Angus

Hiked Mount Washington yesterday via Tuckerman's route, at elevation there is some serious leaf colors. Unfortunately, the summit was in the clouds. On the summit cone came across some guy who I initially thought had fallen and hurt himself. He was just disoriented in the clouds. Got him back on track and stayed with to the summit parking lot.

More news from Saddleback Saddleback is very pleased to be able to announce that we are lowering the prices for the following season pass categories in response to the long conversations we have had with some of you affected by current circumstances. From now through Thanksgiving, the Junior and College Passes will now be only $324.00 (down from 449.00) and the Casablanca Pass will now be $399.00 (down from $599.00).

that whole area of winter's way, bubblecuffer, & white nitro is great - again with caveat of with snow! I've jumped in there a few times and was lucky to survive between ice, rocks and stumps!

Bought my NE Epic pass last nite so I will be skiing a lot of Wildcat if everything goes according to plan and maybe the VT resorts midweek to avoid crowds. When the snow is right, Sugarloaf is the best resort in the NE. Note: I've not skied two places that could competed - Jay and Whiteface. As I've documented here, I dismissed the Burnt Mtn/Bracket Basin tree skiing thing as a marketing strategy and not an actual product but skiing there two seasons ago in mid -April was a revelation. With that said, the terrain and exposure make Sugarloaf and Wildcat pretty boney when nature is not cooperating.

Just received this. Fantastic news about making skiing accessable to the local community. An anonymous donor, with close ties to the Rangeley/Oquossoc region announced a major gift to make Saddleback Mountain and skiing accessible to every child in the Rangeley schools for the next 5 years. “With this gift, Saddleback Mountain will be able to offer season passes to every child in the Rangeley school district for $50/year for the next 5 years,” said Wolfe Tone of the Saddleback Mountain Foundation. “These donors’ generosity in the early stages of Saddleback’s philanthropy campaign was instrumental in helping get the mountain back on its feet and this gift continues their legacy of making a difference in the region.”

Associating pedophiles with one mainstream political party or the other - that's just buying into hyper-partisan BS.

I can't say for sure but it was probably that third week (M-F, 18-22). I took 5 or 6 runs, each time had frost bite on my face and they wouldn't let me load without going inside. Absolutely brutal, my whole body was cold even with layers and layers on me. It was so bad that it ended my ski season.

@tamarack do you have temp data from January 1982. The earlier discussion made me think about a cold snap mid to late month that was brutal. I skied one day at Sugarloaf and combination of cold and wind made it the most uncomfortable physical experience of my life. Come to think of it, I was in Quebec City around same time and saw frost falling from a clear ski.

just looked...snowing and sticking at wolf creek.

Wolf Creek is a really fun area - basically a 1.5-2 mile ridge line with 1,500-1,750' of vertical with everything skiable and most annual snow in Colorado. The other bonus is there are no resort lodging at the ski area - need to drive north or south and the clientale is heavily Texan, Arkansas, Louisiana folks which can make for a comedy on snow at times - https://wolfcreekski.com/wolf-creek-ski-area-live-web-cam/

Close...Luke 12 - English Standard Version Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

I was joking with my son that if I need to share a chair with a non-family member, I am going to position myself upwind everytime.

I noticed the gondola was running at Loon on Sunday - assume, it is family only. I think I posted earlier that Cannon has said the Tram is TBD. I'm not getting on an enclosed/bubble lift with someone I don't know.

manufacturing in the US looks completely different than it did 50-75 years ago, on-shoring manufacturing jobs is a political trojan horse IMO. As referenced, highly automated requiring a much higher vocational skill set than was the case two generations ago. Just look at mini-mills As an aside, I have told this story a bunch, skiing a few years back in MWV, probably at wildcat, and struck up with a local machine tool cos. owner who seemed to have a nice success business. Told me he was paying a competitive hourly wage, guaranteeing 10 hours of OT minimally a week, plus full benefits including savings plan and he couldn't find help b/c job applicants couldn't pass the urine test. He had got to the point where he was interviewing, asking them point blank their habits, suggesting they stay clean for a month and come back and they had a job...none of them ever showed back up. I was relating this story to a friend who runs HR for a big cos. in NH lakes region, they confirmed saying they had recommended no drug test due to lack of applicants. A big issue in our economy is the mismatch of skills. Want to have a job, become a certified welder.

Wind was howling in the Pemi today. Started a Bond Traverse at midnite and was getting knocked around on Guyot at 5am. Going across Bondcliff was tough.

I once stumbled on a book, now lost, that was written around the same time that was an examination of issues confronting Maine economically ... reading it in mid 2000's, I was struck how nothing had much changed in 30 years. I have looked for the book many time - Doris Kearns Goodwin wrote the forward from book from Sugarloaf is all I remember.

sister told my son it was sunny one moment and next all hell broke loose.

sister in N. Haven is reporting her yard was completely uprooted/destroyed. She was able to shelter in basement. My nephew was supposedly in a car in local vicinity, dodging falling trees.

I think I will get the epic NE pass. Try to ski mid-weeks at the premium resorts and wildcat or crotched on weekends. If wildcat would run their mid-mountain chair regularly that would alleviate a lot of congestion IMO. Definitely thinking of the touring skis too. Again, hopefully, we get snow and have regular base in metrowest boston so I have a midweek alternative to a man-made, busy loop at weston ski track!

this is the headline ...For your safety, we will be managing how many people are on our mountains this season and implementing a pass holder reservation system. Reservations will be required to access our mountains. For the vast majority of days, we anticipate our mountains will be able to accommodate everyone who wants to ski or ride at our resorts. This reservation system is designed to give you peace of mind knowing that you will have the space you need to feel safe and physically distance, no matter what day you visit. https://www.epicpass.com/info/reservation-details

My niece and family from MD were going to go up yesterday when the temps were forecast to be 30's with 0 -10 above wind chills. They brought no jackets - I brought up a couple for them. They now plan to go tomorrow when the weather is better. I've hiked numerous times but only from the west side or doing a Presidential Traverse and then last year on Memorial Day when technically I didn't summit - but with skis on my back - via a deep snow pack on Lion's Head trail. I have also run the road race - that was brutal - I had been injured for something like two months, had almost no fitness but had a bib# so decided I would do it...finished but walked more than I ran the second half of race.

@tamarackYou got me googling the Seven Islands Land Cos. and the Pingrees, fascinating part of Maine history. My grandfather was a Maine State Congressman around the 1917 and 1919 sessions. He died before I had much interest in this sort of thing but my grandmother later told me that his summation of his public service in Augusta was 'frustrating.' She said the big lumber companies held all the power at that time in the state and getting anything done legislatively went nowhere if it was not in the timber cos. interests. Of course, he was there to do the bidding of his families' business interest!

Spectacular sunrise in central NH lakes region. Small white caps now heading down the lake - north to south and cool. Feels like Fall.

Made reference here in past that until recently work got me all over MI - UP and LP - throughout the year. Traveling by car, I can attest it is an interesting snow climate but one that the locals say is changing rapidly - much more variable according to locals. With that said, been in Gaylord in big snow years and the snow they get there is impressive. Stopped at a Bigby coffee shop in Gaylord early one morning driving from Traverse City in mid-January and there was a group of mother's there complaining that school had been essentially cancelled since Christmas break due to non-stop snow. I was on my up to the Sault which didn't have any real impressive depths, if I recall; but returned to Gaylord that evening and found the settled snow depths to in 5' range. It was only January but the snow was already reaching up to the roof lines. There is a town, west of Gaylord, called Mancelona that has a permanent snow stake along the train tracks downtown that stands about 10' tall.

Spent a week plus in Norway two summers ago, mostly in mountains and fjords. Absolutely spectacular. Would love to spend a winter ski touring there. Edit- would say the same for Iceland which I visited three summers ago.