Owl's Head - January 5, 2024

With the day off work, a visit to Owl's Head was just the ticket. My son Lukas tagged along for the ride for his second visit there. He enjoyed his last time out at the mountain to end the season last year. We got up early and arrived just before 8am to take our time getting ready. It had finally chilled off and the snow guns were a blazing to make up for Mother Nature's latest tantrum. It was sunny as we left Sherbrooke, and closer to the mountain we got, it became foggy, and you could not see Owl's Head in the distance. The temperature was around -14 degrees with a bit of a breeze. We got dressed appropriately for the chill. The skiing today was on machine-groomed granular snow on a firm, and sometimes hard base, Coverage was pretty decent. There were 25 trails announced for skiing, and all lifts were in operation.

The first ride was up the Summit Quad. This would be Lukas' first time up to the top. Guns were set up on the Kamikaze blowing snow the whole length of the trail in hopes of getting it open as soon as possible. The Colorado & Lilly's Leap were the only trails available for the top. At the top, I saluted an Owl's Head legend & Olympian Bob Richardson who has been enshrined with a plaque at the summit. We chose Lilly's as Colorado would have been too tough for Lukas to do. Visibility was reduced at the top so we carefully made our way down. The lower we got, the visibility was better. We crossed over the Lake Quad to ski the Upward Trail, and then the cutover at the bottom of the lift that leads over to the Panorama Quad.

The ride up the Panorama Quad was breezy so we decided to head back to the chalet for a quick warm up. Once we warmed up, we headed to the old Blue Double chair where the Shady Lady was available for turns, but you were sharing the trail with the OH Ski Team training as they set up gates on one half of the run top to bottom. The Blue Chair only operates on weekends, and holidays so it was a bit of a treat to ride. One ride down the Shady Lady was enough for Lukas, it was a bit tough for him. Another warm up and then we headed back towards the Panorama and Lake Quads. By this time the sun was trying to poke out. There were no lineups at any of the lifts.

The Blue Chair (Shady Lady), Lake Quad (Upward Trail), and Panorama Quad (Chouette):

After another warm-up, I had a solo run on the Blue Chair one more time, and then both of us had a couple of more trips up the Family Quad, and then a ride up the Lake Quad. After two more trips up the Panorama, we called it a day at a little after 1 o'clock. For me, skiing at Owl's Head is like "going home". I spent many years, and met some great people here, and even though there have been many changes since, some things remain the same. We really enjoyed our time skiing OH, and the mountain is quickly becoming one of Lukas' favourites. We will certainly be back again this season.

Here Are a Few More Scenes of the Day: