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." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - SkiVt-L is brought to you by the University of Vermont. To unsubscribe, visit http://list.uvm.edu/archives/skivt-l.html