thesnowway.com

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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I give Sunday River a lot of credit for continuing to blow snow during questionable windows and continuing to offer skiers and riders a chance to determine for themselves if thin coverage is excessive or not. Patch skiing resumes at Sunday River will many small sections of Lower Sunday Punch blown out making top to bottom skiing all but impossible. Well, unless you have questionable ski base quality standards such as mine.

After waking up to a dreary and wet morning following a tropical storm breaking apart the previous night, I putz around the house for a while awaiting some hint of the sunshine that was forecasted for the afternoon. Soon enough, I was en route to Sunday River for Canned Good day. Always good to help support the local food banks while simultaneously supporting my habit on the cheap.

Due to Lower Sunday Punch being blown out in places which had most skiers and riders hiking parts of Lower Sunday Punch, the mid-stations line was more than my stomach could handle so I opted for top to bottom skiing with exception of one late day mid-station run. Frequent lift slow downs and stops to accommodate down loading skiers made riding the Locke Mountain Triple a tedious experience.

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Birthday turns when said birth date is in October always comes as a pleasant treat. The trick involved with Birthday turns at Sunday River today was navigating the patches on Lower Sunday Punch. At times it was questionable whether today offered more tricks or treats? But the smile on my face while making turns down Upper Sunday Punch gave credence to the treat side of the saying.

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Sunday River was the first ski area east of the Mississippi to open for the season two day ago. That certainly got my attention. Sunday River has opened for Halloween these past two years but it was a surprise to see the resort pulling out all the stops during an extremely below average temperature month of October. Having to work on Saturday and having other commitments on Sunday, I arranged to leave work early on Friday to get my first turns of the season.

My excitement for first turns of the season had my mind out of sorts as I missed the Barker Lodge turn off and ended up at the main lodge unloading my gear. After a quick reality check, I was soon at an empty Barker Lodge getting my $25.00 lift ticket and buckling into my new boots. First day of the season is no way to break in new boots, but no pain no gain as they say!

Uploading on the Locke Triple was sensational with great colors still lingering despite being past peak. The transition from just colors to colors with snow was sensational and vibrant. Views were sensational from the top of Locke Mountain with a relatively clear day and views to the Presidentials off the backside. T2 was the only open run with downloading on the Locke Triple Chair as Sunday Punch was not yet ready for top to bottom traffic.

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Sunday River in Newry, Maine became the first ski area in the Northeast to open for the season this past Thursday November 8th, one day earlier than scheduled. The early November snow making push was rather surprising considering most resorts are eliminating many days of the “shoulder seasons.” However, two new players in the region, including Boyne and Peaks, seriously upped the ante. Sunday River and Sugarloaf of Boyne beat Mount Snow and Attittash to the punch, but just barely. Bretton Woods also opened this weekend servicing limited beginner terrain.

Last weekend saw TheSnowWay.com’s author skinning up Locke at Sunday River for two runs unassisted by lifts. Today marked the author’s third day of the season and first lift serviced day. Although I appreciated the repetitions and vertical assistance, turns last weekend were much more enjoyable due to no crowds and no snow guns. But for only $20.00 after a donation of three canned goods, I certainly was not going to look else where for turns, crowds be damned!

Sunday River essentially offered up three trails for sliding along with a connector linking the Barker Summit to Locke. Both the Barker Summit High Speed Quad and the Locke Mountain Triple were in operation with the Locke Mountain Triple allowing skiers to board at the mid-station. Upper Sunday Punch and T2 were open from the Locke Mountain Summit from which both trails dumped into Cascades to the base which featured a mini terrain park. Snow making was online on Upper Sunday Punch making for an unpleasant skiing experience despite the trail having the best snow conditions.

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When American Ski Company dissolved and sold off its assets, no one could have predicted how many great things the new ownership would do in such a short period of time. Boyne USA Resorts stepped right up to the plate and began transforming its new Maine Resorts, Sunday River and Sugarloaf, from the neglected bastard childs of ASC to the impressive resorts they have the potential to be. Both Sunday River and Sugarloaf fired up snow making during the last week of October and Sunday River managed to open T2 on Halloween via uploading on Chair 4, thumbing its nose at the tight pockets of the former owners.

After this past Tuesday’s effort at Attitash, I was eager for some quality turns to make up for the desperate display of stupidity earlier in the week. With a planned opening date of November 9th and the snow making capability to do it, Sunday River is currently the early season leader to beat. The combination of less hiking and nearly enough snow to ski back to my car made Sunday River the obvious choice for turn earning instead of Killington.

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Sledhaulingmedic and I made our annual pilgrimage to Saddleback in Maine this fine Sunday afternoon. A brilliant blue sky with occasional puffy white clouds and very comfortable temperatures were enjoyed throughout the day. I donned a fleece and windbreaker for the Spring like temperatures that climbed into the forties. Generally, snow conditions never truly softened up despite some excellent corn being harvested on some lower mountain trails.

While Saddleback accurately reported 1-2″ of fresh snow over night, they downplayed the NCP they received prior to the change over. Snow surfaces were firm and many trails scheduled to open never had the rope dropped including Muleskinner, Upper Intimidator Glades, and Nightmare Glades. Just as well that the Glades were roped, but I was sad not to ski Muleskinner. Ropes dropped late on Supervisor,and Upper Tight Line to mixed results on firm surfaces.

We found the lower mountain slopes in better condition than most upper mountain trails, so we hammered the lower mountain in the morning after finding firm conditions up top. The lower mountain was slow to soften up but eventually we found the goods on the southern aspects.

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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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During Spring Break of March 2000, I ventured up to Maine for an afternoon of some great skiing at Sunday River. The race season with UMass Lowell Ski Team had concluded the previous month and college graduation was two months away. Having raced for several years, I wanted to get off the groomed terrain and try natural terrain and tree skiing. Thus, my second solo outing to a big mountain taught me some hard lessons about tree skiing and rope ducking.

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These Pictures are from my St. Patrick’s Day trip to Sunday River in Bethel, Maine. The glorious afternoon sported fifty to sixty degree temperatures with little wind. The mountain had just received a good three feet of snow the previous week and it was the last day of the season that they would have all trails open.

My trip to Sunday River sparked a sudden shift in my skiing life. No longer a terminal intermediate, my training with the UMass Lowell Ski Team provided a sound though still developing foundation of technical ability. This trip to Sunday River marked my first forays into natural snow and gladed terrain. It was also my first solo skiing outing. My development as a skier and my appreciation for trees and natural snow can be traced back to this afternoon at Sunday River.

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