a grand day out!

MOC and april vacation, go together like...fun and more fun. this was the 17th year that the outing club has taken students up into tuckerman ravine. and while i can remember a couple nasty weather days, i recall many more on the good side. the iconic 'blue bird' sky yesterday, added to the latter. before setting off, we took the traditional pose at the bottom trail sign, warning all hikers that conditions above could be extremely dangerous and to turn back if any 'bad weather' came in. it did not look like we would have any of that today.




all that being said, the first thing i discovered this year, and should have expected--but didn't!--was the tuck trail was totally iced, from just past crystal cascades to hermit lake. fortunately, half the ten students had brought some sort of micro-spike set ups and after donning them, were good to go. i sent the others up the sherburne ski trail thinking it would be more hiker friendly. we all made it up to ho-jo's at the same time, each group with its own tales of ice slicked paths! sticking with the be-spiked group on the tuck trail, i watched several sliding extravaganzas--one particular crash, involved two sliding bodies spinning out of control as they careened down the "icy sluice" when the lead person slipped on a bulge. the sherburne crew had similar stories about a particular "icy gauntlet" that required a hand over hand ascent using the fir trees along the edge. a particularly dramatic report of a dropped pole, saved by the last in line would have been entertaining had we not needed to go down after our time in the bowl.



regrouped, we all enjoyed a bit of lunch looking up at the ravine from the comfort of the caretakers' ice free porch. a couple of other hikers were stopped as well and when i took up a conversation with one pair, we discovered that we had worked at pinkham together back in 1975! ed parsons, now living in tamworth, was up hiking for the day with his friend nancy. we had a good laugh at how small the world was and spoke of some of the others from 'back in the day' that we still kept up with. he was impressed that pam and i had made it all work over the forty one years. after taking a picture with him and another of our group, we packed and headed up into the bowl behind the two of them.

there was a bit of ice on the trail up but nothing that couldn't be gotten over or around. in about a half an hour we popped into ravine and i heard the chorus of, "oh my...this is incredible!" it is quite a site and with a full group of first-timers, i got a good kick out of their delight--despite the slipping and sliding to get here. there were only five others up with our dozen so we literally 'had the place to ourselves'. i saw ed tagging along behind the lone skier over in left gully as i led the boldest of our group up central, beyond "lunch rocks". we were only going part way to get a good launch into a slide. the snow was perfect for sliding and would have been excellent skiing, but i had left mine back at mascoma, not really wanting to carry them if i was the lone skier or snowboarder. since the sherburne was pretty much ice and melted out more than half its length, i was not too bummed that i had made that choice. everybody, took at least one zip down--most three or four--and all had huge smiles on their faces when they finally stopped at the bottom of the bowl.



dirk found a deep hole to climb into while a couple of the more frequent sliders changed into 'drys' from their 'wets' before we headed out of the ravine. we had the 2.5-3 miles to get down and none of us was relishing the icy descent. at the hermit lake shelters we made the decision to go right, down the sherbune. turns out that given the warming temp. and the plentiful sun, that was a good choice. the ski trail is quite a bit more open than the hiking trail and the ice was much softer--mostly passable without too much slippage. mostly, but one student did his best impression of superman when he tripped over something and instantly picked up a good amount of speed on a 20 foot slick spot. 'no blood no foul' allowed us a hearty laugh, but i for one, was took a good deal of care where i stepped. i found the side trail that i remembered from snowy years past took a few off that way. it had practically no ice and was covered by 2-3 inches of wet snow--that and the blow downs were all cut free. we walked comfortably along listening to whooping and hollering from those slipping along above us.




back at the dodge lodge, a group of non-believers went in to "take a look" at a crew picture with me, taken back in '75 when i "had really long hair!" (before we had started i showed three or four students and they had obviously spread the word and now were going to prove it to the others.) i got the van unlocked and after a bathroom check we piled in and took off. the ride home was smooth and this year we didn't get stopped for the van being not being inspected--even though it was three days past. i was supposed to drop it off at a local station for that after we unloaded everybody--bonus!

it truly was a grand day out!!

april fools!

a handful of MOC fools take a polar dip! 

every year on april fools' day, the outing club gathers as many hardy souls as we can and head over to canaan street lake. in years past we have jumped through a hole in ice that was three feet thick. it is not as much fun to 'run in' but unfortunately, in the last six years, we have had to do just that three times.

in the picture above, a fifth dipper is yet to run in. olivia is just behind us, still out of the picture. not that this actually mattered, but she had just moved here from tennesse and it was her first cold water experience. the student taking pictures got a great series of her deciding enough was enough and she turned and 'ran' out. if i remember right she was saying something like, "it's so cold...i getting out...i can't feel my legs or feet...this is so insane..." all through chattering teeth!

we all came out finally, with smiles on our faces! it was a good time--definitely cold--but everybody warmed up under their own power.

the fast squad ambulance was heated and standing by, just in case. the rescue squad likes to come out and suit up for practice. so far we have only needed them once to warm up a slightly hypothermic student with less than zero percent body fat. it is always great to have them join us, year after year, ice or no ice.

besides people swimming in april, how do you know winter is finally over? the temperature drops down to the single numbers and it snows six inches... it is crazy when last week we were up in the 60's and even above freezing over night. on wednesday i rode out 4A and teamed up with pete for a tour around mascoma lake. i was wearing a light long sleeve shirt and my tights and had an extra top in my pannier. during the ride, i was pretty warm pumping up hill, comfortable cruising along the flat, and only a little cool flying down hill. even though the sun was setting when i turned back at proctor's as pete pedaled off, the extra layer stayed in the bag all the way home.

on saturday, i could feel the temperature dropping through the day. i even put on a hat at one point puttering out in the garden, digging parsnips. my hands got a more than a little cold washing them. nothing like sunday though--i rode up jones hill to see a friend thinking, the steep mile climb would warm me up. my hands were frozen stiff by the time i got to the top even as i my 'de-hatted' head was sweating. i contemplated borrowing gloves for the ride home. when i pulled into our drive, i checked the temp. and realized why things were so fridgid--it was only 20°F out.

i put on a warmer shirt, jacket, and hat and headed over to lasallette to cut the remaining flagging tape from our snowshoe festival in january. as i crossed the causeway over mascoma lake it was starting to snow and the wind was blowing substantial white caps out on the lake. leaving the parking lot, the snow was getting thicker and blowing everywhere. as i got to the recently cleared 'potato field' at the height of land, the ground  was solid white and the wind was now buffeted me from side to side. crossing back into the woods things got a little more comfortable.  ten minutes downhill and the sun actually burst through the clouds. maybe that was why it was so windy, a front was blowing through.

i got over to the top of the upper big field and was clipping a couple of markers when i heard a huge crash off to my right. a huge old tree blew over about a hundred yards off the trail. i wished i had the camera as it would have been impressive (maybe i will come back and get a shot). as i got back to the truck with my pockets full of flagging tape, it was definitely getting colder with the sun tucking behind the ridge even though the wind was dropping.

monday brought a whole different weather system. a soft snow fell all day, starting about six in the morning and not ending until after i went to bed. it was cold enough to stay dry and fluffy, covering the frozen ground, and building up anywhere from 3 to 5 inches. waking early tuesday to the clear and cold, i decided to hike up cardigan after my third grade stint.

the winter gate was still up and there were no tracks in the lower parking lot. hiking up the road i could just make out a single set of boot tracks going up and coming back down. they were made during the snow as they were almost totally filled in. i remember last week i stopped and took a picture going up the road so i did that again. the sky was practically cloudless and a deep, crisp blue. the snow was equally crisp and showed countless tracks where various animals scurried about dealing with this 're-wintering' their landscape.

i kept track of the different tracks and counted eight species: two types of small rodents--a mouse and perhaps a shrew, squirrel--probably a red, rabbit, ruffed grouse--actually flushed one, deer, fox, and coyote. tracking was good as the animals were most likely out looking hard for food to fuel them through the cold. the birds were doing the same, with several wintering species--juncos, chicadees, and at least two downy woodpeckers flitting and pecking about.


up top i could see a long way, north, east, south, and west. i took pictures looking from each side of the tower, along those compass lines.

east

north

north, one could see the snow covered tops of the common white mtn. peaks: moosilauke, liberty, and washington. east, the big lakes were all free of ice similar to the sky free of clouds--save for that one little spot. south, another lone cloud above and three ski areas stuck out--white contrasting with blue and 'black' respectively. to the west, several more ski areas way off on the horizon, along with a bank of  incoming clouds.

south

west

the wind, coming out of the west, was blowing hard on three of the four sides, but it wasn't all that unpleasant. i packed things away, tightened my hood, pulled my face scarf up, and pointed my feet down.




once into the trees and out of the wind, the sun was warming. at the bottom, some of the snow was even melted on the lowest part of the road. i had seen a new set of boot prints join the west ridge trail coming in from south ridge. somebody and their dog were headed down in front of me. when i got to the winter lot, they kept going down the road towards orange. i was impressed with their motivated stroll.

three things that i have been thinking about while out and about in the last week:
a: pre-planning your path will restrict you, stay open and the 'real way' will present itself to us in all its variability... deliberately encourage change--don't become complacent with yourself as is, let experience guide you to make yourself new tiny bits at a time. (from michael puett's and christine gross-loh's talk on the diane rehm show)
2: a long term relationship is not set in stone but full of change--commit to working at it. (a long held belief pam and i share and applies to a: above)
III: "...i would have spent the rest of my life wondering what would have happened if..." seems to be a common motivator, but more and more i find it simplistic, maybe even false. you could bring this up over an infinite number of 'missed opportunities' a creative mind could invent. i have long assumed we do what we do because, at least at the time, it is what we wanted--for comfort, for joy, for thrill, for growth... (from the book, now a movie, janapar by tom allen, subtitled 'love, on a bike')