Prime Time Ski Club Column for Bethel Citizen 3/23/17
By Terri Messer
For further information contact:
Terri Messer at tmesser@aol.com or 207-671-0715
Although it’s officially spring, you wouldn’t know it at Sunday River. The 20-inch snow dump from Nor’easter Stella, the “Monster Snow Storm,” gave Prime Time Ski Club members “stellar” mid-winter conditions just a few days before the arrival of spring. As if all this natural snow isn’t enough to guarantee great spring skiing for weeks to come, the ace snowmaking team continues to wend its magic by firing up the guns to take advantage of upcoming low temps to freshen up some of the high-traffic areas. The groomers (called corduroy-crafters in a recent Sunday River Twitter post) continue to take advantage of cooler nights to lay smooth stripes on the majority of trails across all eight peaks.
Ironically, even with all this snow and great winter conditions, the Prime Time Ski Club held its year-end dinner last week at a Bethel restaurant, a week or so earlier than usual for a number of reasons. So despite the gathering’s name, it does not mark the end of ski season because many club members plan to continue to ski as long as the mountain stays open. The timing of the event must have been good, however, as the gathering set a record with 77 in attendance out of a membership of around 145. Several long-time members who did not ski this year came to greet old friends. Many of our members who were new to the club this year also attended. It’s nice to see some younger members joining the club — remember, we are a club for those “50 and over” so that’s what I mean by “younger.” Because of limited parking on Main Street due to large snowbanks, it was suggested that members car pool or find alternative transportation. About 12 of us took the Mountain Explorer, a first for me, and extended our party with a fun ride back and forth from the mountain.
Although a number of Prime Time members ski weekdays only, quite a few of our members live in the area or have winter homes here and ski on weekends as well, especially if friends and family are visiting. So if you are around on weekends, don’t forget these upcoming events. The Maine Adaptive Ski-A-Thon is this Saturday, March 25, with Sunday River hosting its inaugural Randonnee Race, as part of the NE Rando Series. The “Something Bigger” event, with participants climbing each mountain peak using “skins” and then skiing down, will benefit Maine Adaptive. A Chili Cookoff and Masters of the Hose Race, which pits snowmakers versus firefighters for the first time, will take place the next day. Look forward to a beach party theme on March 31 – April 1 and the Pond-A-Looza pond skimming contest will take place on Saturday, April 8. Don’t forget the Great Tailgate on Saturday, April 15, which includes a party in the Barker Lodge parking lot and a silent auction inside the lodge to benefit the Ski Museum of Maine who is raising funds to open a satellite museum in the Bethel area.
If you want to enjoy the rest of the ski and party season with a friend, don’t forget to come to North Peak Lodge around 10:15 a.m. weekdays (lower level, to the left of staircase headed downstairs) to meet up with some of our members. If for some reason Peak Lodge is closed mid-week, Prime Time members will meet at Barker Lodge.
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