Wind Hold

So, with 22" of new snow in the mountains, what would you do to ski some powder runs?

Mike and I headed north to ME at 5:00 am so that we could get in some good runs on the mountain before everything had been skied off. Surprisingly, the roads were in pretty good shape given all of the snow/rain/ice from the day before. After unpacking the truck, changing and grabbing ski gear, we were off to the mountain.

The only trouble with the remnants of the storm was the wind - only two lifts were even running when we arrived, putting all the "freshie" seekers on the same trails. We took a different approach, and decided that it was worthwhile hiking up to ski down some untracked runs...

We took Lift 9 (black line) to the top of Tempest on our first "powder" run, and hiked up (red lines) to Snowbound where we could intersect with Obsession (blue lines). There were only two tracks down in front of us, so I headed down first, and immediately took a digger...I forgot that I needed to lean back in the powder, and that turning was a difficult maneuver! The rest of the run was sweet, but hard work.



On the second adventure, we decided to go a little higher - all the way to the top of Barker Mtn! Looking at the Barker quad at the top, we could understand the wind hold - I wouldn't have wanted to be on it! No on ehad ventured this high, and we skied first tracks down Top Gun to the bottom. I was spent after that - legs were killing me not only from climbing up with all of the gear, but from having to work so hard getting down in all of the snow.


Later in the day, we ventured out on the sleds for a ride. That was really a mis-adventure. With all of the snow, I ended up getting my machine stuck 4 times, and that thing is heavy! We'll go out and try again tomorrow, once some of the trails have been packed down...

VDay Blizzards and Treats

Happy Valentine's Day!

In New England, we are finally getting some significant snowfall. The original forecast said that we would get anywhere between 6" and 12" and then that was tapered back because everything was turning over to rain/sleet/mix. It's currently still snowing here, and Mike has gone out to blow out the driveway 3 times already. The forecast for the remainder of the day is nasty, with BLIZZARD conditions up in Maine (woohoo!).

The cold and snow appear to also have forced some of the critters to look for creative ways to get out of the weather and have a snack. I watched the squirrels in the feeders and on the whirl-a-squirrel for quite awhile. It actually looked like this little guy's paws were frozen.

And of course, we can't have Valentine's Day without treats. We don't eat a lot of chocolate at our house, but I baked up a batch of my grandpa's shortbread recipie for Mike. He's giving them two thumbs up.

Dual Sport

Morning, Sunday River, ME - approx. 20 degrees



Afternoon, MA - 32 degrees

Scenes of Winter

Two sure signs that it's cold outside:

1. There is ice in my garden.

2. We only rode our bikes 3.5 miles before turning around and coming home.

Hard Miles

It finally snowed in New England this weekend! Whoopee - we got a whole 4-6" inches overnight on Friday. We decided that we would head out early on Saturday morning to take advantage of the new snow, and try and beat some of the crowds onto the trails.

We ended up trailering to Gorham, and decided to ride from there to Lancaster -> Groveton -> Millsfield -> Nash Stream -> Dixville Peak -> Errol -> Milan -> Berlin -> Gorham. As we started our ride, we were the first to track in the new snow, which was great. The trails from Gorham through to Lancaster were fairly good, and we tracked a good amount of the way. The snow was thin, but there was no traffic, and the fresh snow helped.

We hit the Groveton trails behind the groomer, and the trails, while thin, were good. Again, we were the first to run these trails both before and after we passed the groomer. Because of the lack of base, there were a lot of rocks and logs hit along the way. The going was slow. Mike had a rare bobcat sighting on these trails - he didn't quite get the camera out quick enough, and I didn't see it at all, but did see the tracks.

There is a bobcat in this picture somewhere...

Once we got further north, we started to hit trails that had had quite a lot of traffic, and were really bumpy. We also started encountering more riders, some of whom were a little crazy. We got out of the area as quickly as we could, stopping in Errol for gas before heading South. The remainder of our trip was pretty miserable - bumps, thin cover, rocks and logs. By the time we got back to the truck (160 miles and 8 hours later), we were tired and sore. We did have some great views today though.



Mt Washington (early AM), Groveton Parking Lot
Freshly Groomed (Trail 5), Riding the Trail
Errol Buffalo Farm, Weather Closing in on Mt. Washington (late afternoon)

I have to say that I'm not anxious to go out and repeat a ride like this. We simply need more snow. The clubs are doing a great job with what they have, but they could use a helping hand from Mother Nature.

Our day ended with a delicious dinner at the Sudbury Inn with Alexis and Susan. Good food, good company and a great end to the day.