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April 1, 2009 E-MAIL PRINT

A toast to a winning New England season

by Matt Boxler/

It's time to raise your glass and join in a toast to what has been a great season for riding in New England, and what promises to be more of the same in the years to come. While we sometimes wish Mother Nature would allow us to keep riding indefinitely, she deserves props for being kind to us all season long.

So, without further ado, here's to all the snow we got this year. It came early and it came often, blanketing New England resorts with more consistency and more depth than many other areas around the world. I am particularly thankful for the big storm on Feb. 23 that dumped two feet on our slopes. It was so nice that I took two sick days from work to play in the powder at Cannon Mountain, and I still relish the fluffy runs I took down DJ's Tramline and Kinsman Glades.

Speaking of the Franconia Notch resort, here's to the recently completed exchange of state and federal lands that will add 100 acres of the dormant Mittersill Ski Area to the Cannon Mountain system. This addition will only add to Cannon's classic, backcountry flavor and give riders even more options.

While we're on the topic of expansion, here's to Saddleback, which is planning multiple improvements for 2009-10, including a 1,000-seat expansion to its base lodge, replacement of the 1962 Rangeley double chair with a quad chair, and installation of a new quad at Magalloway. The Rangeley, Maine, resort is well on its way to becoming a four-season vacation destination as it is developing a new marina on Rangeley Lake — perfect for those riders who enjoy hopping on a wakeboard in the summer.

Yes, winter may end, but our favorite resorts are here for us in summer, too. In fact, here's to summer riding at Stratton. While it's not exactly the type of riding you may be accustomed to seeing at the birthplace of snowboarding, it is packed with thrills nonetheless. The mountain welcomes motorcycle riders to visit as a destination and jumping-off point for their New England riding excursions. Stratton offers guided tours of the area's best runs and routes, leading groups on trips to the White Mountains of New Hampshire, covered bridge rides, Green Mountain tours and more.

Here's to all our "winter" riders from New England who performed brilliantly at the US Open Snowboarding Championships at Stratton last month. Seabrook, N.H., native Scotty Lago won the quarterpipe competition under the lights and drove away with a new Volvo XC60 after winning the Most Valuable Rider award.

Here's to Kelly Clark (Mount Snow), who placed second in the halfpipe, while Stratton locals Ellery Hollingsworth and Luke Mitrani both took third. Mitrani won the Amp Energy Best Trick with his switch double back flip.

And here's to Chas Guldemond, a Laconia, N.H., native who won the men's
slopestyle finals, along with $100,000 for claiming the overall Burton Global
Open Series.

Not all aspiring professional riders walk away with a cool 100 grand, so here's to organizations such as Friends of New Hampshire Skiing, which awards $1,000 grants to college athletes and post-graduate athletes training for international competition in skiing and snowboarding. One of this year's recipients was Angela Mercieri of Littleton, N.H. She competes in alpine snowboarding.

Here's to our local riders who ripped at this year's Winter X Games: Lago, Guldemond, Clark, Hollingsworth, Kevin Pearce, Elijah Teter, Hannah Teter, Lindsay Jacobellis ... and here's to New Englanders making still another mark during next season's Olympic year.

Yes, here's to New England. We may not be the biggest, but we're tough to beat. Raise your glasses to the wonderful season we had and for many more to come.