Bretton Woods/Cannon Mountain with the Cresthaven Ski Club 3/13-3/15 2009

The trip started off with the announcement that all cars in the parking lot needed to be parked with headlights facing in.  So Bob Fielding immediately jumped off the bus to make sure his car  was parked correctly.  As he stood there looking for his car, he breathed a sigh of relief.  He just realized that his wife had dropped him off, so back on the bus and off we went.

As the beer supply started to dwindle down, the foolish trip leader, who obviously didn't read all the notes on what to bring or how much to bring, made the decision to only drink the fine brew of Bud Light (left over from another trip), so tasty and refreshing.  Petr was again amazing as we got to the Indian Head Lodge in 6 hours.  The bar at the Lodge was open, so after unpacking the bus and getting the rooms settled, where else would most of us wind up.

Saturday morning the Sun was up, not a cloud in the sky and we were off to Bretton Woods.  We found good conditions, and great weather. A bunch of us decided to try the Taco place on top of the mountain for a QUICK lunch!  So after an hour and 15 minutes, we were ready to ski again.  It even seems that it might be possible to ski better when you are SWI, than when you are no, but that still needs to be tested.  There were some great views of Mt. Washington and the Mt. Washington Hotel from the QUICK lunch stop.  Saturday afternoon some tree skiing was done, on some crunchy hard pack stuff, but everyone managed to get through with no problem  We finished the day and as usual ended the day at the bar in the lodge.  Gerard Pettit all of a sudden showed up wearing a brand new helmet, and a new set of goggles, and Frank Gallo (1) was wearing a brand new pair of gloves.  As we stood in amazement of the new equipment each was wearing, one person in particular was wide eyed!  He looked in awe that Gerard and Frank had such great equipment with them.  Then in a flash, he said "Oh, S--T, that looks like my stuff!"  He was very puzzled as to how both of them got the ski stuff, as he has been meticulous in his care of all his ski equipment whenever he puts them someplace, he always knows exactly where they are.  We left the mountain, and were able to make a beer run for the ride home, so the public flogging of the trip leader was able to be avoided.  Saturday night, the dinner was great, we had an hour of open bar, live music and dancing.

Sunday we awoke to an even better day.  Bright sun, no clouds, no wind, and off to Cannon Mountain for our Club Races.  No one was even concerned that the lift tickets the Hotel got for us had the date of March 13 on them.  After handing out 80 lift tickets, we got to the mountain to find out that the lift tickets would not be valid for that day.  A quick change to the correct dated lift ticket, with no hassle from anyone, was done and we were skiing.  Cannon was a great mountain.  The Club races went off without a hitch, all 3 clubs on the trip participated, and then we all found some great trails to ski.  It was such a great day, that the few people who on the way out in the morning said they would not be on the bus coming back, as they were going to leave early, changed their minds, and skied to the end.  Barbara Cariello did take a spill at the top of the mountain, on some ice and slid down head first (she was unhurt).  But as the story was recounted to us, she laughed with all of us, she really didn't think anyone had seen her fall.  We finished skiing, and spent the rest of the afternoon passing around sunblock and baseball hats, as we sat on the deck for our apres ski.