Category: Video

2005-2006 Season, April, Powder Day, Saddleback, Video

Amazing Day at Saddleback, ME

Steve on Muleskinner

I have said it many times this season: any one who thinks this season has sucked has not been paying attention and getting out when it counts. You simply CAN NOT put work above skiing when there is fresh snow in the mountains. I have had Saddleback on my radar for three or four years now and finally everything lined up to get over there following 12″ of fresh earlier this week. I think Saddleback is perhaps even more over looked than Burke as a great ski area no one skis and is certainly one of my favorites now that i have made some turns there.

Drivers approaching Saddleback from Vermont should be wary of a few things regarding the directions Saddleback suggests on their web site. Route 16 in NH has frost heaves that will launch your car completely air born if you do the speed limit for a fifteen mile stretch north of Berlin, NH. The road is only slightly better in Maine, but at least in NH Route 16 is consistently a rodeo whereas Route 16 in Maine you do not have any warning before preparing for lift off. The bigger issue is that the directions say to take Route 16 through Rangeley; but what they don’t tell you is that you need to go straight on Route 4 when Route 16 turns left. Fifteen minutes later, I noticed Saddleback in my rear view mirror. Oops.

A better alternative for those folks driving to Saddleback from western New England is to utilize Route 2 West to Route 17 East To Route 4 to Saddleback. Frost Heaves are less of an issue on Route 17 though still in existence and despite the longer mileage drive on Route 2, the excellent road conditions and high speed limits make up for the extra mileage in the end.

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2005-2006 Season, AlpineZone Meet Up, Loon Mountain, March, Video

AlpineZone.com Meet Up at Loon Mountain, NH

Greg on Angel Street

Originally, I was planning on returning to Cannon Mountain for a Tuesday Two-fer, but changed plans to ski at Loon with Greg from AlpineZone.com. Having skied with Greg once before, I knew we would have a fantastic time skiing together despite the limited expert and natural snow terrain at Loon; which barely missed out on the foot and a half Cannon received over the weekend due to notch effect snow. The company more than made up for lack of challenging terrain as we ripped up the expert level groomers on Loon’s North Peak.

We started the morning by ascending the Seven Brothers Triple Chairlift and skiing down to the North Peak Express Quad where we would spend most of the morning skiing the groomed expert terrain the lift services. Skiing the trails Right to Left, we started by making a quick cruising run down Walking Boss before proceeding to ski under the liftline on Flume. Finally, we took Sunset to Angel Street and decided that Angel Street definitely was the most fun and had the best snow. We would return often to Angel Street throughout the morning.

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2005-2006 Season, December, Jay Peak, Powder Day, Video

Powder Day and Broken Elbow at Jay Peak

Steve in Kitz Woods

Wow, what a day. A two-fer $49 coupon had me skiing for only $24 as yet another early season snow storm slammed into Northern Vermont. Jay Peak was reporting a foot and a half of fresh over the last few days with a 40″ total for the week. I quickly found out that most of the snow had been blown off the trails and deposited into the woods.

The Green Mountain Freezer was pretty darn cold! I took one run from T Freezer on the only open trail from the lift on crappy frozen granular which totally sucked. Over to The Jet I went, where the open runs were okay featuring lots of chewed up pow left over from the recent 6″. The glades were phenomenal though!!! Wow! Very hard to understand why the gladed trails were roped. A foot and a half of light pow and plenty of fresh lines! Timbuktu and Kitzw Wods were simply sensational. I met up two guys from the FTO Forums in Timbuktu and we paired up for the rest of the afternoon.

We headed up The Freezer after lunch and started wondering what Beaver Pond Glades were looking like on such a fine powder day. Only one way to find out I quipped! We hiked up above the Freezer so as not to duck any ropes and proceed to lay waste to untracked foot and a half boot deep freshies. Spectacular. We jumped into Beaver Pond and had an awesome time trying to find fresh lines in the exceptional powder.

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2005-2006 Season, Cannon Mountain, Earned Turns, November, Powder Day, Video

Earned Turn Powder Day at Cannon (Day 1)

Porter Skins Middle Cannon

Cannon Mountain was originally scheduled to open for the season on Friday November 25th. After receiving over a foot and a half of natural snow and having snow making temperatures for the better part of the week, Cannon Mountain decided to push their opening date forward one week and not open Thanksgiving Weekend. The mountain’s web site claimed a lack of snow making temperatures as the main culprit while also citing that the snow that fell was blown off the trails by wind. While I love Cannon Mountain and its amazing trail network both on and off the map, I have no tolerance for a management that lies to its customers. As I found out and the following trip report and pictures will attest, Cannon had no excuse for not opening this weekend in terms of weather, snow fall, or snow making temperatures.

Arriving at the Peabody Base Lodge at 9 A.M., I began suiting up when my skiing partners for the afternoon festivities arrived. We gathered together our gear and prepared for the skin up the mountain. From the base area, it was obvious the mountain had received ample amounts of snow in the amount of well over a foot.

We began our trek up Toss Up with two of us on skins and the other two utilizing slow shoes. A mostly sunny sky allowed for wonderful views of Mount Lafayette and Cannon Mountain. While I knew we would not be alone on the mountain, I was amazed at how many other groups we ran into beginning at the Toss Up/Middle Cannon intersection. No less than a half dozen groups were slowly working their way towards the summit utilizing various routes. Some clouds started rolling in as we began up Middle Cannon with more threatening clouds rolling in from the Northwest over Cannon’s Northern Shoulder.

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2005-2006 Season, October, Video, Wildcat

Skiing in the Leaves at Wildcat Mountain

Steve at Wildcat Summit

A reported three to four feet of white gold was dumped on Wildcat’s slopes during the last full week of October. With countless skiers and riders hiking to the summit for epic October powder descents, Wildcat decided on Wednesday, in the midst of a power outage, to give the weekend a shot. A dedicated and hard working management team began working the telephones from their homes to assemble a crew for bare bones weekend operations four weeks in advanced of the scheduled opening day. Wildcat pulled it out and was the first ski area in the east and the third in the nation to open for skiing and riding on Friday October 28, 2005.

Previously scheduled meetings at work had me tied to my desk while hundreds of East Coast skiers made first lift serviced tracks at Wildcat on Friday. Reports of epic bottomless powder at higher elevations began circulating the net Friday evening. I knew I would get mine on Saturday and I anxiously got my gear ready only to experience any skier’s worst nightmare that morning. After packing the car, I flicked the switch and the engine would not turn. Spending the better part of Saturday morning obtaining and installing a new battery, I knew I missed out on two of the best days of the season, in October no less!

Nothing could keep me from the slopes of Wildcat the following day and I anxiously sped away from home early Sunday morning. Too anxiously perhaps as my dedication to the first chair had me approaching the lift an hour early. Adjusting clocks for Daylight Savings Time is usually an activity reserved for the off season; though an essential activity for timely arrival at ski areas during early October openings. I was not alone in my excitement and forgetfulness as over 50 additional skiers soon formed a lift line awaiting the rope to drop at the Tomcat Triple. Ski patrol mercifully gave the nod 15 minutes early at a quarter of nine and loading commenced.

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