The flags in front of the Jordan Grand Hotel at Sunday River were standing straight out and the thermometer on my car said 12 below zero when it (reluctantly) started. The lifts at Jordan Bowl weren’t running (the summit windchill was more than 50 below), so we drove down to the South Ridge base lodge where we suited up in multiple layers, leaving not a single square inch of skin exposed.

Instead of braving the winds on a chairlift, we rode up to the North Peak in one of the enclosed Gondola cabins on the new “Chondola.” Very comfortable  on a morning that redefined “wind chill” for a lot of folks.

Marilyn took two runs off North Peak and retreated to the warm base lodge. She’s smarter than I am. Even with two sets of handwarmers inside her mittens, her hands got too cold.

I managed two more runs on Spruce Peak and then two runs on Barker before the cold did me in. The snow was absolute perfection—soft, fast and smooth, and there weren’t more than a few dozen other people out at any given moment. Sunday River is never crowded on weekdays, but this day it was positively ghost-townish. Unfortunately, it was a travel day for us, so we couldn’t come in, get warm and go out again.

One of the best things about Sunday River is that you can (almost) always find a trail that’s in the sun and out of the wind. This particular morning was so cold that it hardly mattered. Still, it was absolutely worth getting out for as long as you could stand it. The lifties were diligent about checking folks for frostbite on exposed skin and anyone who did brave the cold found absolutely marvelous snow.

It was almost good enough to make you hope for more sub-zero days.

If you’d like some tips on keeping warm on extremely cold days, go here.