Skiing Mt. Abram
Monday, February 17th, 2025
Runs: 15
Distance: 12.36 miles
Elevation: 12,698 feet
Max Speed: 30.6 mph
Avg. Speed: 13.1 mph
Moving Time: 58 minutes, 54 seconds
Total Time: 4 hours, 45 minutes
Day #4 - and it's only Monday! We got another 4-6" of snow overnight and it was WINDY. The Snowology forecast for the next two days basically said "wind holds," with Tuesday being worse. With this information, we opted to go to Mt. Abram. Their summit chair would be closed, but they have a T-Bar that goes most of the way to the top, which I was a little nervous about since I'm still new to T-Bars. Alec was going to sleep in and slowly work his way home, hoping that plows would be working overtime. Team Ski (me, Gen, and Sarah) drove to the Dunkin in Bethel, Maine, hit some Sunday River traffic, and were delighted to arrive to a mostly empty parking lot at Mt. Abram!
Mountain Report
Monday 2/17
Good morning and happy President's Day! What a weekend we had! It snowed almost all day yesterday and everyone was smiling! Today promises to be a bit more challenging. The winds are already elevated here at the mountain, and are forecasted to increase as the morning unfolds. We will have as much of the mountain available as possible, but guest and employee safety will be our priority. Stay tuned for updates!
Whatever skiing is available today should be fabulous! The grooming team is out this morning smoothing out the wind drifts and prepping the hill for your enjoyment!
8:00 AM UPDATE: Early wind assessments suggest we will have the T Bar, Conveyor, and the West Side Chair for 9:00am openings.
We hit the lodge just before they opened at 9:00am. The lodge was kind of a massive, WARM, rustic tent with cubbies, tables, and arcade machines. The Loose Boots Lounge was on the other side of the lodge, but it was closed since it was the morning. We booted up in the lounge and soon got started! When it's just Sarah, Gen, and I, we have a solid system with T-Bars and double chairs where we constantly rotate who rides solo - I was first up!
Runs 1-3
Run 1: Maine T-Bar - Sweeper - Fearless Leader - One Today
[0.66 mi; 3:40; 951 ft; 23.3 mph max; 10.7 mph avg]
Run 2: Maine T-Bar - Sweeper - Round-A-Bout
[1.22 mi; 5:03; 1,070 ft; 25.3 mph max; 14.5 mph avg]
Run 3: Maine T-Bar - Sweeper - Dudley-Do-Right - Maybelle's Tail - Lower Easy Rider - Egomaineah
[1.01 mi; 4:32; 1,010 ft; 25.0 mph max; 13.4 mph avg]
The T-Bar was long and steep at parts, but it actually turned out to be a blessing becuase it was not windy (minus one trail crossing) and having our legs engaged help keep us warm! We got right to work at the top and followed the black run "Fearless Leader" down which skied fantastically. I get nervous starting with blacks just becuase I never know how the trail conditions actually are, but we got super lucky. We ended with "One Today," which crossed the T-Bar line.
Right back on, Sarah wanted to check out the woods to warm up. Gen and I followed a lovely longer trail "Round-A-Bout," which was just a delightful, winding route down the side. It took Sarah a bit longer to get down, and we were COLD down low, so we hopped back on the T-Bar and met her at the top. A bunch of kids went down on the T-Bar and were basically trapped (a theme for the day), so we decided to head over to the West Side to check out those trails while ski patrol figured out that situation. We crossed the T-Bar line onto Dudley-Do-Right, which was the only trail that was blown off (and my god it was windy here), but we skidded down onto Maybelle's Trail, Lower Easy Rider, and Egomaineah, all of which were absolutely delightful.
Runs 4-6
Run 4: Skyline Chair - Skyline Drive - Hay Road - Skyline Drive
[0.81 mi; 3:45; 446 ft; 24.0 mph max; 13.0 mph avg]
Run 5: Skyline Chair - Egomaineah - Woods - Mahousic Meadow
[0.55 mi; 5:00; 450 ft; 16.4 mph max]
Run 6: Skyline Chair - Lower Easy Rider
[0.75 mi; 2:24; 505 ft]
The Skyline Chair was a precious double chair that was still slightly sheltered from the wind (definitely colder than the T-Bar, though). Sarah had a loose goal of skiing every trail on the mountain, so that was the plan while over here! We loaded onto the lift (after the lifty smacked each and every chair with a rubber pipe?) and followed Skyline Drive to Hay Road - a lovely condo route - back to Skyline Drive and back onto the chair.
We noticed some banked turns in the woods from the chair, so that was the next goal, and oh boy. We followed Egomaineah into the woods, and Sarah nearly immediately fell into a massive snow bank. This was also Gen's first romp in actual woods (I'm not counting the "glades" from yesterday). We continued along, accidentally exiting for a moment into more snow banks, and somehow I became the line leader. I saw a way out back to a groomed run, so I turned there, but then sent myslef over a series of three jumps. You might think I sent it and nailed it - you'd be wrong! My tips went into one of the jumps, giving me my first full ejection out of my skis! Behind me, I heard a yelp, and then another, and when I finally got up and turned around, both Gen and Sarah were also in piles of snow. Thank goodness we were all laughing!
At this point, our egos were a little bruised but we were having an absolute blast! Linnea and Andrew had landed, and we were getting cold again, so we took the Skyline Chair to Lower Easy Rider and made our way back to the main area. I shared the chair with a dad who planned to bring his family to Sunday River, but he said only 1 out of 19 lifts were running - I was THRILLED with this information! Tragically, when I launched myself out of my skis my watched stopped recording me, so this run doesn't exist according to Garmin.
Runs 7-11
Run 7: Maine T-Bar - Lallypalooza - Boris Badenov
[0.72 mi; 3:28; 1,066 ft]
Run 8: Maine T-Bar - Lallypalooza - Boris Badenov
[0.72 mi; 3:28; 1,066 ft; 27.7 mph max; 12.5 mph avg]
Run 9: Maine T-Bar - Sweeper - Dudley-Do-Right
[0.94 mi; 4:05; 1,079 ft; 30.6 mph max; 13.8 mph avg]
Run 10: Maine T-Bar - Sweeper - Round-A-Bout
[1.18 mi; 5:26; 1,043 ft; 28.8 mph max; 13.0 mph avg]
Run 11: Maine T-Bar - Sweeper - Boris Badenov
[0.68 mi; 3:02; 1,079 ft; 26.5 mph max; 13.5 mph avg]
The next batch of runs were super fun! Run #7 was also not recorded on my watch. We followed Lallypalooza - a bumpy chute - to Boris Badenov, a super fun bomber run in great conditions. Gen skipped this run to pee, and it wasn't until we got to the bottom that I noticed my watch wasn't recording, so we had to go again! At the headwall we finally found Linnea and Andrew - the gang was back together! We ripped Boris a second time and got right back on the T-Bar. The advanced skiers in the group went down "Fractured Fairytales" - a bumpy lift line, and Gen and I went down Dudley-Do-Right, which would have been fun in good conditions, but the wind was so strong that it was sending flying bits of ice in every direction!
Run #10 was another lap of Round-A-Bout, but Sarah and Andrew went down Rocky's Run (a black to double black) - they had fun! Gen was ready to put a bow on the day, so as per her request we hit Boris again, which was just as fun as ever.
Runs 12-13
Run 12: Maine T-Bar - Sweeper - Dudley-Do-Right - Taylor's Treat - Skyline Drive
[1.12 mi; 5:13; 1,037 ft; 26.9 mph max; 12.9 mph avg]
Run 13: Skyline Chair - Egomaineah - Woods - Egomaineah
[0.55 mi; 3:56; 433 ft; 19.5 mph max; 8.4 mph avg]
Once Gen went inside, Sarah and I wanted to have a redemption run on the woods, which we named "the rollercoaster." We went up the T-Bar and followed Dudley and Taylor's Treat down to Skyline Drive and got right on the Skyline Chair. We then hit Egomaineah and went back into the woods for a... different ride? I survived the banked turns mostly fine - I tried to slow down but shoved my tip into a snowbank which popped my ski off, but I was still standing! I fell again a bit further down on a narrower, faster section, but got back up and moving. Near the end, I heard "SLOW DOWN," followed by seeing just one (1) of Sarah's skis. She clipped a tree with one of her tails, sending her a bit further down (she was completely fine). A patroller did yell from the lift "IS SHE ALRIGHT??" - I was delighted to be the one to respond, and to be the one with both skis on. We eventually made it out of the woods (poor Andrew and Linnea had been waiting for us) and hopped back on the chair.
Runs 14-15
Run 14: Skyline Chair - Lower Easy Rider
[0.75 mi; 2:24; 505 ft; 26.8 mph max; 18.7 mph avg]
Run 15: Maine T-Bar - Sweeper - Boris Badenov
[0.70 mi; 3:28; 958 ft; 25.7 mph max; 12.2 mph avg]
Again, we were cold, and winds were picking up, so we headed back to the T-Bar for our two more skip the last! We decided our last run would be the group's favorite of the day - Boris! The run was great and we kept talking about how grateful we were to have gotten to ski on this wildly cold and windy day!
We changed, gift shopped, and admired the seemingly heated floors in the lodge? My only regret was not getting a drink at the Loose Boots Lounge or having cash to play Mario Kart in their arcade corner, but we had more exciting plans...
The Maine Mineral & Gem Museum! I cannot recommend this place enough, my goodness. We had a great time learning about rocks in and around Maine and there were SO MANY pretty rocks to look at. We eventually made our way into the "space rocks" room, which was INCREDIBLE. We somehow came on a day where the owner of the museum was there and he gave us an awesome (albeit long) talk about the space rocks, and then he let us touch some! First we touched this rock thing that "has the stardust all organic matter is made from" - or something that like that. He was so passionate and adorable about it. Next up he let us hold a chunk of rock from Mars! My favorite, though, was a brick-sized moon rock. They took our photos holding the rocks, and we were the last ones in the museum! It was such a treat!
We ended the day by walking over to the Modern Barn for dinner and then Gen, Sarah, and I drove home to watch "Frozen" (2010 - not the Disney Movie) and half of Ski Party (1965), featuring Frankie Avalon. Frozen was a little dumb, but we loved how they insisted they were in New England even though their mountain was filmed in Utah. We also make jokes about getting eaten by wolves every time the chairs stop now. Ski Party was super silly but not too much about skiing - we got tired and didn't get to finish it. There was a yodeling polar bear, though.
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