NW_of_GYX

been a persistent issue going back several years. Siberia gets all the cold

Yup that’s true. I just know all the mountain ops guys and girls across the region are chomping at the bit to get the ball rolling

I don’t think it’s going to be ready until after the new year but that’s just my anecdotal assessment

That may have nothing to do with lack of snow lol

Man I’m glad I don’t work in the ski industry in eastern North America. What a bleak forecast

Wave after wave digging to Baja. Maybe we can get that bs out of the way in November this year

Yes, that’s another one! Baker in Moscow too.

It’s not that old but I imagine most of the older folks featured have passed now. those are the people who literally built the sport with their bare hands. I’m a “young” guy but have been fortunate to learn from and ski with legends, some of the guys from the Greg stump era are still quietly skiing in NNE. The business of skiing has evolved for better or worse but it’s the local communities and inter generational friendships that still make it special. Another great watch along these lines is “freeland a white grass story”

MWSC went through a rough patch about 5-6 years ago when they lost funding from Libra. Someone else might know the story better than I but I think it transitioned into what’s now called Outdoor Sport Institute and the assets are all stand alone 501c3. Andy Shepard was involved for a while before moving over to Saddleback and now to Black NH with Indy trying to turn it into a co op. The non profit model is the way forward for these places. It’s gotta be mission driven charitable work because making money is next to impossible for places like these. There are other even more grass roots examples. In my area there are two Nordic “centers” that offer free access and free gear to anyone and everyone. If you want a glimpse into the community driven past of Maines winter sports scene, watch “the town that moved a mountain.” I think it’s on yt. Really enjoyable.

Coastal maine is meh for snow, even central maine is not orders of magnitude greater than say central Mass. you have to get off the CP into the foothills, highlands, mountains or north of Bangor for the difference in snowfall vs CNE/SNE to be pronounced. Maine still has a great local ski scene though, even outside of those better snow areas. Lost Valley, Abram, Black, Snow Bowl, Spruce, Big Squaw, Big Rock, Hermon, Jefferson, Lonesome Pines are all great hills where the blue collar spirit of the sport is alive and doing OK. To a lesser extent you could also include Pleasant and Saddleback to that list. Pleasant at night is still about as blue collar as it gets for the sport. Winterkids is an incredible local nonprofit helping kids and families from all over Maine access the sport and LLBean underwrites tix to Black and Abram where it costs $35 every day of the season. Vermont has better skiing but the culture here in Maine is closer to the sports past when it was for working people not just yuppies and retirees.

Yup, from the southwest ridge

Today I don’t care about November, winter sucking (or not), hurricanes etc. this is one of the nicest stretches of October weather I’ve ever experienced, just trying to enjoy it

So gross out. Loving our new heat pumps. In our new climate living without AC in NNE away from the coast is insanity stuff. Incredible summer for lake things though. We’re blessed with them here. From last night:

Gotta be some big local departures cause my lawn is doing great edit: saw the photo was from 2015

Holy cow what a day. I’d sign up for this through October