Wow.  Just back from 5 days of family fun at the Loaf.  Drove up on Friday
afternoon, taking the 95 to 4 to 27 route.  It took about 4 1/2 hours total
from Westminster Ma, and a little more than two hours from 95 in Auburn.  As
we languished behind logging trucks and other slow, vehicular traffic on
Route 4, I wondered if the other way through Augusta might be any quicker?

We stayed in the condos just up from the Whiffletree quad, nothing special
but very convenient and clean enough to pass the white glove inspection from
the quality control people (wives) accompanying us.

Saturday morning dawned with a fresh inch or two up top and an inch at the
bottom.  Everything was open and we were among the very first ones on the
Timberline lift when it opened, so we immediately headed for the snowfields.
Neither myself nor my buddy Wishbone had ever been at the loaf when these
runs were open, so we really had no idea what to expect.  We followed a
single set of boot tracks through the access gate marked "Backside
Snowfields" and plodded up past the radio tower.  I was loudly wondering how
the *many* rocks under our feet could possibly give way to a skiable run
when a panorama of fine looking bumps opened at our feet.  "Oooooh.  Well
this don't look too bad."   From the trail map, we gathered this was High
Rigger.  We saw the guy who made the boot tracks about a 1/4 of the way down
the hill.  He was very capable so we intently watched where he went,
figuring he might know a bit more about where to ski than we did.  And then
we did what all clueless gomers do, we followed him.  Turns out he did know
where he was going.  We had a ball skiing between the trees and rocks (not
nearly as many as I would have thought).  The slope at the top and in the
middle was just plain old steep, not wildly steep by any means.  Toward the
bottom 1/3rd of the run, we came through some twiggy stuff and stood poised
on top of what I surmise is some of the steeper on-piste terrain in the
Northeast.  Definitely not long, but for sure better than plain old steep.
I would term it good_and_steep, right on the edge of wicked_steep.  Checking
our trail map, we decided this was somewhere around Pure Heat, or some such
thing, as it dumped us out above and just skiers right of King Pine quad.
We carefully deliberated on whether to head down this pitch or not, as a
bunch of tracks led to the right at this point for bail out purposes.  The
potential crash zone at the bottom did not look bad, however, so we opted to
go for it.  Wishbone went first.  He gave it a real nice shortswing right
down the fall line.  Sweet.  At the bottom, he pointed out the locations of
a couple small rocks from the bottom.  Being on the free heel slats, I opted
for rounded but fairly tight turns, letting each turn linger just a bit
longer than necessary to help shed speed.  I concentrated on keeping the
upper body downhill and the hands out front.  It was sublime.  We were
feeling pretty good about ourselves when Mr. Perfect Turn came burning down
the slope at warp speed, launched some huge air, landed halfway down the
pitch, made a couple of turns, and disappeared down the catchall track that
leads to the quad.  We looked at each other and laughed hard, realizing we
are just a couple of gomers, albeit happy ones.

We spent the rest of the morning running the slopes and trees off the
Spillway Xcut.  I am with those who put Bubblecuffer up there as one of the
best trails in the East.  It zigs, it zags, it goes on forever, and it's
bumpy.  The conditions were such that the tele bumping was actually very
good.  They had fresh snow earlier in the week and the bumps were soft and
forgiving.  None of that bone jarring crap that pitches those with less than
perfect balance (who me?) right over the tips at the end of a turn.  My legs
were getting whipped and the radio reports (Motorola FRS stuff from Botach!)
from the condo base were getting tense, so we motored back to the homestead
and headed back out with the kids and wives in tow.  Two of the kids are 5
and one is 3 1/2.  Wishbone harnessed his littlest one with a tether and off
we went up the Whiffletree quad.  The older boys and the wives love this
terrain.  We repeatedly visited Moose Alley and the little terrain park at
the bottom of cruiser.  The kids love the jumps and bumps in the park.

By this point, everyone was feeling very confident so we made our way over
to timberline and up to the top of the mountain.  The views were
unbelievable.  I gather the big, white thing to the northeast is Katahdin
and the rocky one to the south must be Saddleback.  Beyond that, the
Presidentials were plainly visible to the south, along with Sunday River.
Hoooweee...even the kids were awed by the view.  We took one of the
intermediate trails off the top and it did not disappoint.  Plenty of snow,
a medium pitch, and fairly long.  I salute Wishbone for doing the harness
thing.  He uses his little windshield wiper, MRG-type turn so that he
doesn't have to snowplow and he keeps the tension just right so that he
doesn't pull the kid back onto his butt.  His son cooperates by skiing with
his hands on his thighs or knees and that seems to keep the kid in a real
good position.  I took the reins a couple of times and I can report that it
ain't easy on the thighs.

Sunday and Monday were both very good.  The weather started to turn uphill
on Monday when it began to spit snow.  We expected it to get going then, but
it held off until the wee hours of the a.m. on Tuesday.  Tuesday morning we
awoke to high winds and heavy snow.  We took the superquad up first run and
skied Skidder.  The right side was filled with light wind-drifted snow
whales.  I got up some good speed and plowed, skipped, and sailed down the
slope.  Down near the bottom, I hit Moby Dick the snow whale.  I catupulted
face first into his huge white fluffy mass, eliciting huge guffaws from
Wishbone and sending most of Moby down my back.

The next run we took the other double (not spillway chair) up and then skied
down to the Tbar.  At the top of the Tbar, we booted up to the Spillway
Xcut.  It was really howling and puking snow up there.  To their credit, all
trails (even the top) were open, but you had to hike to get up high because
the top lift was on wind hold.  We thought about a hike to the top, but
decided we could get all we wanted off the Spillway Xcut.  We headed to the
glade on skiers right of Winters Way.  A few folks had been in there, but
several fresh lines remained.  The visibility and light were very tricky and
I picked my way down to avoid any catastrophic outcomes.  Next run was
Bubblecuffer and it was huge.  The wind pushed mucho snow onto the side of
the run and no one was hitting it.  We had found our powder pimping paradise
for the morning.  The snow was light enough and deep enough that I could
more or less charge down hill without picking up too much speed.  We found
some super secret lines in the trees on the right of Bubblecuffer that make
me suspect the presence of tree eating woods weasals.   Gondi run must be
also be mentioned because the snow on top of the formerly groomed terrain
made for some outstanding tele madness.

The wives and kids came out early and met us over at the Whiffletree.  They
skied till about one and then gave us their blessing for more pimping.  We
rode up Whiffletree with the intention of cutting over to the other side of
the mountain when somebody at the top mentioned Stubs.  We quickly cranked
over to Buckboard and jumped into the Broccoli woods.  First run was great,
but we got too far right and missed Stubs.  Second run, we hit Broccoli just
right, popped back out onto Buckboard and then bolted back into the woods
above Stubs.  The powder was upwards of a foot and real light.  We floated,
we laughed, we howled.  We were in the grip of a full-blown powder delirium.
To heck with the other side, the race for maximum pow was on.

Wednesday we skied the Chowder.  It was a family-only day.  No pimping
allowed.  The kids skied all day.  They couldn't get enough of it.  They
were skiing so well that at one point, we went up King Pine and skied the
easy part of Widowmaker.  They loved it.  They were champs.  My son slept
for four hours on the way home and then went to bed at 7:30.  I snowblowed
the 24 inches of snow (what a waste) from my driveway and then quickly
followed his lead.  I don't know about where you live, but the snowbanks are
monsters around here.

In closing, I would like to recount the following cautionary tale regarding
the dangers of Powder.

At one point on Tuesday during the height of the storm, some guy stopped me
at the Condo Xcut, just above the second part of Stub's Glade, mere
milliseconds before I was about to pounce on a huge swath of untracked.  My
eyes were glazed.  My mind was elsewhere and the following conversation
ensued.  I am not proud of this.  If it was you, I apologize.  I recount
this here for educational purposes only.  My real point is that Powder is an
addictive substance that makes you lose control.  Don't let this happen to
you.  Stay out of my (err...the) powder.  (Ed. Note:  the word screw has
been substituted for its decidedly vulgar alternative.)

Him:  "Do these woods lead to the Lower Stubs trail"
Me:  "No, these woods lead to Cross Haul"
Him:  "Oh rats.  I need to go to the condo."
Me:  "Screw that dude.  Jump in here, ski to the Whiffletree, and then go to
the condo."
Him:  "But I told my wife I'd be back at 2:00."
Me:  "Well SCREW her too."  And I plunged downhill...

I am truly appalled at what I said to this poor man.  Had I been with it and
not "on the pow" I would have said..."My good man.  Let me explain
something.  It's dumping like crazy.  A beautiful glade of perfectly spaced
hardwood, replete with a foot of fresh, lies at your feet.  Your wife will
understand.  If she doesn't, you'll always have this to remember when your
looking for an apartment."

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