As luck would have it, I got the Strike Lane trifecta all in this 2025-26 season, without even trying to! Always love these posts - this one had me LOLing.
Stuart - Thanks for paying us a visit here in the Great State of Maine. And as a “Spruce Kid,” I especially appreciate the nice write-up on Spruce Mountain. Given everything that town & region has gone through in the past decade, Spruce has been a little beacon of goodness.
Guess I'm one of those five people with the trifecta! I skied Montana Snowbowl once when I lived in Bozeman, Arizona Snowbowl for the first time via the Powder Alliance while still living in Bozeman and visiting my girlfriend's family, then Middlebury Snowbowl once after we were married and we had moved to Burlington, VT for her career. Great to read about your ski exploits, Stuart, especially as I sit in the airport on my way to ski my 9th new ski area this season (Spirit Mountain, MN)!
Stuart, Nice tour edition to that state up north - think it used to be Massachusetts. And a word about your shoulder. Most rotator cuff tears heal themselves. It may take 6 months or a bit more but that would be the no snow northern hemisphere season anyway. I am living proof as on the advice of my orthopedist I decided to see if it would heal itself. It did! I have no, zero, zilch, nada problem with that shoulder which is indistinguishable from its brother hinge - to the extent I don’t know which shoulder was injured. As a doctor I’m not keen on having one of my confreres cutting on me unless I’m convinced a passive approach won’t work. There is also a conflict of interest component as what’s best for you may not be the best for your ortho’s condo payments - if he misses them his mistress(es) get downright unpleasant. Good luck and all the best.
Great piece. I'm a regular at Mt. Abram and agree that it's an awesome little ski area. It's worth noting that LL Bean subsidizes Abram, Lost Valley, and Black Mountain of Maine to keep prices down. Kudos to them for doing this.
And yes, that kid's answer that closed is just another level of difficulty is priceless.
"At the top of the old T, one kid asked me if I’d ever jumped off the cliffs over in the woods. I told him that, no, I’ve actually never skied here before, and besides, I think those trails are closed. “Closed is just another level of difficulty,” he said as he skied off into the forest."
Thanks Stu for the nostalgia. You packed it thick in this article and I appreciate it. This reminded me that a reason I care about skiing is the snow slopes are a place to experience and observe life untethered.
As luck would have it, I got the Strike Lane trifecta all in this 2025-26 season, without even trying to! Always love these posts - this one had me LOLing.
Stuart - Thanks for paying us a visit here in the Great State of Maine. And as a “Spruce Kid,” I especially appreciate the nice write-up on Spruce Mountain. Given everything that town & region has gone through in the past decade, Spruce has been a little beacon of goodness.
Guess I'm one of those five people with the trifecta! I skied Montana Snowbowl once when I lived in Bozeman, Arizona Snowbowl for the first time via the Powder Alliance while still living in Bozeman and visiting my girlfriend's family, then Middlebury Snowbowl once after we were married and we had moved to Burlington, VT for her career. Great to read about your ski exploits, Stuart, especially as I sit in the airport on my way to ski my 9th new ski area this season (Spirit Mountain, MN)!
Stuart, Nice tour edition to that state up north - think it used to be Massachusetts. And a word about your shoulder. Most rotator cuff tears heal themselves. It may take 6 months or a bit more but that would be the no snow northern hemisphere season anyway. I am living proof as on the advice of my orthopedist I decided to see if it would heal itself. It did! I have no, zero, zilch, nada problem with that shoulder which is indistinguishable from its brother hinge - to the extent I don’t know which shoulder was injured. As a doctor I’m not keen on having one of my confreres cutting on me unless I’m convinced a passive approach won’t work. There is also a conflict of interest component as what’s best for you may not be the best for your ortho’s condo payments - if he misses them his mistress(es) get downright unpleasant. Good luck and all the best.
Great piece. I'm a regular at Mt. Abram and agree that it's an awesome little ski area. It's worth noting that LL Bean subsidizes Abram, Lost Valley, and Black Mountain of Maine to keep prices down. Kudos to them for doing this.
And yes, that kid's answer that closed is just another level of difficulty is priceless.
"At the top of the old T, one kid asked me if I’d ever jumped off the cliffs over in the woods. I told him that, no, I’ve actually never skied here before, and besides, I think those trails are closed. “Closed is just another level of difficulty,” he said as he skied off into the forest."
Thanks Stu for the nostalgia. You packed it thick in this article and I appreciate it. This reminded me that a reason I care about skiing is the snow slopes are a place to experience and observe life untethered.