From Andrew Cantor, Membership, Abuse Specialist:

I've been asked by Anna to write a letter to all of you, some anecdotal piece that serves to entertain you. Normally, I'd politely decline, as I have more than enough to do day in and day out, and don't necessarily want to hand in the extra-credit assignment. However, after politely declining four times, I discovered Anna's violent side. I figured it would be best to comply for safety's sake. Therefore, I'll tell you a bit about what I did this weekend. I went to Maine.

It may sound dull, but lots of people drive up to Maine for the weekend — every weekend. And for good reason; it's a gorgeous state. I spent many a summer going to camp there and returned a few years later to be a counselor. Some of the Maine attractions include forests, lakes, rivers, dirt roads, an interesting Tuesday-night ballet, moose, weird accents, lots of guns, and bigger mountains than we have in my home state of Vermont. I enjoy the mountains, Sugarloaf in particular. This past weekend, Sugarloaf was host to the first of seven Bud Light BoarderFest competitions. This series has been going on for about four years. It's a weekend-long snowboard event featuring Halfpipe, nite-time Big Air, and BoarderCross competitions for pros and amateurs. Each pro event has a cash purse ranging from $500 to $1,000. It's a super-cool event for participants and spectators alike. In the past, I've participated in the Boarderfests at Mount Snow as part of the event staff, so I got to see all of the intricasies of the event up close, and let me tell you — it's a blast! This year, the folks who put on BoarderFest decided to open up a few skiing categories, so instead of working at BoarderFest, I finally had an opportunity to work it at BoarderFest!

So there I was, cranking down some New Hampshire back-road in the SnowForce RV on the way to my first ever BoarderFest as a competitor. In the back were four of my SnowForce teammates, as well as a friend who bummed a ride 'cause he's a freeloading, out-of-work loser. This is no ordinary RV, mind you; it's like a 1974 14-foot Winnebago that was apparently built before the understanding of aerodynamics. On the outside, this beast is the bomb! It's been repainted and logoed to the nines with all of our sponsors, and on the back are all of the SnowForce Team members' names (skiers and snowboarders alike). Still, this RV has some less-than-desirable qualities, including no brakes, generator, or working plumbing, loose steering, bald tires, a broken propane camping heater, and no stereo. We were unaware of some of these imperfections until we were on our way up to the Loaf. Sometime after we crossed into New Hampshire, it began to snow — hard. It was about this time that I became aware of the bald tires. And lest I forget, there was freezing-cold air blasting up uncontrollably from below the drivers seat, which caused my entire left side to become numb. This is not good when you're trying to keep a beast of a vehicle from sliding all over snowy New Hampshire back roads.

Somehow we got there alive. The trip took nearly eight hours, during which time I developed frostbite on my left foot. Not on one or two toes, mind you — I'm talking the entire foot. With the driving behind us, we were finally able to proceed to do what we set out to do — namely, be a dominating presence at the event.

And it was so. On Saturday, Megan won the Women's pro SkierCross. Brian came in second in the Men's Pro SkierCross, I came in third, and Neal finished fourth. Our Teammate Tristan won the nite-time Big Air, and on Sunday, in the women's pro BoarderCross, Nichole took top honors, winning $1,000! When the weekend was over, my teammates and I left Sugarloaf with more than $2,500 in prize money. We were a veritable SnowForce!

So, how was your weekend?

Andrew