With the lift-served ski season quickly vanishing, I schussed both Wildcat and Sunday River this past weekend.

On Saturday Jonathan Keck and I had a perfect spring day at the big Cat in Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire -- schussing in sunshine and warm breezes. Wildcat was the last ski area in the Granite State still operating.

Riding the high-speed summit quad at Wildcat Mountain Saturday.
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Skiers and riders on the summit of Wildcat Saturday.
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As might be expected, snow conditions were deteriorating quickly, with many bare spots to work around.

Jonathan Keck mulls his options upon reaching a bare spot Saturday.
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Contemplating more bare spots.
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They decided to try the left side.
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Sure the bare spots were a pain, but I'm grateful to management for giving us one more opportunity to enjoy those incredible views that are such a Wildcat signature.

I think the Cat will call it quits, but they're holding out the possiblity of re-opening for May 3-4. But don't go without checking ahead of time!!!

Fast forward one day. The River was rather foggy and soggy yesterday. Many skiers and riders wore plastic bags to stay dry.

Many skiers wore plastic bags to stay dry yesterday at Sunday River.
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Riding the Barker Mountain quad yesterday at Sunday River.
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The cloud cover blanketed the upper half of the mountain, so I didn't bother to take any more pix.

Yesterday was definitely last call for Sunday River. For the record, I skied the River the first day of the season: October 31, 2007. And for the record, readers of this blog were there too.

Driving home, I detoured a bit to poke around the old Evergreen Valley ski area in Lovell and Stoneham. I'm working on a project for the Ski Museum of Maine and the Lovell Historical Society, and wanted to refresh my memory.

After more than a decade of planning, promotions, commotions and convulsions, Evergreen Valley operated for three seasons between December, 1972, and spring of 1975. The ski area had nine trails, three chairlifts and about 1,050 vertical. And lost about $4.5 million. The convulsions continued to revolve for many years after the bullwheels stopped turning and the lifts were sold off and removed.

Yesterday was Sugarloaf's turn for holding a freebie barbecue for season passholders, and the event was mobbed with skiers, many of whom were hanging up the boards after this weekend.

Riding the SuperQuad at Sugarloaf yesterday.
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I drove up with a couple of guys I met through the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club: Avram Hains of Portland and Tony Scilipoti of Cumberland.

Avram Hains of Portland and Tony Scilipoti of Cumberland pause and pose for the Ski Bum's camera at the top of Sugarloaf's Skidder Trail.
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The passholders barbeque attracted hundreds to the Sugarloaf Inn yesterday.
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Yesterday's superb spring weather brought out hundreds to the barbeque, and the wait in the chow line ran about 35 minutes. One thing you could do to kill the time: renew your Boyne New England Pass for 2008-2009. Special renewal pricing incentives run through April 30.

It's also worth noting that this year's Maine Pass isn't being offered. Next year's season ticket options all include Loon Mountain in Lincoln-North Woodstock, New Hampshire. It's the busiest ski resort in the Granite State.

I ran into a bunch of fellow directors of the Ski Museum of Maine.

Sugarloaf season passholders chow down yesterday, with music too.
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At the barbecue, Sugarloaf management pledged to make every effort to stay open through Sunday, May 4, which is a week after Sunday River's projected closing date.

On the drive back, Avram said he might ski once more this season, but Tony seemed certain that he'd hang up the skis. And the talk revolved mostly around mountain biking.

Yesterday was one of those too-good-to-be-true days, and the Ski Bum celebrated by joining ski buddy Jonathan Keck for a trip to the Loaf. I met Jonathan about 10 years ago through the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club, and we ski at least a few days together each year.

Almost as soon as we arrived, I bumped into Tom Hanson in the guest services area of the base lodge. Tom's the treasurer of the Ski Museum of Maine; he was renewing his New England Pass for 2008-2009.

Taking advantage of this happy coincidence, I asked him to join Jonathan and me on the mountain.

Jonathan Keck and Tom Hanson pause and pose along Upper Narrow Gauge yesterday at Sugarloaf.
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Jonathan Keck and the Ski Bum on Sugarloaf's Timberline Trail yesterday.
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Only three lifts were running: SuperQuad, Timberline and Spillway, so we pretty much stayed on the western half of the mountain.

We had lunch on the deck at Bullwinkles, and Tom met a bunch of people he knew through his many connections, which include the Penobscot Valley Ski Club, the Sugarloaf Mountain Ski Club and the museum.

Lunch on the deck at Bullwinkle's was popular yesterday.
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Tom Hanson of Orrington is active on Maine's ski scene in many ways. He's a prime mover of the Penobscot Valley Ski Club, a dedicated volunteer with the Sugarloaf Mountain Ski Club and treasurer of the Ski Museum of Maine.
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I'm currently working on a project about ski clubs for the museum -- I'm a director and research and write articles for its newsletter -- and Penobscot Valley is one of the prime focal points. It happened that Tom had a pair of hefty scrapbooks full of PVSC materials dating back many years plus a photo CD that I needed to borrow. And he had them right there at the mountain in his condo!

Another happy coincidence.

As the end of the ski year approaches, most mountains hold a barbecue for their season passholders. Sunday River's was yesterday.

Sunday River held a barbecue for its legion of season passholders yesterday, using a roped-off area in front of the White Cap base lodge.
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Among the legion of attendees chowing down was Cherie Perkins, who just purchased her 2008-2009 pass -- which includes the balance of this ski year as an early signup bonus.

Season passholder Cherie Perkins chows down on a hot dog at yesterday's Sunday River barbecue.
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While most passholders chowed down on hot dogs and burgers, yesterday's extra special treat was Shock Wave Shrimp, grilled by a team of high muckamucks headed by Sunday River general manager Dana Bullen.

Dana Bullen, Sunday River general manager, headed a team that grilled the Shock Wave Shrimp yesterday.
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A plate of Shock Wave Shrimp await hungry season passholders.
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Cherie and I drove up with a pair of fellow members of the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club: Nancy Negri of Gorham and Peter Durand of Scarborough. Neither are season passholders, so they brown-bagged lunch at Barker Mountain while Cherie and I feasted.

Nancy Negri, Peter Durand and Cherie Perkins pose for the Ski Bum's camera at the top of Lazy River yesterday at Sunday River.
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Nancy Negri poses at the top of Grand Rapids yesterday.
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Despite being neglected for lunch, Nancy and Peter had a wonderful time, and the four of us look forward to kayaking in a few weeks.

By the way, Sunday River plans to remain open until Sunday, April 27. If crowds continue to show up, they might go another week.

The special incentives on early purchase of season passes ends April 30. You can sign up online by visiting the New England Pass website. The pass includes all three New England properties of Boyne Resorts: Sunday River, Sugarloaf and Loon Mountain in New Hampshire.

At this point, you're too late for Shock Wave Shrimp, but there's still some great skiing left in this season.

Yesterday's abundance of snow and sun provided a stark contrast with the handful of people at Sunday River.

It was certainly an outstanding day of spring skiing, with 130 runs open, including the glades and some of the lesser-known traditional trails such as Upper Cut and Crossbow.

Numbers-wise, most of the people at the River yesterday were groups of British teens on school holiday. It's fortunate so many of them come to New England -- they're all over Bretton Woods and other New Hampshire mountains too -- because the resorts need them to justify staying open these last few weeks of the season.

Groups of British teens were all over Sunday River yesterday, such as this gathering at the top of the Barker Mountain quad.
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A group of British kids negotiate their way down Lower Punch.
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There were a few families plus a respectable representation of hard-core River Rats like myself.

A family group heads down Grand Rapids yesterday at Sunday River. Note all the empty chairs on the North Peak quad.
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On Downdraft I met a friend from the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club, Craig Hansen. He was one of the MOAC members who participated in the Ski Maine Peak-to-Peak Challenge over Martin Luther King weekend, skiing all 17 member mountains in a three-day period. And covering about a thousand miles.

Craig Hansen, whom I know through the Maine Outdoor Adventure Club, poses on the Downdraft trail at Sunday River yesterday.
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We talked about passes for next year. I think that Maine's most serious skiers will opt for the Boyne New England Pass, which includes Sunday River, Sugarloaf and Loon Mountain in New Hampshire.

Craig seemed happy with his choice of the Ski Maine statewide passbook.

Yesterday was the final day of the season at Mount Abram in Greenwood, and quite a few skiers went out with a splash.

Among those was Courtney Poston of Topsham, who was one of the few skiers who successfully managed to skim all the way across the 33-degree slush pond. The young lady, a Mount Abram ski instructor, is a high school senior who'll be attending the Ski Industries Management program at the University of Maine/Farmington next year.

Courtney Poston of Topsham skims across the 33-degree slush pond at Mount Abram yesterday. The high school senior, who teaches skiing at the mountain, was one of the few who made it all the way across the pond.
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Like all participants in the Slush Pond Skim, she was presented with a lei by Mount Abram general manager/co-owner Susan Burns.

Susan Burns, general manager and co-owner of Mount Abram, was in charge of handing out leis to competitors at yesterday's Slush Pond Skim.
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This might be Susan's finale. She and husband Josh have put the mountain up for sale, so new owners might be greeting skiers in 2008-2009.

Regardless of who owns the mountain, they'll be greeted by some great longtime employees, such as Robin Nevel, who's been running the ticket office for 30 years, and husband Barry, who's been supervising lift operations for decades.

Robin Nevel hands me my ticket yesterday. Robin's been running the ticket office for 30 years!
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Barry Nevel, right, has been lift operations supervisor at Mount Abram for decades. Above: Yesterday Barry helps Angi Holland of Portland and her nine-year-old son Dylan Bolduc on the "Way Back Machine," Mount Abram's 37-year-old chairlift.
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I also said a seasonal sayonara to two mainstays of the ski school who've been at Mount Abram forever it seems: instructor "Buzz" Hollander and director Krister Rollins.

It seemed a shame to say sayonara to all that great snow -- probably the most cover the mountain has ever had on closing day.