Some weekends, we can’t get away for two days of skiing, and when we do make a one-day trip, it is usually based on the weather. It snowed last Saturday so we stayed home and focused on keeping the driveway clean.

Sunday morning, the sun was shining and we knew the fresh snow would be groomed into some smooth easy skiing. We wanted a place where we could arrive after the lifts opened without having to park and take a long walk from the base lodge.

We selected Mt. Abram.

We arrived at 9:30 a.m. and were directed into a spot less than 100 feet from the basement entrance – a walk so short that I took the boot bags to the car and went back for the skis when we left. I’m sure the owners would prefer to see a lot more cars in the lot, but the way the parking area winds around the base lodge, no one has much of a walk unless the overflow lots are packed.

We had plenty of room to change inside and soon we were at the lift. Notice I didn’t say in the lift line. There wasn’t one, and even late in the morning we never had to wait behind more than a handful of couples before we were on our way up the mountain. At the top I was greeted by name by a ski patrolman and lift operator. That’s the kind of ski area Mt. Abram is.

It’s like that bar in Boston where everyone knows your name.

The skiing was pretty much all packed powder with a high percentage of runs open. By lunch time, we skied most of the trails, including a couple on Westside. The runs there are so gentle even the total beginners can negotiate them, and the little base lodge is always full. It’s a sunny place where novices can stay warm without bundling up for the top. It also divides the crowd. With the beginners on that side, the better skiers have more room and shorter lift lines on the main mountain. It was a good day of skiing and fun to see old friends.

Loaf-ing around

Tuesday I was able to sneak away to check things out at Sugarloaf for the first time this season and got a real bonus. PR guy Bill Swain was able to get out for an hour, and we made good use of the time jumping on the Super Quad and heading off to King Pine by way of Sluice and the mid station crosscut. It was a good choice. A run down Widow Maker got us to the base of the King Pine Quad, and as we rode up we could see that Haulback was buffed out and just waiting for us.

After a few runs that included Ramdown and Whiffletree, Bill had to get back in the office so I headed for the ski school area guessing I would run into at least one old friend. The first was Harold Beisaw who has turned his retirement into spending 140 days a year teaching at the Loaf. Harold pointed to Tom Reynolds and I was immediately hooked up for a class as Coach invited me to join his group.

Hooking up with Coach

His name tag says simply “Coach” and that’s appropriate. Last fall, Tom was inducted into the Maine Ski Hall of Fame for his lifelong work with skiers, ski racers, coaches and instructors.

His second book on the topic, “Effective Ski Coaching” is being snapped up by coaches and instructors, many of whom have already been through his clinics.

Now that he has retired as a professor and Director of the Ski Industries Program at the University of Maine at Farmington, Coach Reynolds is spending his time as technical director for the Sugarloaf Ski School and running clinics for other ski schools, and coaches at various levels. There is no way he will quit helping skiers and instructors.

On this day he was working with a class he would have for the week.

They were working on advancing from skidded parallel turns to carved turns. Tom is a master at utilizing the ski as it was designed. We started on Spillway and wound up on Boardwalk to refine the carve. I don’t know any instructor who has defined the mechanics of what makes a ski turn as closely as Coach. When he skis, every move is precise with no wasted motion.

I wonder if his class had any idea of the level of instructor they had drawn. In my hour and a half with them, I was unable to tell if they were making any progress, but Tom congratulated them and indicated he felt they would notice a big difference by the end of the week. I’m sure he was right. I know I was picking up a better feel as I followed him. Now he wants to spend a couple of hours on the mountain with me to refine my technique, and if I don’t find a way to take him up on the offer it will be my loss. And I have no intention of letting that happen.

Besides, any skier who can spend time with one of the best coaches and instructors ever to come out of Maine should do it. I have never had a bad ski day at Sugarloaf (How could a day of skiing be bad anywhere?), and this one turned out better than expected.

And I have a great excuse to return again soon.

Enjoy the rest of this holiday weekend.

Dave Irons is a freelancer who lives in Westbrook.