Christmas 2016

After a festive start to the holiday with Christmas in Song and dinner at the Weekapaug Inn with Mark and Jen, we headed to New Hampshire to celebrate Christmas and New Years. We arrived in the afternoon on Christmas Eve, and happy to find snow on the ground. We settled in for dinner with plans to celebrate Christmas with a XC ski outing.

Christmas at the chalet

Christmas Eve

We woke early on Christmas Day, opened our stockings and then headed for the trails at Jackson XC ski center.   While there was plenty of snow, rain earlier in the week had rendered it "boiler-plate ice" as Bruno likes to call it.  So our best option was the groomed trails in Jackson, and we were not disappointed!  We enjoyed an after-ski cocktail, lunch and then opening many gifts from friends and family.  Many thanks to all for your thoughtful gifts.  Per tradition, a photo of Bruno in his new Christmas socks.

The day after Christmas we woke early and headed to the trailhead of Mt Tremont, which is located in Bartlett and only a short drive from the chalet. Mt Tremont is on the 52 With a View list and we have been eager to explore this mountain.  While not a long hike, it offered a very sustained and steep climb.   The snow got deeper as we hiked, but managed to get to the summit in just boots as the trail was mostly packed.  The skies cleared as we arrived at the summit and we were rewarded with stunning views.  The trek back down required micro spikes to keep us on the trail. It was fun to be back on the trails in the winter after some great winter hiking in early 2016

A few days after Christmas Santa brought us about 8" of fresh snow which was nice to have on top of the old snow pack.  

Along with the snow came the Mitchell-Dignan clan.  We enjoyed showing them the back-country trails in Jackson. We also skied to the Shovel Handle Pub, one of our favorite spots, for a pint late in the day.  We arrived back at our cars just before the need for a headlamp.  It was great to have Denise, Mike and Audrey with us on the trail!

The fresh snow also gave us the chance to enjoy a day at Bretton Woods with fresh powder and some sunshine.  The view to Mt. Washington  is one of the rewards of spending time on the Bretton Woods trails. This day the views were limited, but we caught a few and enjoyed warm temperatures and decent New England packed powder.

As Christmas gift to each other we explored Fryeburg, ME and had dinner at the Oxford Inn.  The inn is located on Main Street only a short-distance from the famous fairgrounds.   The inn is warm and cozy, and the service was friendly and relaxed. The food was fantastic and we will definitely make a return visit.