Now here’s something that I hope to do sometime in the near future. Are you like me, and are in search of backcountry powder? Well, there are a few mountains that offer opportunities like this, but one that I am certain about is Mt. Abram. Mt. Abram, located in Greenwood, Maine, just off Route 26 and right after Norway, is a great place to be on Wednesdays. For only $10 you can sign in for safety purposes, leave a phone number, and then hike up as far as you would like until you reach a point when you want to ski down.
Some of the paths only take 30 minutes while others take 45 minutes. Of course, this isn’t the same as going into the backcountry of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire, but Mt. Abram is a great little mountain that will allow you to make multiple hikes in one day. Hiking up the mountain to ski down is called “skinning”, and it is an appealing sport to us skiers who will do anything for that fresh powder. Don’t get me wrong, I do love East coast skiing at places like Sunday River, but this side of the country tends to have skiing that is groomed, marked, cleared, and cut- it’s hard to find all natural terrain. Places like Mt. Abram are working as much as they can to offer all natural skiing by doing things like closing the mountains to lift-riders on Wednesdays.
Unfortunately this opportunity was only open to skiers until April 5th. However, skiers still are welcome to hike up and ski down at their own risk. Last year, people were skiing until May, which was when the snow cover finally melted.
Backcountry skiing sounds like so much fun. Not only do you exercise by hiking and skiing, but it’s all natural skiing. You won’t hear the sounds of lifts, pulleys, and more. It’s just you, other skiers, and Mother Nature. How perfect does that sound? Sounds picture perfect to me!
Just learning how to ski but this sounds like fun.