Snow Is (Finally) Here – Make It A Fun Year
by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer
As another year nears its end I am gearing up to wish all my friends Happy New Year!
In just a few more days I will be struggling to remember that it is now 2016. But I will easily remember my annual New Year’s resolution. I make the same one every year and that is to have fun.
If you’ve ever read to the very end of any one of my columns, it ends with the words “Have Fun”. I do this because I seriously like having fun. I like having fun and I am happier when everyone around me is having fun too.
I think we’re lucky that the seasons change so often around here because it forces us to change our routines and even the clothes that we wear. As the old saying goes–there is no bad weather only bad clothing! Don’t let the weather be an excuse.
The start of winter has been a bit of a letdown for those of us who love winter sports. Skiers and snowboarders know that the snowmakers have worked really hard during those short bursts of cold weather to give us as many open trails as possible. My hopes rise and fall with every weather forecast. I sure hope by the time these words are printed on the pages of this paper there is snow in the mountains and the ice rink in your town center has finally frozen over. (As we go to press the first snowstorm of the year is at our doorstep.)
My favorite way to have fun is to go skiing and I was able to go quite a few times before Christmas.
The day before Christmas I went to Mount Sunapee Resort and enjoyed the last of the good snow they had made the previous week. The silly warm temperatures combined with rain really melted away a good thing. Top to bottom snow coverage on their Blast Off Trail morphed into a patchwork of bare spots of grass and mud–nobody seemed to mind. Snowboarders and skiers enjoyed the spring conditions. We were able to make nice turns in the soft snow and we were all thankful that they were able to give us the day on the slopes.
There was no skiing on Christmas Day at Mount Sunapee this year. No doubt as soon as the cold weather returns Mount Sunapee’s slopes will be bright white.
A week ago I spent December’s one cold Sunday morning skiing at Loon Mountain. Their snow guns and snow cannons were blasting away and I had super fun skiing on their man-made powder snow. The crowd was small for a Sunday morning at Loon and the lift line for the gondola was short. There was plenty of terrain open and everyone was scattered all over all the wide open slopes. I felt like I owned the mountain. I didn’t want to leave at noon but I had promised to get home early for holiday decorating.
Many of the New Hampshire’s ski resorts are hosting New Year’s Eve celebrations. Merrymakers at Pats Peak will be night skiing, dancing and blasting fireworks. Revelers at Gunstock will have live music, s’mores by the fire ring and fireworks at midnight to kick off 2016. Partygoers in the Bunyan Room at Loon will be ringing in the New Year. Celebrators at King Pine’s family fun New Year’s Eve includes skiing, music and a torchlight parade with fireworks. Mount Sunapee’s party is in their Goosefeathers Pub and Sunapee celebrates early with fireworks going off at 9 pm!
Happy New Year and Have Fun!
