Indy Ski Pass

[1dog]

we were having a beer on saturday afternoon at one of the bars on the wharfs in portland, when all of a sudden we hear a loud metallic bang. a fucking gull dropped a 6 inch long rusty screw that fell about 1 foot from us. hit my fiance on the richochet. the next table over were some real new hampshire bubs, who had a good laugh at the gulls attacking new yorkers with projectiles!

i dont think my vacation is thread worthy, but figured i'd post my retrospective trip report here where i was already chatting maine

here's our trip:

sunday 8/25 - drive from nyc area. stop at market207 outside of portland to stock up on craft cannabis for the week. at portland, got off 95 and took route 1 the rest of the way, to camden, where we stayed in a lovely small hotel on lyman wharf, overlooking the harbor

monday 8/26 - explore camden by foot in the morning. explore the surrounding area by car in the afternoon. specifically rockland, rockport, and boothbay. ate in boothbay and walked the town and waterfront

tuesday 8/27 - lobster boat tour out of camden in the morning. a quick lunch, then back to route 1 up to surry. we checked in to 'under canvas' which is an upscale 'camping' situation not far from ellsworth. i proposed to my girlfriend here and she is now my fiance. this was basically an afternoon and evening of drinking in the woods and enjoying our time together by the fire

wednesday 8/28 - drive to the 'quiet side' of acadia. ship harbor trail. a few other random quick stops along the way (a lake/pond im forgetting the name of). check in to a decent hotel just about 1 mile from central bar harbor. bar harbor is more touristy than i anticipated, but acadia is breathtaking. my parents met us for dinner to celebrate the engagement at the reading room at bar harbor inn

thursday 8/29 - whale watching excursion out of bar harbor in the morning. we saw 6 humpbacks. many dolphins. it was very cool! afternoon exploring sand beach and thunderhole. sunset from top of cadillac mountain (this is where and when i SHOULD have proposed). project social bar harbor for dinner - easily our best meal of the trip to that point

friday 8/30 - went to the blue hill fair in the morning. what a cute event! we loved it. spent the afternoon taking the slow roads to portland, where we checked into the downtown canopy hotel. dinner at fore street was excellent

saturday 8/31 - dutch's for breakfast. explored the entire portland penninsula by foot. we logged 11 miles and 30k steps of walking. what a beautiful walkable city! loved the west end mansions. loved the local businesses along washington avenue! had a drink at the waterfront and a bird dropped a 6 inch rusty nail that fell about 1 foot from us. scales for dinner was excellent

sunday 9/1 - more exploring portland, but mostly by car this time. went back to washington ave to have a beer at oxbow and poutine at duckfat. met up with a medical caregiver to get an insane amount of amazing cannabis at absurdly cheap prices. drove home the slow way, stopping in old orchard beach (bad), kennebunkport (wow those homes by the water), ogunquit (love a gayborhood!), and portsmouth (quaint but felt a little 'red' - like we very distinctively stepped into new hampshire).

i could easily see myself living in camden or portland, and i think maine may have overtaken vermont as my favorite state

is it just me or KtK using 'cute' felt odd? 3K miles of coastline its an amazing piece of the US. And sun RISE on Cadillac would have been even more impressive - if she was awake - and you've have had your own spot too. . .and been the 1st ( I think) to see the sun in. the US. Next wife maybe. . . JK!! Spent many a night on Mt Desert and most in tents - Somes Sound is my favorite tho. Sailed that a little. Pond was either Jordan or Eagle Lake most likely- just a stunning place all around.

Sounds like you guys are made for each other - congrats man. Daughter works in Portsmouth - by no means red - bit west tho . . . .

 

[KustyTheKlown]

i am an early riser and the cadillac sunrise was a bridge too far even for me. sunset was super nice.

i cut and paste that trip report from another writing. code switching for different audiences. lol. def not one to throw around 'cute' on AZ

cadillac sunset was just fine. spent the early part looking east and then moved west to watch the sun go down over the lakes

just tried to add a pic of the sunset but am getting server errors.

jordan we did the next day. the pond we saw on the quiet side was driving north from ship harbor back toward bar harbor

 

[KustyTheKlown]

I definitely liked living in Maine overall better than Vermont with only one complaint being I felt too far away from other places. I hardly ever made it to VT for skiing or over to NYC for shows and what not. I basically just stayed in Maine. I love it up there, but vastly prefer the centralized location I have now in coastal NH.

Portsmouth is decidedly blue. All of the NH Seacoast is for the most part until you get inland a bit. I just looked up 2020 election results for Portsmouth

Biden 10,643
Trump 3829

cool. i think my perception was colored by an actual maga trump rally happening outside a big church right in the middle of downtown. and a lot of bikers around. the church was flying a pride flag tho, which is chill.

if sugarloaf was my local i dont know that id mind skiing vt less

 

[deadheadskier]

if sugarloaf was my local i dont know that id mind skiing vt less

I didn't have the financial resources I do today when I lived up there, so I did day trips for the most part. Now that I can afford hotels, I'd probably feel less stuck. It was back in the ASC pass days still, so I skied SR and SL almost exclusively. As much as I love Sugarloaf and Saddleback, Northern VT is still consistently better snow. The hour less commute to get there from coastal NH vs Portland makes a big difference to me.

Unfortunately everyone and their grandmother has figured out that coastal NH is a very desirable place to live and it's gotten crazy expensive. Wouldn't surprise me if this locale has had the highest real estate inflation in all of New England over the past 15 years.

 

[machski]

i am an early riser and the cadillac sunrise was a bridge too far even for me. sunset was super nice.

i cut and paste that trip report from another writing. code switching for different audiences. lol. def not one to throw around 'cute' on AZ

cadillac sunset was just fine. spent the early part looking east and then moved west to watch the sun go down over the lakes

just tried to add a pic of the sunset but am getting server errors.

jordan we did the next day. the pond we saw on the quiet side was driving north from ship harbor back toward bar harbor

When we did sunrise, I made the wife hike up in the dark from the coastal campground. We were already married so safer than your case, not an easy get out from under it . Brought my hiking stove and cooked breakfast just before sunrise at the summit, was great. Looks we got from all the tourons in their cars was absolutely priceless!!

 

[KustyTheKlown]

Sunset’ll do

 

[Zand]

On the subject of daydreaming about moving closer to ski country...

I was perusing the open jobs at work the other day and one came up for Chester VT. So I hopped on Zillow and sure enough there's a gorgeous log house right on the Rockingham/Chester line right on Route 103 for sale (at a surprisingly attainable price) and I haven't stopped thinking about it since. 25 mins from Magic and Okemo, 45 from Killington. That area is pretty sleepy but super close to 91 to get elsewhere. I've probably driven by that house about a hundred times in my life and the thought of being able to relocate there is kind of wild to me. Not sure if it's realistic to consider but something to daydream about anyway.

Portland is a really cool town but it has pretty much priced itself into Boston territory. Probably no problem if you're coming from NYC though. And like DHS said, if you like road tripping the East Coast then Maine is a long way from everything else.

Congrats on the engagement kusty!

 

[2planks2coasts]

Seriously folks... I lived in downtown Portland, Oregon for 18 years and the wife lived all over the NY/NJ area. While we often miss the urban amenities, you get to a point that peace & quiet along with accessibility to skiing & hiking is just more important.

 

[IceEidolon]

Indy just put out an employee pass program. It's not 100% clear to me if it's only mountains that opt in can sell employees passes, or if it's opt in for both legal destinations and selling passes to staff.

I realize most of y'all aren't currently working in the ski industry, but it'll be a neat benefit to hopefully help staffing levels for the Indy members going forward.

 

[Bosco DaSkia]

indypass kills no boundaries...

https://www.skinoboundaries.com/post/an-update-on-the-no-boundaries-pass-for-24-25


fuck those guys.

 

[Killingtime]

Got this email today. Not holding my breath that it will be anything good for the Northeast but I was pleasantly surprised by the addition of Ragged recently so there is always a chance. Platty anyone? Not too many unaffiliated independents out there that I care to go to now anyway. Between the current Indy line up and the Ikon Pass I picked up over the summer, I think I'm good for this winter.

New Resorts Incoming... ​

We're getting ready to announce a significant amount of new resorts for the 24/25 season. Sign up for the waitlist to be the first in line when passes go back on sale. Make sure to tell your friends and family if they don't already have a pass.

 

[KustyTheKlown]

smuggs, mad river, ORDA areas, platty would all be welcome. i dont expect any of them to ever join tho.

 

[cdskier]

smuggs, mad river, ORDA areas, platty would all be welcome. i dont expect any of them to ever join tho.

I'd prefer they don't join given the ridiculous "exclusivity" requirements from Indy.

 

[AdironRider]

Did they already announce middlebury going to full partner status? They were affiliate only last year.

 

[Hillwalker95]

lol not actually moving. Just conspiring and aspiring. We were just really struck by how nice Camden was.

I work remotely now. My fiance (weird) remains physically tied to NYC for now.

Finishing up a whale tour out of bar harbor. Saw 6 humpback tails! Bar Harbor is more tourist trappy in town than i imagined it would be. Acadia proper is magic tho.

Thanks all!

Congrats man. And yes Acadia is special. Great memories hiking and biking there

 

[urungus]

Did they already announce middlebury going to full partner status? They were affiliate only last year.

Yes: https://www.skijournal.com/indy-pass-adds-four-new-england-resorts-to-its-ranks/

 

[2planks2coasts]

I'd prefer they don't join given the ridiculous "exclusivity" requirements from Indy.

Indy is selective in who else their partner resorts can also partner with. Platty was partners last season with Cooper, and that has been a no go for Indy. Freedom Pass and Powder Alliance membership seem to be ok though, as does being a part of a corporate group like PGRI (Jay, Ragged, etc, etc).

Full disclosure: I bought an Indy pass this year, despite their shenanigans. It's just too good a deal to pass up

 

[Edd]

Tenney would be cool (although I’ve never skied it, I plan to regardless). Also Burke.

 

[machski]

Tenney would be cool (although I’ve never skied it, I plan to regardless). Also Burke.

Burke would then be sliding from Affiliate to full Indy member. Would be nice, could make a nice 4 day in the NEK

 

[Killingtime]

Full disclosure: I bought an Indy pass this year, despite their shenanigans. It's just too good a deal to pass up

I've had one every season since it started about five years ago. I've had some great trips on it. Jay. Cannon, Waterville. I use it mostly as an add-on to an Epic or Ikon but one year it was the only pass I had, and I still had a great winter. You're correct, its too good to pass up.