Winter Wonderland: Ski Weekend

This past weekend we headed north to enjoy a few days of skiing in Maine. We'd been planning this weekend since before Christmas (ski ticket gift cards for xmas worked out well!) and I was so excited it was finally here. In addition to J & I, J's brother & fiance joined us, as well as my sister.

The drive up to Rangeley, ME is long. It took us more than 5 hours to get up there from Boston Thursday night due to icy roads. But, it is just so nice to wake up and already be there. We planned to ski at Saddleback Mtn on Friday and see how we felt for Saturday.

Um, I honestly don't remember the last time I had the chance to ski on a weekday, non-holiday. It was a dream. No lines, no one on the trails. Fresh powder, light snow coming down, temps above freezing. The only downside? The visibility. Oh my word, the visibility stunk. At first, our goggles were getting covered in ice by the time we made it down a trail, but by the end of the day the heavy fog set in and even though our goggles were clear, the air was not. But we had so much fun Friday, we decided to head back to Saddleback Saturday versus driving a bit further to Sugarloaf.

Here are a few photos I snagged on Friday. At the top of the mountain, there was so much snow, we were skiing near the tops of the trees. J may have even fallen on a tree at one point....I hear it didn't feel so good.

 View from the top, looking over the edge of a trail. Pretty creepy!

This is going to sound strange, but I don't know the last time I was surrounded by so much snow while skiing. No need for the snow makers here.

 J taking down some fresh powder, moguls, and a few baby trees hidden beneath the snow.

A view from the chairlift Friday. The mountain was all ours.

 J got me these new goggles for Christmas this year. First time I think I've ever had reflective lenses. Isn't he darling with that face?...

 Reflective lenses lead to some pretty awesome photos. This is all J's work. And I love it.

All weekend I kept telling myself to snag a group photo and what do ya know, it never happened. Bummer. But I couldn't have asked for a better group to ski with. We were all close enough in skill level to ski the same trails, and even push ourselves to try more challenging ones. Needless to say, I need to do a few more squats before ski season next year, my quads were burning by the end of each day! It was such a great weekend. Looking forward to planning another trip next year!