"Weekend in New England" (No not the Barry Manilow song though I like that one) has always been a kind of magical phrase in my world especially when it comes to skiing. Born and raised here in Northern New Jersey outside of NYC, all through grade school, my father would pack me into the car on a Friday after school and off to either Vermont or New Hampshire we would ride to get 2 days of skiing here in the Northeast. In High School I ended up going to school in New Hampshire and got to ski all over those 2 states and dad would still come up and spend weekends on the slopes with me. Then after attaining my drivers license it was off with friends anytime we could. After college shares, in a house, at Killington for several seasons. Many, many happy times up in the Green and White Mountains and totally in love with the concept.
Fast forward many years. My wife and I did somewhat similar things with our children and gave them a similar geography lesson of Northern New England. We made a game of it by collecting pins at each resort we went to and now have an impressive collection. But my father in his later years had not so much discovered the west but introduced the family to western skiing, relatives invested out there, the focus of family skiing shifted out there. My son got into ski racing, my daughter decided to teach skiing and make money at an early age, we based our home skiing at Camelback here in the Pocono Mountains of PA, 45 min away, all leading to less and less New England skiing. The time factor, the driving, our son moving to Denver and of course the fickle New England weather and snow, and then the "Pandemic" and everything in the Travel Industry that went along with it all but took away the desire to ski up there. Basically fell out of love with New England skiing.
But 1 place that has always had a special place in my heart and a place my wife has enjoyed too is Loon Mountain in Lincoln New Hampshire. So while getting my plans for this season, I booked a room at an Inn we like up in Lincoln for this past weekend back in November with the idea that if things didn't work out time wise or weather wise I could easily cancel. Watching all season It really looked like that was probably going to happen, but then luck started to change. Wife has taken a new job and it just so happened that she was scheduled to be in Boston last week till Thursday. The fickle Northern New England weather decided to cooperate (more on that later) and more and more terrain opened, so when it came apparent that we were going to go we changed her travel plans from flying back to NJ to me taking Friday off and driving up Thursday night to Woburn Mass and meeting her at the Hampton Inn there and then driving up to New Hampshire from there.
On to the the trip. Took off from Jersey to make the drive to Boston, outside of a little construction on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut it was a pretty event free drive. Had watched the weather all week and knew some sort of storm was brewing but the forecasts were all over the place and its New England and nothing is a slam dunk weather wise in New England, but crossing the CT/Mass boarder the new electronic signs were posting "Snow/Ice Friday Night into Saturday, please plan ahead" Arrived safely at the Hotel and got a good nights sleep and good breakfast the next morning.
Wife never officially took Friday off so after some business activity in the morning, we took off pretty late morning for the drive up I-93 to New Hampshire. Beautiful sunny day, light traffic and stunning views of the White's while approaching from the south. Arrived and was able to get into our room early (thank you Holiday Inn in Lincoln) where my wife once again had to get on the computer and phone and conduct business, but I was free and took advantage of it by suiting up and driving over to South Peak at Loon and getting a couple of hours in. I had skied a couple of runs over there in the past but not many so this was my chance to check it out.
Conditions were good, mostly groomed eastern hard pack with some nice fun moguls on the sides. Several of the runs on this side of the resort have good steep pitches on them and were very entertaining. Skied everything except Undercut, a tree run that was officially closed but had people ducking the ropes anyways. At my age I don't and won't poach so I did not attempt it. Anyways enjoyed my 2 hour journey all the time watching the high clouds come in and the western horizon turn a darker shade of grey. Couple of pics of South Peak trails and interesting views of the town of Lincoln NH.
Back to the hotel, where the wife wrapped up her business, we went and had a nice hot tub (before the majority of the weekend guests arrived) got changed and went out and got a decent Mexican meal before heading off to a decently early bed.
Knowing the situation got up early Saturday morning dragging the wife out to an early breakfast and prep for the day of skiing ahead. Walked out to this beautiful scene outside.
Only about a 3 mile drive but arrived at the Gondola Lodge almost a hour before opening got good parking and a nice amount of time to get ready. People were lined up or both the Gondola and the new 7 Brothers quad already but we jumped on the Gondola line which really wasn't that bad and went right up to the summit.
Morning rush at the Gondola really not any different from any other place on a powder day. My poor wife has not really gotten to ski too much this year due to the new job and just piss poor conditions down here in PA (she just hasn't been motivated and I don't blame her) so this in essence was her 1st time out this season so she started it well. 1st runs featured some nice uncut powder which was awesome to ski but had to be rough on her legs. Of course being the east the powder got thrashed quite quickly but the skiing was nice anyways and we got several nice runs off of the Gondola, 7 Brothers and the new Kanc 8 Bubble. Stormy day and phone power issues so not too many pictures but here are a few.
Just an awesome morning and a lot of fun but like I said very tiring for my wife so she knocked off around 12:30 and I went for some solo time. The snow started to lighten up and the visability became better and I got several runs off the gondola riding the singles line. Double digit snows and weekend crowds lead to some pretty fun bumps on almost all trails and I highlighted the day by getting into the trees for the first time this season on Mikey's Way before calling it a day and joining the wife for après ski. Paul Bunyon Room was packed so we decided to head back to the hotel for a nice hot tub, shower and cocktails before heading out to dinner. Made a reservation at Gordi's Friday for Saturday and we headed over a little early to enjoy the bar and the skiing motif (very museum like to me). Had a nice dinner then back to the hotel for rest.
Sunday would feature another early rise and breakfast and then pack and out of the hotel and over to the Gondola Lodge before opening. Groomers are my wife's favorite and Loon's specialty with those nice long cruisers off the Gondola so she was in her glory as we lapped several trips via the gondola and the 7 Brothers/East Basin lift combo on "silent" cord. A really good friend of mine and the best man at our wedding drove over from his place at Sunday River and joined us for the day about 9:30. Again lots of cruisers off the Gondola and Kanc 8 and a run up North Peak. Once again the wife was able to go till about 12:30 when her legs tired. Gave my friend and I the opportunity to hit the woods which we did with Mikey's Way and Walking Boss woods off of North Peak finally tiring our 60+ bodies out about 2 oclock.
Again I had trouble with my phone losing charge and only got a few shots Sunday before losing power so I didn't get any shots in the woods which were playing well this weekend. Went up stairs and had some après in The Paul Bunyon Room before hitting the road back home to New Jersey with a nice uneventful drive.
Good Bye Loon, view from the drop off area at departure.
Bottom line is I guess like getting back with an ex (I never did that so I'm not sure) I started to feel those same feelings I had as a kid and maybe just maybe have fallen back in love with New England skiing. It was a great weekend and every thing we could have hoped for and now I'm actually looking forward to doing it again. Nice to have that feeling back.
Fast forward many years. My wife and I did somewhat similar things with our children and gave them a similar geography lesson of Northern New England. We made a game of it by collecting pins at each resort we went to and now have an impressive collection. But my father in his later years had not so much discovered the west but introduced the family to western skiing, relatives invested out there, the focus of family skiing shifted out there. My son got into ski racing, my daughter decided to teach skiing and make money at an early age, we based our home skiing at Camelback here in the Pocono Mountains of PA, 45 min away, all leading to less and less New England skiing. The time factor, the driving, our son moving to Denver and of course the fickle New England weather and snow, and then the "Pandemic" and everything in the Travel Industry that went along with it all but took away the desire to ski up there. Basically fell out of love with New England skiing.
But 1 place that has always had a special place in my heart and a place my wife has enjoyed too is Loon Mountain in Lincoln New Hampshire. So while getting my plans for this season, I booked a room at an Inn we like up in Lincoln for this past weekend back in November with the idea that if things didn't work out time wise or weather wise I could easily cancel. Watching all season It really looked like that was probably going to happen, but then luck started to change. Wife has taken a new job and it just so happened that she was scheduled to be in Boston last week till Thursday. The fickle Northern New England weather decided to cooperate (more on that later) and more and more terrain opened, so when it came apparent that we were going to go we changed her travel plans from flying back to NJ to me taking Friday off and driving up Thursday night to Woburn Mass and meeting her at the Hampton Inn there and then driving up to New Hampshire from there.
On to the the trip. Took off from Jersey to make the drive to Boston, outside of a little construction on the Merritt Parkway in Connecticut it was a pretty event free drive. Had watched the weather all week and knew some sort of storm was brewing but the forecasts were all over the place and its New England and nothing is a slam dunk weather wise in New England, but crossing the CT/Mass boarder the new electronic signs were posting "Snow/Ice Friday Night into Saturday, please plan ahead" Arrived safely at the Hotel and got a good nights sleep and good breakfast the next morning.
Wife never officially took Friday off so after some business activity in the morning, we took off pretty late morning for the drive up I-93 to New Hampshire. Beautiful sunny day, light traffic and stunning views of the White's while approaching from the south. Arrived and was able to get into our room early (thank you Holiday Inn in Lincoln) where my wife once again had to get on the computer and phone and conduct business, but I was free and took advantage of it by suiting up and driving over to South Peak at Loon and getting a couple of hours in. I had skied a couple of runs over there in the past but not many so this was my chance to check it out.
Conditions were good, mostly groomed eastern hard pack with some nice fun moguls on the sides. Several of the runs on this side of the resort have good steep pitches on them and were very entertaining. Skied everything except Undercut, a tree run that was officially closed but had people ducking the ropes anyways. At my age I don't and won't poach so I did not attempt it. Anyways enjoyed my 2 hour journey all the time watching the high clouds come in and the western horizon turn a darker shade of grey. Couple of pics of South Peak trails and interesting views of the town of Lincoln NH.
Back to the hotel, where the wife wrapped up her business, we went and had a nice hot tub (before the majority of the weekend guests arrived) got changed and went out and got a decent Mexican meal before heading off to a decently early bed.
Knowing the situation got up early Saturday morning dragging the wife out to an early breakfast and prep for the day of skiing ahead. Walked out to this beautiful scene outside.
Only about a 3 mile drive but arrived at the Gondola Lodge almost a hour before opening got good parking and a nice amount of time to get ready. People were lined up or both the Gondola and the new 7 Brothers quad already but we jumped on the Gondola line which really wasn't that bad and went right up to the summit.
Morning rush at the Gondola really not any different from any other place on a powder day. My poor wife has not really gotten to ski too much this year due to the new job and just piss poor conditions down here in PA (she just hasn't been motivated and I don't blame her) so this in essence was her 1st time out this season so she started it well. 1st runs featured some nice uncut powder which was awesome to ski but had to be rough on her legs. Of course being the east the powder got thrashed quite quickly but the skiing was nice anyways and we got several nice runs off of the Gondola, 7 Brothers and the new Kanc 8 Bubble. Stormy day and phone power issues so not too many pictures but here are a few.
Just an awesome morning and a lot of fun but like I said very tiring for my wife so she knocked off around 12:30 and I went for some solo time. The snow started to lighten up and the visability became better and I got several runs off the gondola riding the singles line. Double digit snows and weekend crowds lead to some pretty fun bumps on almost all trails and I highlighted the day by getting into the trees for the first time this season on Mikey's Way before calling it a day and joining the wife for après ski. Paul Bunyon Room was packed so we decided to head back to the hotel for a nice hot tub, shower and cocktails before heading out to dinner. Made a reservation at Gordi's Friday for Saturday and we headed over a little early to enjoy the bar and the skiing motif (very museum like to me). Had a nice dinner then back to the hotel for rest.
Sunday would feature another early rise and breakfast and then pack and out of the hotel and over to the Gondola Lodge before opening. Groomers are my wife's favorite and Loon's specialty with those nice long cruisers off the Gondola so she was in her glory as we lapped several trips via the gondola and the 7 Brothers/East Basin lift combo on "silent" cord. A really good friend of mine and the best man at our wedding drove over from his place at Sunday River and joined us for the day about 9:30. Again lots of cruisers off the Gondola and Kanc 8 and a run up North Peak. Once again the wife was able to go till about 12:30 when her legs tired. Gave my friend and I the opportunity to hit the woods which we did with Mikey's Way and Walking Boss woods off of North Peak finally tiring our 60+ bodies out about 2 oclock.
Again I had trouble with my phone losing charge and only got a few shots Sunday before losing power so I didn't get any shots in the woods which were playing well this weekend. Went up stairs and had some après in The Paul Bunyon Room before hitting the road back home to New Jersey with a nice uneventful drive.
Good Bye Loon, view from the drop off area at departure.
Bottom line is I guess like getting back with an ex (I never did that so I'm not sure) I started to feel those same feelings I had as a kid and maybe just maybe have fallen back in love with New England skiing. It was a great weekend and every thing we could have hoped for and now I'm actually looking forward to doing it again. Nice to have that feeling back.
