Maine Whirlwind...

[indiggio]

Started out for Sunday River Sunday morning at about 5:15. Place we’re staying said we can’t check in until 4pm, so since the forecast was for clear skies, decided to take a “scenic” route up and go past Mount Washington.

 

Had Waze route me up around Boston and then onto 16 North, then it got weird. It took me out through some of the most podunk roads/towns that I’ve ever been on. We ended up going past the tiny King Pine ski area, which was pretty damn cool. Right across from it they were having a big pond hockey game. Sometimes it just a hoot letting the GPS find a bizarre route so you can see parts of ‘merica you’d otherwise never see.

 

Finally got near Mount Washington and of course it began snowing, oh well. Got into Bethel area around 2:00pm and they allowed us to check in, so we headed to the place, dropped off crap and headed down to Sunday River Brewery for dinner and beers. Not a bad place. Food was pretty good and the beers were good as well, it’s just a bit overdone for a craft brewery.

 

While we were having dinner a winter storm watch notice came through, so I decided to head up the 2 hour drive to Sugarloaf Monday instead of waiting until Tuesday, as I really didn’t want to hear the wife complaining all the way up there if it’s gonna be snowing. If it starts in the afternoon, I’ll deal with the complaining then.

 

Gonna be an early day Monday...

 

 

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[indiggio]

1/28/19

Woke up before o’dark thrifty to make breakfast here before heading out to Sugarloaf. Repacked all the ski shit in the car about 5:15am in a whopping 10 degrees out and left for the loaf.

The night sky up here is incredibly clear. So many stars can be seen that we could never see down in PA due to all the light pollution.

Let Waze take me the fastest route which again turned into a drive through who-knows-where. We drove, and drove, and drove. I thought driving to Jay was bad from Stowe, but that ride has NOTHING on this one. Holy O’Fuck is this place out there!!
I don’t think they believe in plowing at all up here, as all the roads are snow covered, packed powder covered with a sprinkling of sand. Glad I decided to go up today, as the wife was white-knuckled the entire ride even without any snow falling!

Rolled into the day skier lot around 8:00am, a big later than I wanted, but was ok with it as the lot was right next to the lodge. Sugarloaf is one of those mountains that you have to go to the ticket office to get an old-fashioned ticket using the Ikon pass, as they don’t have RFID readers.

Having never been here before, I had no idea where to go, so I asked the ticket guy. He said he prefers skiing off the King Pine lift in the morning, since the sun lights up those slopes first thing. To get to that I’d have to take the Whiffletree lift and make my way over. When I got out, everyone was going to the Superquad, so I changed my plan to follow suit.

Ride up the Super with some regulars who agreed with the ticket guy, so I was able to make my way back across Spillway to Haul Back to the lift. I came up to find it still closed since SP hadn’t finished their pass. He suggested I run down to Whiffletree and by the time I got back they should be open.

Headed down a dreaded cat track which was littered with moose tracks, so I kept my eyes peeled.

Getting back to King Pine, I lapped the runs out there, only one of which they left ungroomed with 4-6” of fresh, everything else they groomed within an inch of its life.

Got bored of that area and headed back down to the lodge to warm up, since the winds were picking up and it felt like the temps were dropping.

After some coffee/hot chocolate, I decided to see what the other side was like. Took the Super back up and ride with some Canadians who only ski once a year. Made my way down to the Timberline lift to take me up to the summit. It was brutal cold and the winds were howling. I wouldn’t be coming back up here. Luckily not many people had ventured up, as there were a few slopes with untouched perder.

After taking a few pics, I found the fresh I saw from the lift and had it all to myself. From there I made a few more laps around and decided to hit the bar, as the winds had blown everything soft down to the base.

Met up with the wife and we hit The Widowmaker bar for a beer and then to Hunker Down for another before departing back to Sunday River.

Back in Sunday River we headed to the Matterhorn for some more beers and homemade brick-oven pizza in a tre-cool, ski-decked motif. I think our waitress is relayed to SallyCat, as she has a very similar personality/humor/delivery.








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[indiggio]

All to myself!





Place is vacant!










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[tarponhead]

Don’t forget to get two stickers!

[indiggio]

1/29/19

Up at 4am, made breakfast, fought w/ stupid condo coffeemaker, pooped and made my way down to White Cap lodge to get my daily ticket on Ikon pass. Of course, way too early and the shop wasn’t open yet, not until 8:30. Got ticket and up the WC quad I went, staring at White Cap Peak, but unable to get to it since the lift was down for maintenance.
This and what I found at Sunday River that a ton of really good expert slopes were closed with a ton of fresh on them. If only I had someone else to poach them with...

The ticket girl said she lapped Barker yesterday and it was good, in addition to it having a high-speed quad, I made my way there. Took a few high-speed runs off the Barker lift, but was disappointed with the lack of steepness of this peak despite the double-diamonds.

Made my way over to North Peak, but I was 1/2 hour early for the cinnamon buns & got text from wife that she made it to the South Ridge lodge, so went down there. Got her situated and made my way back to North Peak for fresh cinnamon bun which was delicious, but a bit too well done for me.
While I was sipping my hot chocolate/coffee, a lady asked me what I ride, which really took me aback and made me pause, oh, my Harley sweatshirt, whew!

Headed out over to Aurora peak, but i found that less than exciting, so went down towards the Oz lift. What? Closed? WTF?
Continued on down to the Jordan Bowl Express. This place is full of high-speed cruisers and any exposed skin felt like it was on fire.

Went far left of Jordan and found some fun glades with lots of untouched from yesterday’s little storm, but it’s prett pokey out here and a level 3 shit started brewing, probably from the cinnamon bun. Bolted outta there quick before it got any worse. Luckily I made it back to South Ridge before it got to a level 4!

After destroying a toilet and warming up a bit, made my way back up and down to Spruce Peak triple. The run underneath was full of bumps and lots of untracked fresh, so I lapped that a few times as it was a ton of fun. Along side of the lift there was a bunch of trees that few had touched, so it was all mine!

I could see the snow off in the distance and flurries had started to fall. The light was crazy flat and the damp cold had got to me, so headed down to South Ridge to meet up with the wife in the Foggy Goggle for a brew. Decided to head out to the Mountain View, but it’s not open on Tuesdays, so back to the condo it was.

Went out to check out a couple of local ski shops for kicks, as the on-mountain shops left a lot to be desired. After a bit of looking around to see what else was around for apres ski, we headed back to the Matterhorn for beers, dinner & music.


-5 this morning!


Fresh cinnamon buns!


They wear trench coats up here.


Some kinda hut I ran across in the woods.


Here comes the snow!


Foggy Goggle bar




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[toast21602]

Do you need to see a PCP for your bowel issues?

[RidgeRacer]

Indiggio wow. I didn't know you had that in you. So much epic in the write up. I was thoroughly entertained...the toilet destruction part was icing on the cake. Well done my friend.

[Shadows]

Quite possibly the best shit post on this site.

[tarponhead]

Love the Inspector Clouseau getup!

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

10” new at SR...have fun!!!

[indiggio]

1/30/19

Well, this one’s in the top ten of the epic books, at least for mine, so grab a beverage and read on...

The day started with a first-track run outta the condo and down Tempest to get a pass for the day down in the White Cap Lodge. After getting situated, I made my way out to the White Cap quad lift at about 8:40, as the lifts during the week don’t start running until 9.

I was clearly in the first 4 for first chair, but some Masshole rolled right up past me to the front. Another guy said I was here first, but I didn’t really care saying there’s enough snow for everyone.

5 minutes later, Masshole says his friends just showed up and bolted for them and I could have his spot. Gee thanks!

Rode up the lift and chatted with the others, making some smalltalk and the boarder next to me turned out to have a house on the mountain, so obviously knew it well. At the top of the lift I asked her if she minded if I skied with her to which she answered, Sure! Whoah!

We made our way down to the Barker Mountain lift and she said she asked “You’re from PA? You ski perder pretty well!”

The rest of the day was a blur, as we only slid groomers to an entrance to whatever the next woods she knew would be good, and good they were!! Many of the woods were untouched and with the overnight 10-12” plus the 4-6”, some were thigh-deep powder. Incredible!

We hit the woods on every peak in the mountain and then made our way back to where we started at White Cap. Terry said she had to get to work, but was contemplating a hike up to the top of the closed White Cap peak. I told her I’d do it, if she was into it, so we bolted back for the Barker Mountain life.

After a ride up Barker and a catwalk over towards White Cap, we started the hike up to the White Cap peak. God I’m outta shape! How did I get myself into chasing around a 25 year old?!?!

Sucking wind and fighting to catch my breath at the top of White Cap, SP had the runs closed but that wouldn’t stop us at this point. We agreed that White Heat would be crappy, as the wind had started cranking up and we could see the snow being blown overtop of it. With Shock Wave being on the leeward side, all that snow should deposit on it.

After taking some obligatory tourist pics at the peak, we let loose down Shock Wave and it was just as we expected. There were only a few tracks on it from the adventurous and provided us with at least 20” of firm, floaty perder. We stopped at the intersection of White Heat to take in the blissful silence of a spectacular run.

After making our way down to White Cap, I offered my personal guide a beer at her favorite watering hole, only to find it wasn’t open today. We made our way back up the White Cap quad and offered her a beer at the Barker lodge where the wife was waiting, but she declined. I thanked her again and wished her a happy life and then departed.

This my slider friends is what it’s all about!!

A local who probably thought I was some old creep trying to pick up some young woman, but it all went the totally other way!

I couldn’t thank her enough for letting me tag along and told her often, that if I was holding her up, just say goodbye and I’d be fine, but she kept going on with me and showing me more and more of the mountain. That, to me, this is what this is all about. New friendships borne on a mountain between those who just like to slide on frozen water together and share the experience.

After we departed, I met he wife at the Barker lodge for a beer. A nice place but a bit too loud. We made our way down to the Mountain View which has a great view of the mountain, but is lacking in the apres ski motif. It’s a bit too hoity-toity for us and so we left.

After changing, we went back to the Matterhorn and had some delicious beers along with a Hawaiian pizza.

Now I’m back in the condo, sipping a Funky Bow, So Folkin’ Hoppy IPA while writing up this post.

Like I said, an epic day I’ll never forget!!


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[indiggio]

 

First tracks down pics

 

 

 

 

Top of White Cap...

 

 

 

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[RidgeRacer]

Fantastic pics and TR dude.