ski a lesser known area in Maine that was guaranteed to spin their lifts. Even if Mount Abram’s summit double was taken off line, Mount Abram has a t-bar that nearly goes to the summit on back up duty. It was a brilliant plan based on the forecast.

But the forecast did not pan out. With exception of Saddleback, the Maine areas got a good snow storm over the course of three days. But Saddleback and Cannon were the only two ski areas to receive epic powder dumps. Mount Abram got about fourteen inches from Friday through Saturday. It was more than enough to open up all of their terrain. Terrain that we learned was quite exceptional. If limited in quantity of terrain, Mount Abram surely makes up the different in quality.

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2008-2009 Season, Earned Turns, January, Powder Day, White Mountain BC

Powder Day in the New Hampshire Backcountry

My backcountry days are normally limited to late season on Mount Washington. But three days after more than a foot of fresh covered much of New Hampshire, it was a sure bet that even the most secret of stashes at the resorts would have been hammered into submission. It was time to take to the backcountry for a rare mid-season powder day via earned turns.

If a 5 minute hike keeps 95% of the skiers away, then a 95 minute hike keeps greater all but less than 1% of skiers away. Despite that fact, the skin track was already set and we were grateful. Temperatures remained cold but comfortable all day with almost no wind except near the summit. Sunny blue skies rained supreme with occasional cloud cover every few hours.

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2008-2009 Season, January, Jay Peak

Brutal Cold and Fresh Snow at Jay

Saturday was the culmination of a week featuring frequent snow and brutally bitter cold. Jay received a few characteristic inches overnight but not enough to call it a powder day. Stateside only received about two inches and riding the Jet Triple was an exercise in self discipline. After a few runs on the Jet, I gave the Bonnie a try and found the ride fairly wind free (even coming over the ridge above Liftline). Dropping into Liftline from the top and dropping the cliff, I found a few more inches of tracked up fresh, perhaps up to four inches, on top of previously hammered in bumps. Despite the fresh and having found a wind free lift, my energy was non-existent and the cold had seriously gotten into my bones. So I decided to call it an early day just as the hordes began massing at the lift.

2008-2009 Season, Black Mountain, January, Powder Day

Killer Powder Day at Black Mountain

Black Mountain! It has been a half dozen years since my last visit and I was LONG past due. Black is one of my favorite “smaller” sized mountains. Mostly a family paradise, Black Mountain in Jackson, NH has sensational character and charm (not to mention cheap lift tickets). Despite the general lack of pitch, Black has several short but awesome trails that ski exceptionally well on a powder day. Aside from my skiing partner and myself, I counted no more than a half dozen other powder hounds on the mountain. I skied untracked snow from open until I left at 12:30pm and for sure there will still be pockets of untracked snow left tomorrow.

Today was the first day the double was open to the summit. So I wasted no time in taking first of the season tracks on completely untouched Lostbo, Lostbo Glade, White Knuckle, and Carter Notch Glade. That involves three individual laps off the summit yielding three completely untracked first of the season runs. Boot to knee deep. KILLER!!! Three unadulterated face shots resulted from those first three runs. The cold smoke was blowing right over my shoulders and up into my face. SICK!!!

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2008-2009 Season, January, Magic Mountain, Powder Day

Magic Mountain Boot to Knee Deep Powder!

Lots of uncertainty about a storm and how much would fall in Vermont. Storm projections decidedly favored southern New England with storm totals rapidly diminishing to the north. With a rare drive to southern Vermont tipping the day trip meter at two and a half hours on dry pavement, I only wanted to make the drive if it was going to be worth the effort.

And it definitely was! Words can not describe but I will do my best. After a harrowing drive that lasted more than three hours and involved knuckles from a virtually unplowed I-91, I got to Magic at 8:45am and hooked up with Kingsley. Magic opens at 8am on the weekends which I totally dig but did not work in my favor today!

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