snowboarding

F is for...

This has been a weird fall. It started off with relentless rain. Then the leaves decided to fall about a day before the first big snowstorm. Then we got buried in snow. Now it is all melting away.

I made it to camp just before the first snow came to spend 14 hours raking, blowing tarping and dumping leaves from our three perfect acres of camp.

I finished up as the first flakes of snow were falling. Two weeks later and we have gone from perfect fluffy snow to a muddy, icy mix up there.

With warmer temps for the next few days I expect most of the snow up there to melt away before it eventually gets buried by late December/early January.

I did get a chance to take advantage of all of the late-November snow, though. I sent it up to Sunday River in Maine during a 20”+ storm and it did not disappoint! Endless knee-deep pow and zero lift lines make for some epic times!

Did not stop much to take pics but here’s one from the slopes!

The drive up there was a bit hectic though! The typically 2.5 hour trip took 4+ with various stretches of ice, slush, deep snow and snow plows doing their job.

Here’s a stretch of…road?

Here’s to winter in New England! If winter isn’t your thing just count down the days until camp starts up again…(203 days from today).

-Evan

Boom! Winter 2.0

Just when we thought that the '17/'18 winter would be lackluster we have gotten walloped by three massive storms in back-to-back-to-back weeks (with another on the way). This has made for some unreal powder skiing/snowboarding and lots of late winter fun. Camp, as always, looks great (thanks Ryan for the shots).

And our four legged friends are making the most of it as well!

deep freeze

Anyone in New England over the past two weeks has experienced a prolonged super deep freeze with temps hovering around 0 and windchills in the negative territory. We absolutely love this weather and have been snowboarding, skiing, biking, hiking and otherwise making the most of winter fun.

Fat tire biking was high on my list of things to do this season. Gosh it was fun and addictive!

The powder has definitely been flowing in NH! After 23 years of only snowboarding I decided to jump back into skiing last season.

There is a little park in Bedford, NH called Pulpit Rock. It is a sweet valley full of boulders and waterfalls and paths. It was fun to hike around and check out frozen walls of ice.

Merrymeeting Lake is frozen solid. This is a panorama of the lake from the dam and public boat launch.

This last shot is of Pleasant Cove on Merrymeeting Lake last week. It was -5 degrees and the entire lake was frozen with smooth ice. 

Happy wintering!

-Evan

Winter Monkeys

Living in New England means short summers and long winters. Wetsuits help extend the boating season but they cannot help once the lakes are frozen. The best way to keep shredding is to grab your skis or snowboard and hit the mountains!

Water Monkey Camp is a sponsor for the NH USASA Ski and Snowboard Competition series. Each winter we give away over $4,000 worth of prizes and merchandise to the kids competing. These kids travel from all over New England to show the judges their best tricks and try to win some prizes!

Ryan has been attending these events to pump the kids up, hand out swag and meet the families. Here he is with a few kids who were lucky enough to win some Water Monkey Swag and one of them a free two hour lesson!

Stay warm this winter, summer is closer than you think!

 

-Ryan