This Week at the Lodge - January 8-14

1st Place 2012 Ice Carving  Competition

Top carvers from around New England returned on Monday morning for the 17th annual Great Ice Carvers of New England Invitational Ice Carving Competition at the Wentworth, starting at 10 am. Competitors have 3 hours to transform a 300-pound block of ice into amazing works of art, and we are always amazed to see the results.  The temperatures look to be cooperative this week, so hopefully they will last well into the month. They are very definitely worth coming to look at. We can give you directions once you are here.

The results are in!!  Dennis Hickey, co-owner of Ice Breakers, won first prize for his magnificent dragon.  Second place winner was Chris Gould for his carving of a fish swimming through the sea grass, and third prize went to David Soha for his carving of Tinkerbell.  The ice carvings were judged on workmanship, creativity and technical difficulty.  Nine extraordinary ice carvings will be displayed on the veranda of The Wentworth.  As always, Fritz Koeppel of The Wentworth was an elegant host.

The weather has been cooperating and snowmaking efforts continue up at Great Glen Trails. The teaching area is open with plenty of manmade snow, good tracks set as well as good skate lanes - all at no charge. They also have 20 km of carriage trails open for snowshoeing, and the tubing hill is also open. All Lodge guests can enjoy these activities FREE of charge with our guest vouchers. 

2nd Place Winner

3rd Place Winner

We are ending the week with an awesome snowstorm that has delivered almost a FOOT of snow. One of our guests told us that his Thursday XC-skiing was the BEST he has ever experienced. Time to dig out my XC equipment!

Our dear friend Gail

On a very sad note, we are shocked and saddened beyond words to hear that our friend and mentor, Gail Olson,  from The Lodge at Jackson Village passed away last Thursday. When we bought the Lodge 7 years ago, Gail was such a blessing to us, showing us the ropes on a day to day level, as well as becoming a valued co-worker (once we knew what we were doing!), and a good friend. We all had such fun here together that even putting in the long hours required by the hospitality business didn’t seem like’ work’ when Gail was around. I will never forget her telling me during those first few confusing weeks that I was a “quick study” as she helped me learn all the 'ins and outs’ of the computerized reservation program. I don’t think I was a quick study at all –in fact I felt totally overwhelmed and incompetent – but her positive outlook and encouragement kept me going in a way I will always remember and appreciate. Our very first afternoon check-in “alone” (after Gail had gone home for the day) came about 4 days after we purchased the Lodge, and was a comic disaster!! All the guests arrived at once, the credit card machine stopped working, the computers went down and we were in a total panic! Gail told us to call if we had any problems, and I don’t think she’d been home for 10 minutes when we gave her that desperate SOS phone call. Gail was walking back though the door minutes later, smile on her face, and put everything to rights. Everyone who knew her here (our family, employees and guests) loved her, and still ask about her. She was a beautiful spirit and we will all miss her very much.