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New England 2023 New England Gathering Report and Pics

Tony S

I have a confusion to make ...
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Up at Saddleback doing some selfless pre-gathering reconnaissance.

Snowed a couple inches this morning. It was changing over to rain right as I got here at 12:30.

At head level the skiing is atrocious - foggy, windy, wet, dark. At ski level it's fabulous, with a layer of marshmallow fluff providing an easy button feel to the bumps and trees. See pic. The place is empty, so many lines are unskied. Groomers are grabby, invisible, and not much fun.

Hoping that when it all freezes tonight it won't turn to coral. Fingers crossed

PXL_20230323_180418258.MP-01.jpeg
 

dbostedo

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Sorry I'll be missing this! Especially since I'm sitting in New Hampshire right now... so close!

Please post lots of pics!
 

Marker

Making fresh tracks
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We arrived in Rangeley at about 2 pm and stopped for shopping at the IGA and a beer at the Red Onion while waiting for a take-out pizza. Nice vib to the town so far. Our house is just down the road from the Dallas Hill turnoff with a nice view of the lake. My wife is happy...

Rt 16 from NH was bad as advertised with frost heaves. The bartender says Rt 17 is worse if we decide to take it home the long way.
20230323_163838.jpg
 

James

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Packing rain gloves.
Looking forward to the twilight zone ride across NH with the moose and frost heaves.
 
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tch

What do I know; I'm just some guy on the internet.
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^^^^ Yummmmm... look at that weather! Looks like perfect ski conditions to me .... :snowball:
 

Guy in Shorts

Tree Psycho
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Skied Killington with the morning showers. Drove to Maine in the afternoon rain. Had dinner at Saddleback Pub. Wife had whole belly clams and I had the chicken dinner. Sleeping in a muddy parking lot on the hill
 

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MarkP

Saturday, and Saturday, and Saturday...
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At Wildcat today. Pre-Gathering wet-up. 3 layers of clouds, providing drizzle, sleet and snow for most of the day.

Groomed runs soft, a broom handle had a decent chance of holding an edge. Ungroomed inconsistent, from slick to grabby. Slush-covered ice and rock available for those so inclined. 20230323_090852.jpg 20230323_100219.jpg 1679624012448.jpeg
 

James

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Bartender claimed to see moose all the time, but we haven't seen one during all our summer and winter NE adventures.
Me thinks the bar tender and you drive at different times of the night. He gets out about the time the Hounds of Baskerville start going at it with the local Sasquatch.

No moose tonight, but 3 or 4 deer and a racoon. The first deer I would’ve hit if I’d been doing 50 instead of 40. Even with the hard braking, it went right across the bow. Thing was huge.
 

Marker

Making fresh tracks
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Me thinks the bar tender and you drive at different times of the night. He gets out about the time the Hounds of Baskerville start going at it with the local Sasquatch.

No moose tonight, but 3 or 4 deer and a racoon. The first deer I would’ve hit if I’d been doing 50 instead of 40. Even with the hard braking, it went right across the bow. Thing was huge.
Frost heaves for the win?
 
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TS
Tony S

Tony S

I have a confusion to make ...
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It was a great day on the hill after a rocky start on the conditions front. Eventually we figured out where the good snow was and had as lot of smiles. Even James.

Began the day needing to thaw out my lock deicer.
 

KevinF

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We had a good turnout for the first day of the NEG Started out with some groomers that had a few death marbles which made them generally unsatisfying even to the substantial contingent (@Tony S , @mdf , @James ) that were rocking slalom skis.

And then the Ministry of Bad Ideas got involved and we tried a bump run which was alternating frozen coral reef and ice. On the bright side, the groomers seemed pretty decent after that.

Worked our way over to the Kennebago quad which was thankfully running again after some mishaps earlier in the week. Took a groomer off of that which, due to the wind, gave us the experience of getting pelted by a sandblaster while skiing.

Tony led us to some ungroomed runs that were varying degrees of hellacious before taking a break for lunch. We found one secret to breakfable crust was to let the larger, heavier guys go first and break it up a bit. Thanks to @mdf , @Guy in Shorts and some others for volunteering. After lunch things actually did improve, conditions wise.

Family Secret, under the Kennebago Quad was pretty good. Governor, also in the Kennebago area was good, @AlanR decided to apply for the Ministry of Bad Ideas and suggested Casablance Glades which was really a bad idea. But everybody managed to get out safely.

We tried for a run at Muleskiinner but it was closed before we could get to it. The usual entrance to Family Secret was also closed but a patroller suggested a side route in by traversing through some glades, etc. We made it over there, everybody dropped in, and me -- going last -- got yelled at by patrol for being on a suppossedly closed trail. Hey, we were told we could do this! He let me go with a look that suggested I shouldn't dilly dally my way down.

And then, as the last run of the day, we managed to find some sun-softened bumps. We knew there were around somewhere!

Overall, a really fun day of Tony showing off his home mountain. Less than ideal conditions, but if it was good conditions, it wouldn't be the NEG. Sugarloaf tomorrow.
 

dbostedo

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We had a good turnout for the first day of the NEG Started out with some groomers that had a few death marbles which made them generally unsatisfying even to the substantial contingent (@Tony S , @mdf , @James ) that were rocking slalom skis.

And then the Ministry of Bad Ideas got involved and we tried a bump run which was alternating frozen coral reef and ice. On the bright side, the groomers seemed pretty decent after that.

Worked our way over to the Kennebago quad which was thankfully running again after some mishaps earlier in the week. Took a groomer off of that which, due to the wind, gave us the experience of getting pelted by a sandblaster while skiing.

Tony led us to some ungroomed runs that were varying degrees of hellacious before taking a break for lunch. We found one secret to breakfable crust was to let the larger, heavier guys go first and break it up a bit. Thanks to @mdf , @Guy in Shorts and some others for volunteering. After lunch things actually did improve, conditions wise.

Family Secret, under the Kennebago Quad was pretty good. Governor, also in the Kennebago area was good, @AlanR decided to apply for the Ministry of Bad Ideas and suggested Casablance Glades which was really a bad idea. But everybody managed to get out safely.

We tried for a run at Muleskiinner but it was closed before we could get to it. The usual entrance to Family Secret was also closed but a patroller suggested a side route in by traversing through some glades, etc. We made it over there, everybody dropped in, and me -- going last -- got yelled at by patrol for being on a suppossedly closed trail. Hey, we were told we could do this! He let me go with a look that suggested I shouldn't dilly dally my way down.

And then, as the last run of the day, we managed to find some sun-softened bumps. We knew there were around somewhere!

Overall, a really fun day of Tony showing off his home mountain. Less than ideal conditions, but if it was good conditions, it wouldn't be the NEG. Sugarloaf tomorrow.
You sound too negative... don't neglect that fact that getting to ski with SkiTalk pals isn't a negligible experience... I'm glad you were able to negotiate the conditions and not negate all your fun... and maybe you could even end the day with a negroni!
 

KevinF

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You sound too negative... don't neglect that fact that getting to ski with SkiTalk pals isn't a negligible experience... I'm glad you were able to negotiate the conditions and not negate all your fun... and maybe you could even end the day with a negroni!
Oh it was a great day; challenging conditions but great people made for a great day. I think if it wasn’t for the SkiTalk crew I would have quit early.
 

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