I thought that I’d share my reflections about yesterday’s LAC side-country skiing adventure at Black Mountain of Maine. I was half-in and half-out until a few days before the ski date and then when I decided that I really did want to join the group, I realized that all of my skinning gear was 2.5 hours away from Portland. Turns out that we are all part of this amazing community of women who are willing to help when asked. Susie brought my gear to Portland for me and then when I realized that I had forgotten to ask Susie for the skins (duh, skinning!) Alicia swung by my condo and loaded her son up for his drive back to Brunswick. I was ready to go on Friday morning at 7 a.m. for the drive to Rumford and to the lovely and sweet Black Mountain. L.L. Bean has subsidized Friday ski tickets so my uphill ticket was only $5 and I think a regular downhill ticket is only $15 (Fridays only). Six of us gathered in the parking lot and our two guides, Laurie and Quincy gave an overview of our climb, what to expect, and asked us to share our previous skinning experience. Then we were off! The snow underfoot was perfect and half way up these big, fat, delicious flakes fell on us — it was a gorgeous 2ish mile climb. Along the way, Laurie and Quincy gave us tips and tricks and our skill level jumped up even in that short amount of time. As with every LAC adventure I’ve been a part of, my fellow adventurers were kind, supportive, and encouraging. We laughed a lot and we also huffed and puffed a bit.

At the top, we learned more tricks on transitioning to our downhill settings and then we were off down the mountain. We even skied the glades even though some of us were a wee bit nervous (that would be me). But I did it! Once again, risk taking and stepping out of my comfort zone gave me a surge of pride and a feeling of accomplishment.

We skied right back to our cars, enjoyed a tailgate lunch, which Kate Burnham in her Facebook post, said felt so normal, and I concur. We need those injections of normalcy in our very not-normal life right now. I was happily pooped when I got home and also armed with new knowledge and skills. I’d say it was a pretty perfect day.

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