I somehow missed this post before, and having seen it wanted to share it with the community. Posts like this are why we do what we do here:
Epicski Ambassador qcanoe of Saddleback Maine is outstanding! When Epicski began the ambassador program last summer I thought it was nice, they could update their respective resort pages and answer random questions posed about their ski areas. But WOW, when you are lucky enough drive 675 miles and connect with one like qcanoe on their home turf it can make your trip! We got a priceless local guide on a day with great snow, terrain, scenery and company, helping us with crowd mitigation (normally not a problem at Saddleback unless they offer $29 lift tickets on a weekend - Mainers love a bargain
).
Not only is qcanoe a great ambassador for his home mountain, but he's also a great skier and very comfortable in Saddleback's renowned upper mtn glades. He and his posse (Tim and Bob) led my son (vincek here on epicski) and I on 6-8 passes through the labyrinth of Casablanca Glades on a day when snow conditions were the best we've seen in our wide travels this winter (NM, CO, WV, PA). He found us some hero powder bumps too. Camera was on the fritz and few good photos from Sunday 3/4 snow day with qcanoe, but we went back again on Monday 3/5 by ourselves and got even better snow conditions (6" fresh overnight) and a cold sun.
Epicski Ambassador qcanoe with posse
qcanoe in his natural habitat, Casablanca Glades
he's very smooth through some occasionally tight and steep glades
lower mtn to right has some nice bump runs, groomers and steep glades, upper mtn to left is remarkable with nice steeps at a relatively high elevation, both lifts rise about 1000 vertical, for total vertical drop of about 2000 at SBK. Muleskinner trail (fun, steep, narrow trail) is faint white squiggle to far left, the half mile wide treed area between it and rest of upper trails is the extraordinarily nice Casablanca glades.
This photo was taken on the upper mtn and does not do the views justice, three big lakes are visible, beautiful!
They got about 15-20" of snow in the first week of March, 2012, on the traverse to Casablanca
After two days at Saddleback we headed to Sunday River for my son's two day PSIA Level 2 skiing exam. We met a nice guy there too, but he didn't know the mtn like qcanoe knows his. Actually, Glen Plake is taking his practice level 3 teaching exam today 3/7 and tomorrow at SR, he passed his level 3 skiing exam yesterday - duh!
