Best Easter skiing in years!

If the Easter bunny is a skier, he's been spotted him on the slopes in past seasons, he has to be stoked for this Sunday! Easter weekend is as early as it gets on the calendar, and the skiing is as good as it gets all around the country! 
 

You should consider taking the family to the ski mountains this weekend. The snow covered mountains are very spiritual, and many ski areas provide Sunday sunrise service. As a bonus, there are egg hunts on the ski trails, costume parades and even ticket deals if you dress the part. It's going to be an epic Easter weekend to ski. Next winter Easter is late again, April 20...

Read Heather's ski blog on Boston.com for Easter ski events in New England. And get out your Easter bonnet, and your best spring ski outfits for sun and fun on the snow ...April is going to be great - no April foolin!
See our Top Ski Resorts for Spring Skiing in New England at Family Ski Trips and our Top Ski Resorts for Spring Skiing Out West on Luxury Ski Trips.

We'll see you on the slopes.
Don't forget the SPF! 

Thank you for being ski friends...

"The fact that you are back skiing so soon speaks to the passion that you have for the sport and for your ski writing," said my editor friend Susan Grisanti from Maine Magazine. Fellow ski writer Amy Patenaude (of the Pats Peak family) said, "Heather, I believe you have never taken for granted how much you love to ski and that you didn't need an injury to remind you how much you love to fly downhill! You are strong and fast and fun, and we all want you back on the slopes!"

Comments like that make me grateful for what I do, and for the people who share my passion. I am also thankful that my tibia fracture did not sideline me for the entire ski season - just 5 painful weeks. The physical discomfort was nothing compared to the emotional frustration and fear of losing what I love. Writing about skiing from my desk looking out at the continually accumulating snow was anguish. But I had friends sending me texts and messages that they were skiing my favorite runs for me, keeping me in the alpine loop  in my absence. I appreciate that more than I can express.

This weekend at Sunday River, being able to ski wall to wall corduroy, cranking arcs on a white welcome mat of soft snow with friends was amazing. We skied 45 runs and logged 54,000' of vertical in two days - which is way more fun that rehabbing on a stationary bike!  Shout out to to Sunday River's groomers for the seamless carpet from Jordan Bowl to White Heat.

I thank all of you, friends and followers for your kind words of encouragement, for reading my blogs, even when I was fractured and freaking out, broken and blue, and for the big smiles when you saw me back on the slopes.

And finally to my husband, my forever ski date and photographer, thank you for shoveling all that powder snow that fell in February and for not pointing out the obvious - that I jammed up our winter plans with my injury. But the rest, and the best, is still to come this ski season. Stay tuned.

See you on the slopes!

Joy on Sugarloaf - Survivor Ski Episode #1

I have long been requesting a CBS Survivor on snow. Aren't you also tired of the same-old beach scene and Jeff Probst in short sleeves shorts after 25 seasons? Well, now I have my first skiing castaway contestant...Nicholas Joy of Medford Mass who survived 40 hours alone on Sugarloaf Mountain with no supplies, just his ski attire and his wits, which he attributes to watching "survivor type shows" on TV.

Here is my ski blog on Joy's ordeal including skiing out of bounds, without meaning too - which is pretty easy to do on a big mountain like the Loaf. While Joy's trail choice after seperating from his dad was not the best decision ever, going off the vast West Side of Sugarloaf beyond the trails, he then employed a series of good tactical survival skills - he built a snowcave, drank water from a nearby stream and melted snow, and he obviously provided some self sustaining mantra on the cold dark mountainside to keep his spirits and body temperature up.

I can imagine some of the 80+ search and rescue ski patrol, border patrol, Maine Game Wardens and even Navy Seals were becoming more dubious of a positive outcome as the precious clock ticked on into day two of Joy's disappearance. Ironic that a fellow Mass guy (a firefighter from Warwick Mass.) on a snowmobile, but not part of the official search team, found Joy.
Nicholas Joy clearly outwitted, outlasted and outplayed the harsh winter elements! Whether his reference and resource was Man versus Wild or Survivor, I propose he should be one of the first winter castaways in my Survivor Alpine - The Winter Edition. The 17-year-old skier has mad mountain skills, or at least core conviction to stay alive in the cold. So I dust off my TV show propsal to Jeff Probst, and I only have 15 more contestants to clear for this edgy new snow Survivor season. I need skiers and snowboarders- so send me your ski auditions videos!