TR: EC -Da Loaf - Friday the 13th in Hell's Gate

[rfus]

Sugarloaf got absolutely nailed on Thursday night and it snowed most of Friday. The storm today (Its like a hurricane in portland) just changed over to rain at the loaf, but there is a ton of snow on that mountain, so the spring skiing in the trees is gonna be great next weekend. The Friday before Reggae Weekend was pretty epic considering this time of year and how light the pow was. Hopefully some of you EC mags got up there or can get up for some excellent spring skiing. In honor of of Friday the 13th I headed out to hell's gate and got a few pics on the last real powder day of the year.

I flew off the high left section in the pic below and can be seen down bottom. Murph is seen getting ready to jump turn through it. Me casing kind of detered him. Unfortunately no pics of the launch.


Here is a look up Hell's Gate with Boone posing for the camera.

There is a nice launch after as well. Murph did get a pic of me on that hit.

Here is a shot of the infamous Salsa Shack with Boone and Murph.

Boone shows us how much snow there out there in the woods. His poles hadn't hit ground yet.

After the runout into Cant Dog Glades we headed down to the waterfalls, which were so snowed in they really weren't much. I head off and Murph follows close behind


Of course, a few beers were in order and Boone diplays his pure joy over the panties


These guys hadn't really experienced some of the stuff at the loaf I was able to show them, and it made a great day. Although I learned one valuable lesson. Never even come close to standing in the fall line below Boone. Otherwise, you and he will become a varitalbe plethora of elbows and assholes.


All in all for as much as the beginning of the season sucked, the end has turned out great. Here's to another season of being a skier on the east coast.


RFUS

[birdman829]

Great TR. Can't Dog and that whole area is probably my favorite place to ski (when the snow is there). One of the worst things about college is that I only get to ski the Loaf 10 days a year now.

[Kya]

Good Stoke! I hope you guys where body armor out there!

[buckethead]

way to get it!
this pic has a great, you are there and cleared for take-off quality to it.



so do they have good salsa in the shack?

[DaveTV]

Gotta love Da loaf - not many smoke shacks in the northeast

[yodaottis]

Nice pics! It was pretty much bottomless in the woods Sat/Sun and Monday wasn't too bad until about noon when it finally switched over to rain. Highest lift was the T-bar due to wind. Sat/Sun we spent in the trees, connecting open areas with a LOT of bushwhacking.

Random thought, they asked to search our backpacks Saturday getting on the double near the base lodge...I have never in my life been asked to open my pack getting on a lift. I figure they were just looking for people bringing up 12packs or something? Looked right at my friend's bowl in his pack, "you're all set..." my pack they didn't even open, just asked if I had alcohol, I had one beer left and rounded down "No."

[milton]

Nice pics rfus! Was there on thurs and fri. Were you guys at the Widowmaker on thursday night...throwing that inflatable frisbee thing around??

Also noticed the rent-a-cops searching backpacks, weird.

[FREESKIER_FIVE-0]

pics no worky...

[Showtime06]

I skied that same line in early march, no where near that much snow, but that was my first time back there and didn't realize the other possibilities it could have with more snow... possibly drop the cliff with the icicles hanging into the chute?? so much good terrain and the salsa shack is pretty cool... looks like you guys had a good time...

[Natedogg]

Cocksuckers. I was lying in bed coughing up green shit from my lungs feeling like a bus just ran me down.

[rfus]

yeah, the security was trying to keep booze off the mtn, but if you didn't have a backpack you were all set. I bet I can fit 7 or 8 in that northface. We just went into the grocery and packed our jackets and headed to the horseshoe spot on the quad. Sat and Sunday was bump skier heaven. We went and did some snowmobile pullins on the back of ira on Sat i the morning. It was really thick in the valley. Heard monday was good until rain started in the afternoon. Reggae always turns the moutain into Joey central, but hey, the mountain needs money too.

Showtime, you cant see it, but in the third pic in my post, there is a drop to the left but no real run in. you have to work to get in there. The safest is to shoot the the high left in the first pic and land around wher the guy in blue is in the third pic. There is actually are some bigger ones out there, but some things we must keep to ourselves.

RFUS

[Natedogg]

Oh yeah, re: searching for booze, I think someone over on the Sunday River board asked about that, too--thinking it was odd.

Is it me, or havent they been searching packs for at least the last two years at Reggae??

[yodaottis]

No idea...just caught me way off guard. I figured the worst they would do is not allow you on the lift if you had whatever they were looking for. It obviously wasn't herb so I assume it's 12pks in backpacks they're after.
As far as the crowd/idiots Saturday it was amusing watching people unload off the lifts and try to use the t-bar...just gotta laugh it off. It's not like that sort of crowd leaves the trails anyway so you see em at the top and bottom of lifts and you can occasionally hear them when you've worked back toward a trail.

[buckethead]

I was lying in bed coughing up green shit from my lungs feeling like a bus just ran me down.

on a powder day?!!?

there's no "too sick to get up" on a powder day!

hope you're feeling better, mang!

(actually i started my sunday in NO MOOD to deal with the heavy winds, low visibility, pelting sleet and generally damp sensation of goretex getting maxed out, and i felt fine otherwise! luckily, made some new friends on a midday ride up the K-1, refreshed my outlook ...end of run met up with my crew (not so easy w/o cell at K-mart) and had a great afternoon slaying the pow+hollering in the woods and on an inexplicably closed ovation)

[andyC]

Awesome stuff. Didn't get to ride Friday myself, but we came up that night, car camped it, then rode on Saturday. Here are some of my photos.

One of our friends decided he would pitch a tent instead of crash in the car. Needless to say, he was a little cold that night.


Low clouds to start off the day.


King Pine.


Nice coverage on the backside.


Burnt.


When you come to a fork in the road...


Can't Dog.


Some drops:






Looking back.


This gives you an idea of how deep the woods were.


Jake shredding.


Fletch blasting through.


Valley.




Reggae Mon.


Crowd.


Parking lot party.


Magic Hat.



Really fun weekend. Hoping to get there tomorrow, probably for some hiking.

[stihletto]

very cool. dig all the pics, give one a good feel of it out there.

[Natedogg]

on a powder day?!!?
there's no "too sick to get up" on a powder day!
hope you're feeling better, mang!

Heh, true 'nuff Mike!
Thanks man.

Awesome stuff. Didn't get to ride Friday myself, but we came up that night, car camped it, then rode on Saturday. Here are some of my photos.

One of our friends decided he would pitch a tent instead of crash in the car. Needless to say, he was a little cold that night.

Great pics Andy.

Your bud is smart. Sleeping in a tent (with the right gear--ie., sufficient ground pad, rated bag, etc) is a helluva lot warmer than sleeping in a metal box. Unless you cheated and had the car running all night with the heater on. Then the car might be warmer.

[rfus]

Man, I gotta quit my job. Being at work is killing me. It stayed cold up there for the most part through this storm.

Quote from Sugarloaf today:

We've STILL got light snow falling here at Sugarloaf, three days after this storm started, and another 4-5 inches since yesterday evening puts our storm total at an absolutely absurd 41 inches. That's 55 inches since last Friday. 95 inches since April 1st. Unreal.

[Showtime06]

Here's a short quick edit of my line through hell's gate in early march... compare the snow depth and quality, it's unbelievable how much more snow there is up there now... My landing was a bit firm...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W11SGZ5X5V8

[MassLiberal]

Nice line there Showtime. Brings back many memories of my time skiing the loaf in college. I love that place.

[andyC]

sweet showtime.

definitely a huge difference in the snow depth since then. Unfortunately I will be in montreal all this weekend, but should be able to get up next week and for closing weekend 28/29th. If anybody is going to be around then let me know.

[andyC]

Great pics Andy.

Your bud is smart. Sleeping in a tent (with the right gear--ie., sufficient ground pad, rated bag, etc) is a helluva lot warmer than sleeping in a metal box. Unless you cheated and had the car running all night with the heater on. Then the car might be warmer.

Yeah, he said he really didn't mind the tent, but it was just a pain to setup late at night, after having a few beverages . He found a condo to crash in the next night, so that solved that problem.

The car was actually perfect, because it really wasn't that cold, just a little windy. I used my 25 degree Kelty, and we were fine, didn't end up having to turn the car on at all. Got up in the morning, snagged some breakfast from the grand summit, and we were good to go .

I could get used to car camping, but I'll still take a condo if offered.

[Showtime06]

I'd love to go back there and check out more of the snowfields... I play lacrosse at school and my schedule is pretty tight and if I got hurt skiing in season, well lets just say my coach would not be too happy... Get after it...