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Thank You Board Members – EHMI Transitions

4/4/2022

By Bryan Wiegers, EHMI President

Two incredible individuals retired earlier this year from the EHMI Board in order to devote their energies and share their valuable talents to help some other organizations. Meanwhile, we also gained a new board member.

I want to personally thank Doug Stark for providing the encouragement, mentoring and energy to successfully transition The Cabin under EHMI management. None of this would have happened without him. I hope he can enjoy The Cabin in the future with less of a task list when staying there. :-)

Additionally, I want to say thank you to retiring board member Carl Rubin. Carl has provided financial mentoring to me in various roles for close to 20 years, and I know he will be a blessing to the other organizations that need his help at this time.

Lastly, Wayne Wiersma has joined our board and brings a passion for backcountry skiing and experienced board leadership to EHMI (be sure to read Wayne’s article on backcountry skiing and The Cabin). Wayne has been rolling up his sleeves for two years now to help with various business affairs and good old fashioned sweat and muscle up at The Cabin. All of us on the EHMI Board are glad to welcome Wayne and look forward to working with him.

In the meantime, our deep thanks and gratitude to Doug and Carl for their service – we know they won’t be too far away.

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The Magic of Backcountry Skiing on East Haven Mountain

4/4/2022

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By Wayne Wiersma, EHMI Board

In my earliest years, my family lived in Southern California, so I can distinctly remember the first time I saw snow.

I was around five years old when we traveled to central Massachusetts to spend Christmas with my grandparents, who lived in a simple home in the woods. Waking up our first day there I was greeted with the vista of a deep blanket of the most pristine light fluffy snow.

As vividly as if it were yesterday, I remember the feeling of riding next to my grandfather, perched on the cold vinyl seat of his old pickup truck. Tires crunched through the snow, creating a perfect impression of the tread patterns in two perfect rows as we traveled up and around the long gravel driveway. I remember the smell of the rusty old truck, mixed with gasoline and that indescribable freshness that you only experience in the woods after a snowfall.

The trees hung heavy, frosted with snow as the sun shone through the bluest sky ever. The experience was so magical and unique I remember thinking, “…this must be heaven.”

Some 42 years later, I found myself in that magical place again. I was at the Bretton Woods ski area in New Hampshire with two of my children.

The snow had been falling in giant fluffy flakes all night and it just kept snowing all day as we skied. We had worked our way off the groomed trails into the woods at the edge of the resort. There were no other people around. It was just me, Jake and Tatiana, darting through the silent woods, run after run after run.

The feeling of floating gently over the surface of the snow; of weaving effortlessly through the trees was so transcendent I remember again thinking, “…this must be heaven.” Except this time, it was even better.

My own joyous movement through this heavenly place allowed me to appreciate its beauty at an even deeper level. I had moved from being an observer to an active participant.

I’ve always loved skiing, but that day at Bretton Woods really kindled my interest in getting into the backcountry. Backcountry skiing is all about taking the experience out of the resort, away from chairlifts and into a natural environment where you are self-propelled up and down the terrain.

Once you have the right equipment; climbing skins and special bindings, your skis and legs become your mode of transportation both “skinning” up and skiing down. Freed from resort lifts, you can explore wherever your skill, desire and the right terrain take you.

In New England, this type of skiing goes back to the beginning of the 19th century when adventurers explored places like Mount Washington’s Tuckerman Ravine on skis. In Scandinavia and Russia, traveling over the snow on skis dates back to the beginnings of recorded history.

The fairly recent invention of ski lifts made moving uphill on skis obsolete, but a longing for more challenging terrain coupled with advances in technology have resulted in a strong resurgence of this original form of the sport.

I’ve observed that something special happens to us modern humans, when we move out of the world we’ve created and into nature. In the setting of my normal life, I’m continually in an environment that has been
fashioned with me in mind. From the size of a doorway to the layout of my computer keyboard, my surroundings communicate to me that it’s all about me.

When I spend my entire life in the me-shaped world, it’s easy to come to the conclusion that I am at the center of my universe. This way of viewing things has the potential to disconnect us from the real world, other people and even our true selves.

Contrast this perspective to the experience you get when you stand in places like the floor of the bowl that is Tuckerman Ravine or admire a sunrise or sunset from the deck of The Cabin atop East Haven Mountain. The majestic scale and raw wildness of these places always make me feel very small and insignificant but at the same time extremely peaceful and grateful.

There is something extremely healthy about the reorientation that occurs in your mind and spirit when the beauty and scale of a natural environment reminds you that the universe does not revolve around you.
When [EHMI President] Bryan Wiegers invited me to The Cabin with the teaser, “there are backcountry ski trails…” I bit on the offer with the idea of creating a dream scenario.

I envisioned driving to Vermont on the eve of a big snowstorm, skinning up to The Cabin and hunkering down overnight. In the morning I’d loop the backcountry ski trails from the top and ski back to my car when my legs finally gave out.

While I’ve had the opportunity to realize this ski dream and experience the re-centering that its natural surroundings afford, the EHMI Cabin has given me another unexpected gift.

This gift has been the opportunity to share the place and experience of The Cabin with other people. The conversations and shared experiences in this place are special. Every time I go, I’m challenged by the people I go with; convicted and encouraged to be a better me through stronger healthier relationships with God, myself and others.

I believe that God has wired us to find connection: purpose, unity and joy in both the natural world and the people he has created.

For me, The Cabin is a unique place where this all comes together; a bit of heaven on earth.

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Successful Snowmobile Haul Proves New Option for Bringing Vital Supplies to The Cabin

4/4/2022

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By Bryan Wiegers, EHMI President

These pictures show the fresh tracks from snowmobiles that were used this past February to haul up 10 propane tanks that will be used for both cooking and warmth at The Cabin for the rest of 2022. This has been a long-term project that has been years in the making.

On behalf of the Board, I want to say thanks to our neighbors who didn’t hesitate to give us permission to cross their land via snowmobile.

Also, a big thanks to the numerous volunteers who, over the last 18 months, helped cut and mark a new two-mile snowmobile trail and figure out the logistics of such a haul.

We even had a person donate his snowmobile and backcountry riding skills to break trail up to The Cabin so we could haul the supplies and prove that we could make the concept work.

It was an awesome, successful day of bringing up critical supplies. In just four hours, our small crew used two snowmobiles to bring up enough propane and other material that would have taken four people an entire summer to haul up the trail on their backs.

We will always need help from volunteers to carry supplies up there, but this snowmobile haul gives us valuable flexibility and another key option when needed.

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Bryan's Blog - Getting Back to Basics

4/4/2022

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By Bryan Wiegers, EHMI President

We just celebrated the two-year anniversary of East Haven Mountain, Inc (EHMI) purchasing The Cabin from its original owner, Greg Gordon, who entrusted us to carry on the mission up there on top of the mountain. Over the past two years, many have enjoyed this sanctuary for a night or two and numerous Cabin improvements and repairs have been made.

Much of my time as President had been devoted to working on these improvements and assisting new people who wish to plan a stay. As we wrapped up 2021, I had longed to get back to the basics of just guiding new people to The Cabin to build friendships and offer them an experience to rest and enjoy God’s creation. This longing was fulfilled in January.

I was hosting a meeting at my home in early January when the doorbell rang. I proceeded to open the door, when immediately I was being asked to take some guys to The Cabin who had just heard about it. I offered a weekend that month right then and there, and within 24 hours, everyone had confirmed. I was able to provide the gear they needed (backpacks, snowshoes, gators and ski poles) and we departed on a Friday night around 5:30 pm from my garage.

For three of us, it was the first time we had ever met, and two of our group had never snowshoed before. Now we were on this journey together, driving four hours to the mountain base from Massachusetts, followed by a two-hour nighttime snowshoe climb up East Haven Mountain with hopes we’d reach The Cabin around midnight.

We arrived at the trailhead around 9:30 pm to begin our climb in the dark. As always, fears of being too cold quickly dissolved as guys were shedding outer layers once the sweat began pouring down their faces. We had a team-building experience where one of our crew was unable to carry his pack, and it offered a group challenge in learning how to be humble and serve others.

As we had expected, we arrived at The Cabin around midnight and spent the next two hours getting warm and set up for our weekend. We all slept well and long only to be awakened the next morning by the smell of coffee brewing on the stove.

What followed then was four hours of non-stop conversation and food. In spite of new acquaintances, we felt comfortable enough to tell each other our raw and honest stories - some funny and some sad, though we were all encouraged by one another.

The Cabin is an experience where people can connect at such a basic level of friendship and shared experience. With no Cabin work projects or repairs to be concerned about on this trip, it felt so good just to get back to basics by simply being a guide and host with some new people up there.

The Cabin is small and at times it can even feel boring, but it has some of the most expansive views of the White Mountains that I have ever seen. The setting allows space for friends to talk and rest in an unhurried way, and even the work projects that tire every bone in my body build a camaraderie that brings joy to my soul.

I encourage all of us to get back to basics and invite someone new or old to The Cabin in the near future.

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Thank You Board Members – EHMI Transitions

The Magic of Backcountry Skiing on East Haven Mountain

Successful Snowmobile Haul Proves New Option for Bringing Vital Supplies to The Cabin

Bryan's Blog - Getting Back to Basics

Cabin News Blog

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