change of season--almost...

off the mountain and onto the roads--atop the trusty nishiki. 
at least for this past week. last monday i did run up cardigan for april's moonrise-sunrise extraveganza. as is usual in the winter, i was the only one hiking. the amazing thing, given our warmer and rainy weather lately, there was snow or ice right down to the gate across from the winter parking lot. i put on the micro-spikes under the shelter at the summer lot and headed up the west ridge trail.

there was plenty of snow the rest of the way--complete with ski tracks weaving on and off the path. it was probably 60°F out so the snow was pretty slushy. in places it was even darn wet, like mini-skim pools at the bottoms of spring ski runs. i picked lines through those spots to avoid sinking a foot or more as soon as one stepped off the packed trail.




at one point, i noticed that somebody had skied my micro-shute--the one on the right of the trail in the picture--that skip kids me for always taking. i took a picture of that to send off to him. you can see there was still plenty of snow in the woods. when he got this picture, skip even made noises about going up and skiing. that would have been a site to see.





i took off the micro-spikes at turn around rock, and picked my way up on the bare granite. as usual it got windier the higher i got. at the top i skirted around the leeward side of the tower, dropped my pack, and fished out my jacket. i noticed my head was getting dripped on and when i looked up, water was leaking directly out of the tower cabin floor. that was weird.

i got the camera out with my jacket and went to another side where i wouldn't get wet. the moon was due up already, but a huge cloud bank was going to hide that for longer than i would be up on top. the sun however, was giving a good show going down behind a low cloud and the horizon. i snapped a picture looking west. the light was perfect for a shot of the tower looking east where the moon was hiding, so i turned and snapped a picture that way too. when i lowered the camera i discovered why the tower cabin floor was dripping. one of the windows was broken almost completely out. it must have been that way for the recent, heavy wet, foot of snow.



as i took off downward, i made a note to call craig, our cardigan trail crew chief, who i guessed would get in touch with his state contact. i put the micro-spikes back on at turn around rock and picked up the sled i had left there too. while my first little run shot me off into the trees, i made it back onto the trail and got set for a second. this would be a fast descent--i would have a wet butt, but i would be down well before it got too dark, and i would be smiling.

as expected, as i slid down to the gate, my backside was soaked, and i was happy. as i drove home, i noted the roads were dry and mostly free of sand--i planned on getting the bike out.

turned out, that was a pretty good plan. i was able to ride 5 of the next 7 days. while i never went more than 20 miles, each day i felt a bit stronger--and my butt was dry! what could be better than that?! (well, ok, the picture si sent of his buddy toby on a ski they took that week in the colorado rockies...)




since i can't get pam to move out west, i will have to enjoy that kind of powder vicariously. maybe i will get a great picture of one of the MOC students when we go up to tuckermans on wednesday--that might even make him jealous...

snow, rain, snow...

weekends book ended a couple of weeks with all sorts of weather, enabling all kinds of activities--and spoiling others. 
back on the 24th of april, we got 6-8 inches of medium fluff. by medium, i mean on the light sight of heavy, but just. by saturday when skip and i took our skis over to goodhue hill road heading up to butternut pond, it had warmed to around freezing and the snow thickened into something similar to goopy oatmeal. as we parked, we caught site of a lone skier on the other of the pile where the plow stops. we got our boots and skis on and followed after, wondering the usual who, what, where stuff. the closed road was very pleasant and would be steep enough to give us a good ride down through the thickening snow.

about half way up the steeper section, the tracks ahead of us turned off the road and went into the woods. we speculated that the trail paralleled the ridge north, over to the shaker wildlife area. we kept to goodhue and a half mile of up later, fresh ski tracks came out of the woods and crossed into the woods on the south side of the woods. whoever was skiing ahead of us, it was obvious he knew the area. the last time skip and i had been here was years ago, and then in the summer, on bikes. we decided to follow the tracks and turned off the road.

it turned out to parallel goodhue for another half mile until it met a major crossing trail with the mystery skier standing in the middle of the junction. he was headed back down the crossing logging trail into enfield center where he lived. we were going to get back on goodhue and continue to butternut or turn around and ski down. after a brief chat, he went his way and we took off our skins, deciding going down would be more fun given the slow conditions.

the snow was almost sticky and weaving through the trees was quite tame compared to some downhill runs i have been on. in the woods, the angle was gentle enough to slow us almost too much and we got back to the steeper road hoping for added speed. we got our wish, but the oatmeal thick quality kept us focused so we didn't face plant and end up eating it.

we met at the bottom, atop the snow pile, with smiles but i don't recall any "best skiing ever" proclamations as we took skis off and walked to the car. given the conditions, it didn't take too much to decide we didn't really need to stop at la salette and take another run. when we got the car going, it turned out it was fairly late which made it even easier to head back home.

likewise, it was easy to say no thanks when skip called up on sunday to see if i wanted to try the skiway. i took a run up cardigan, sans skis--or camera--and called it a good day: dry feet, no blood, some sun on the top of my bald head.

speaking of bald heads in the sun, thursday i remembered the camera on my second day at the skiway that week.



i had meetings in the afternoon, so i went for a late morning run or three. it had rained monday through tuesday (softly enough to go over and take one run after work) then into wednesday when it sort of cleared-ish. of course it got cold wednesday night, and thursday morning the snow was pretty solid. but i was counting on a strong sun in a blue-bird sky, to soften things up by the time i got there.

again, i got my wish. i headed up the winslow side with the barlows, a couple i met at the bottom putting their skins on for a second run. a soft top on pretty much total coverage was glorious. i tried to convince them to take a holt's side run but their schedule was tight, so i headed up warden's solo. the snow on that side was equally soft, until i got to the headwall section--where i stopped and took the pictures above.

the reflective sheen in the 'looking up' picture on the left was indeed ice, but skis turned in it rather than sliding and scraping. the steepest part of the headwall wasn't catching enough sun to soften it like the rest of the trails, but i was able to set an edge and carve. of course each arc cut up and let loose a load of crust which noisily followed my line down. i veered off twice to ski out of the stream of crust, until cut myself loose and skied out in front of it. by the time i flew by the my first picture spot, the snow was perfect, and the turns felt like cutting butter with a warm knife.

such were the conditions thursday with a predicted 'noreaster' scheduled for friday into saturday. things sounded like we would get a foot or more of snow--that would make things exciting in the backcountry. sure enough, it started building friday evening and by saturday morning we had a good foot or more. where to go skiing today? after skip had plowed out, i picked him up and we headed over to cardigan mountain. over the years, more and more skiers had been doing the same, and we had been talking about finding a new 'local' line to ski on the mountain in our back yard.


instead of going up to the winter parking lot, we turned onto peaslee road and drove to the plow pile at its end. it was still snowing as we geared up and took off into the deep. neither of us had ever been this way, but we had scouted it out on google and had an idea of where we wanted to go. skip had an old map and compass which we hoped to be able to help make sense of a route.

a long road into a summer camp got us a mile or so in before we were into the woods, on our own so to speak. we were able to follow some sort of old logging trail quite a bit further, but eventually, the brush got thick and we were definitely whacking it. when we burst out into a clearing, it felt good, even though the clouds offered only the slightest hint of a ridgeline off to the east. map and compass suggested that we were probably looking at firescrew and the summit of cardigan was off to the south. that made sense to us and we figured we would return to scout the rest of the trail out when we could actually see further.

the ski out was great in those parts of the woods that were fairly open. i did get whapped by a few branches, but nothing drew blood--or much of it. out on the road, the depth slowed us right down except for the couple of steeper sections. when we got back to the truck, i contemplated a run up to the park, but skip wanted to ski the cardigan trails with linda so we headed to his house. while we ate a bit of lunch, i got back on google and tried to figure out where we had actually gotten to. my hope was to go back and connect that end point with the snow fields off the summit.

the clouds lifted enough to see on sunday, but it also warmed which would make a foot of snow feel like wet cement--as opposed to a half-a-foot feel like "goopy oatmeal". when, skip called to coax me over to the ski way, i again declined. this time i went snowshoeing with pam.

skip--as in pass by--a few week days of more rain and one of fairly warm sun, some strong wind blowing flurries on saturday last, and you get to bright sunny sunday with temps headed into the 50's. i couldn't reach skip--my adventure buddy--so i grabbed pam's smaller pair of snow shoes, forgetting the camera, again, and drove back to peaslee road. i followed our last week's path in, though it was barely visible, and made it up into the woods without too much problem. in the woods things got much softer and deeper which made me glad to have snowshoes--even though skip does not like to snowshoe they are sometimes the best means of getting about in winter.

when i got back to the clearing we hit upon last weekend, i could easily see the tower up on cardigan summit. i took a compass reading--160°south--and tied a piece of flagging tape on a small fir. my hope was to get up there over a possible-skiable trail. going was slow but i kept at it, following the path of least resistance where i could, whacking through the bush where i had to.

a few hours later i popped out onto a lower snowfield just below the mowgli trail turns up at the final few hundred yards, headed to the summit of cardigan--yeah! i took a compass reading looking back down from the tower to the clearings i could see below where i had just come from and figured, ok that might work. i tied another piece of flagging tape before i dove back down into the drainage i had followed up.

going down is always quicker than getting up, but the steepness definitely didn't make it easier. still, the drainage looked like it would definitely be possible to ski given a full load of winter snow. of course, as i went back through those thick spots i imagined, a bit of clearing would be necessary. and for that, permissions had to be gotten. going by the camp--the snow was super soft now--i thought they could be the first people we'd ask.

when i got back to peaslee road, the owner of the driveway at the plow pile was out redistributing mud to help drain things. we talked a bit and when i left, i had a good feeling of a trail happening someday. 

one more day...

and two more tours! i went to work on friday, to rest up from the last three days and restore some energy for a noah and eben appearance the next. it was a good choice as, my legs got worked tromping up and down the stairs a half-dozen times--before i started detouring on the handicap ramp inside, or the bus access road outside. i did manage to avoid the elevator in an effort to stay tuned for saturday.

i also managed to wait until after 8:00 to call over to the pendletons' saturday morning. skip said he would pick me up around 9:00-ish on the way to la salette--again. everyday since the storm it had gotten a little bit clearer, and a little bit warmer. saturday was a long sleeve undershirt over a tshirt kind of day. i skied the whole tour with light gloves and a ball cap for hand and head protection, but never bothered to put a jacket on.

of course you don't really need a jacket when going up hill and we were doing that more than half the time. skip wanted to go back to the narrow woods section on the big loop and then cut over to the glades from the height of land between the potato field and the little sherburne. i was good with that as i would only have to put skins back on once--take them off twice. we set off up the lower hayfield and very shortly noah, eben, and linda, decided to put their skins on as the scales were not really 'cutting it'. while they were busy i scooted over to one of the stations of the cross at the catholic shrine. i didn't stay long as jesus did not look very comfy.

everybody with skins on, we set a comfy pace up the hayfields and into the woods on the big loop. at the height of land noah, skip, and i took the skins off for a faster ride down. the snow was a bit stiffer than earlier in the week, but still very fun to ski through. soon enough i was putting my skins back on as i watched the gang going up toward the potato field.

at the high point we turned off to the right and followed a set of ski tracks that i was guessing belonged to al s. he and i use this trail to get to what we call lost pond. if you know where you are going, you can cross the pond and wend your way down to the top of the glades. along the route there are a couple of weird way marks, like a set of well tiles used as foundation posts and one giant, as in really really really big, maple blowdown. i have probably never gone the same way twice, but sooner or later, by hook or by crook, i make it to the top of the glades.

this time, as i had to stop and take my skins off a final time, the p-clan was all there before i pulled up. i didn't stand long and although things were really softening up, and a little sticky in areas, it was a most pleasant descent. our tracks from thursday afternoon made it all the more special as finding a fresh route demanded some creative work--at speed. by the time i got down noah was standing out in the low field with his phone camera ready. he caught me in a final turn and then a few minutes later skip, as he came out of the woods.



many minutes later, eben and linda came through the trees, with eben sporting one bent and one broken pole. the account of the fall was right next to out of control, just where eben tends to keep it. he has almost as many scars as i do, and i'm twice as old. old or young, pendleton or beest, everybody was happy as we skied back to the subaru shed skis and boots and piled in headed for lunch o'clock.

at lunch, noah's encouraging words and skip's discouraging ones, i grilled the infamous peanut butter-mayonnaise sandwich for a taste test. the trick to this sandwich is getting people past the initial ugh/barf reaction. but, as has happened in the past, once someone has a bite, there is rarely a bad reaction, even a unpleasant one.

noah and i took the first bites and came up positive enough to get eben and skip to try a small bit. morgan and linda opted out for a couple of valid reasons and nobody pushed that envelope. while skip did not get overly enthusiastic--he started at such a low point that was probably never going to happen--and eben confessed he didn't think he could eat a whole one, i would say the test was a positive one. at least nobody 'lost their lunch'.

after all the eating was over, and things got cleaned up eben, noah, skip, and i took off to cardigan. with dinner before they all went to see peter pan at the high school in the plan, we had a specific time window to make it up as high as we could before turning it down hill. eben was exchanging his broken poles for a sled and would be on a different trail than we would be. the rest of us went up the ski trail at a good clip. the snow was a bit shifty given its sun exposure but we tried to take note of those differences for when we would be going the opposite way. it got really crusty just past the 'amc east' sign-cairn which prompted us to turn around and take off the skins right there.

given the narrow time window, we didn't dawdle. i didn't stop until i fell very near the bottom of the first ski section. everybody was skiing pretty close and as i went down skip yelled "don't move!" that was helpful as he went flying by pretty close to my twisted skis. we got to the summer parking lot and skated down the road to the winter lot. eben was waiting at the car with a smile and this time a broken water bottle. he entertained us with that story as we piled in and took off to dinner--right on time.

i shared a bite at the table--thank you linda and morgan for getting the tasty meal ready--and caught a ride home on the way to peter pan. as they pulled away i was even able to say hi-goodby to simon whom was on noah's phone. with a day full of pendleton's my smile was as big as the week of skiing. as i got into the house, i remembered pam would be home from israel on tuesday and i had a few projects i still wanted to do. maybe i would go to bed early, very happy, but early...

this time as a team...

under bluebird skis and over untracked deepness, skip, richard, and i find the fresh up and down mt carr! turns out it wasn't all that difficult convincing the two to hit mt carr with me. i had stopped at the pendletons' on the way home where linda informed me that skip had already taken the day off, and his brother richard was arriving that evening to ski with them. i set the bait, all about unskied deep powder, much closer than the catamount trail, with the chance of hitting another stash in the afternoon. that seemed to work as later that evening, skip called and told me to show up for an 8:00a start.



i got there on the dot and stuffed my gear into the subaru. we pulled out of the drive by 8:30 and drove north. this time, just before the sawyer highway, we turned east and made our way up to the trailhead. i had my sunglasses on this time and took off across the field, super excited. i was so pumped i made the iconic tracks (the piece of cartoon is by charles addams found in the new yorker) around both sides of an apple tree in the middle of the field. satisfied with the results there, i realized i had skied away without my pack. luckily the other two were still near the car so i shouted back and they fetched it for me. we were off!



while i started with my fast skis and skins, both skip and richard went with scales and no skins, until we got to the waterfall spur trail turn off and some steepness. i cut away a blow down while they skinned up. we continued on and while we hit a few more downed trees, there was only a couple trunks too big to cut out, or at least we decided not to cut them as the ski arounds were fairly easily. at some point though skip started talking 'lunch o'clock' and about where we remembered the trail got pretty tight anyway, we looked for a snack / turn around spot.

posing, on the way down...

cutting, on the way up...

skip and richard found a bit of sun to fuel up and take off skins, while i stopped to put on a jacket that would shed the snow coming off the low and loaded spruce and fir branches. when i caught up to them they were almost ready to go down. we snapped a picture and turned around.



there was plenty of snow to swipe a few turns, but speed was limiting factor for me, as it was steep and narrow for the first quarter mile maybe. as soon as it dropped into the mixed hardwoods, things opened up enough to start getting creative. i found plenty of space around the edges and 'off' trail to keep me happy, even when i sat back too far and went down a couple of times. as skip knows--i love to fall. richard, the last man down in that top section, said things were getting pretty quick as skip and i skied off the deep stuff.



soon enough, we were down a quarter or more, squeezing through the two foot cutout of a huge blowdown,  then half way, whooping it up and flying the drainage ditches. about three quarters down,  at the right hand turn above the waterfall spur trail, i shrugged off into the woods, plopped down in the deep and waited. richard and skip showed up and i convinced them that we could each find a nice line off through the woods here as we dropped back down to the trail below. they were hesitant but as soon as it happened and we ended up back on the trail, there were big smiles all around. the last quarter was riding the skin track with periodic turns off into the fluff.

as we came into the final field, the one with the apple tree and funky tracks, i heard richard tell skip what a good tour this was, plenty worth the effort, without the hassle of driving all over spotting a car on either end of the day's catamount section. everybody got in the car happy. shortly after at skip's, we all got out, just as happy to finally eat a proper bit of lunch.

and shortly after that, we got back into the car and headed over to la salette. actually we got into two cars, as the shaker backcountry was conveniently on the way home for richard. skip and i decided to ski a section we call the glades, tracking up the middle and coming down where you may. it was a wise choice, except for the fact that the two brothers, with their scaled skis, didn't have their skins. after a bit of an upper body workout though, standing at the top looking down, everybody turned excited. this was going to be good--"the best skiing ever!" as skip liked to say.

it really was great snow and a sweet pitch. we left some interesting tracks weaving trunks and ducking branches. i did not see any apple trees to pull the ol' ski both sides trick though. down at the bottom i started skinning back up while richard and skip scaled off to go hit the little sherburne. i finally caught them, no herringboning for them this time, at our big loop through the woods junction, and we continued up to the potato field.

at the height of land i took my skins off and locked everything down for one final go. with my faster skis and the snow a bit dried out compared to in the storm tuesday--when skip and i had skied it--i was back in heaven, going downhill fast. it was fairly easy to catch little bits of air off the water bars. my rhythm was good enough for me to go down what i call the spine, a narrow little ridge with a steep drop at its end. waiting for the brothers down on the main trail i was actually breathing hard.

we skied back to the cars and split up with a final goodbye to richard. his gps took him right on 4a when we went left, everybody happy. 

the storm delivers...

we got more than a foot! it started snowing tuesday around 6:00a and got going good and steady before noon. i had been checking to see if lyme had canceled school--mascoma and the other upper valley sau's had all done so monday evening. evidently lyme was the lone one open and if i wanted a partner, i would have to wait. surprise, surprise, skip called around 1:00p as they shut down early and sent everybody home. we arranged to try out the shaker backcountry over at la salette. i promised i would be ready when he swung by to pick me up.

we got our gear on and were skiing away from the car sometime around 3-ish. it was still snowing pretty hard, but didn't seem to be all that deep as we went up the big hill. near the top of the lower hayfield, we caught up to another guy on tele skis and coaxed him into following us into the woods. at the height of land above the upper hayfield he turned back and left us for what we all expected to be a sweet run, through the woods, back to the fields, and down.

we had our own downhill through the woods and back to the trail where we would turn again and keep heading higher, making the big loop. it came back to another trail through a narrow path that in the right snow was a bunch of fun. it was almost, the right snow, and if i had my fast skis i am sure it would have been even more fun. but with scales on our ski bottoms, we didn't have to stop and put on skins. for that 'luxury' i was willing to put up with a little slowness though the increasingly deeper snow.

at the end of the narrow woods path, we made our next big turn, without skins, and climbed toward the potato field. from there we pointed our tips down the trail we call the little sherburne. i can't speak for skip, but i didn't stop until after i emerged back on the trail from taking a little chute i cut years ago and rarely ski. today there was plenty of snow and squeezing through the trees was exciting. when i popped back out and hockey stopped to watch for skip i skidded about six feet--under the snow on the trail it was solid ice from the melt down in feb.

skip didn't appear for a bit but when he did he was a bit snowy. he said something about a yard sale up above and i figured he found some ice too. seeing my tracks exiting the woods made him easy to convince to go back up above the entrance and try it for himself. i warned him there were a couple of tight squeezes and heard him woop it up as he went through.

we met again at the bottom of things and headed back to the car, fully satisfied with the conditions back to full winter. i was planning for the next day already, and skip was wishing he had taken wednesday off as well as thursday--when he had arranged to ski with his brother richard. a bit jealous but ever the dedicated teacher, he encouraged me to go north wednesday and he could work on convincing richard to go back there with both of us on thursday. that sounded like a grand plan.

wednesday morning i woke to breaks of blue sky and excitedly geared up. as i decided about where i would actually go, i thought of calling matt m. as mascoma had an delayed opening. but i wanted to go big, probably moosilauke, and matt was a senior and would have to be back when school opened. i packed the truck up, and headed out alone.



when i turned off of 25 in warren, i saw this highway sign and promised myself i would stop on the way home to get a picture. going by it in december with simon, we had forgotten both ways. actually, it had been dark on the way home.


i got to breezy point road accessing the carriage road up moosilauke and turned in with a big smile. after passing the last house, i saw two vehicles parked off to the side where the plow had stopped--and banked them in. a young guy was shoveling out, already done with his tour and headed to work. he mentioned nasty weather up high, still snowing and blowing hard up on the summit ridge, where he had turned around.


i booted up, clicked into my skis, and started skinning. the guy leaving mentioned that two others from the upper valley and dartmouth were up there. that made me feel ok about being solo. my current winter's bid to ski the new hampshire 4000 footers was barely off the ground, partly due to lack of partners. if simon or noah were here--so far they have been the ones to ski a 4000 footer with me--i would probably be ticking off some of the remaining 45 peaks left to bag. i was here on moosilauke, my 'home' peak of the 48 big ones, because i have skied it dozens of times--curiously, only twice up to and down from the summit. that was comfortable, i was willing to deal with little surprises, they can even be pleasing. big surprises though could turn into disastors, especially in winter. most of the other high peaks i never even hiked in winter, let alone try to ski--it was times like these my gram's words made sense, even to a risk taker, "better safe than sorry".

but today it was a beautiful. i was skiing through about a foot of fluff and it was still snowing. it was °15F, perfect for gaining a few thousand feet altitude over 5+ miles. i had a raisin bread pb&j w/ chedder in the pack--what more could a retired teacher ask for?

i was thinking about all this skinning up. at some point it struck me--maybe when the two dartmouth med students came down past--this was a young person's endeavor. not the being out in the snow covered woods on a beautiful day, the skiing up 5.5 miles to 4802 feet, turning around and skiing down--that was doable. it had more to do with the desire. or as billy put it "only kobus would think of doing something like ski the 4000 footers." i don't know about that, but the risk-o-meter likely gets turned way back when we get older. that and we are often tied to a job, or our health is less than optimal.

i kept going up, wondering if skip would ever retire or kevin would get his ankle fixed. but even those two long time adventure partners did not always share my tendency toward 'high risk.' i get that hesitation, some of these routes are sketchy at best on skies. and i do share some of their 'fair weather skier' preferences. in the here and now, as the trees grew shorter, the wind blew harder, and the snow went from deep and fluffy to packed and drifty, i contemplated that this might not be a summit day. but then a couple sets of tracks came onto the carriage road at the junction with snapper and i pushed higher.

as i got around 'windy corner' and the trail opened up below where it narrows again near the junction of glenn cliff, it was snowing and blowing harder. it was also cold enough to put my jacket back on even with the exertion of climbing. the tracks from off the snapper and those of the three dartmouth folks earlier were drifting over or already gone. my track was through about an inch of snow atop a stiff windpack. at the 'anti-snowmobile rocks', i decided to turn around, take off the skins, and head down to whoop it up back in the powder and trees. that seemed preferable to skiing at the edge of control up here on wind blown hardpack.

back down in the trees and cutting turns through the powder, i realized why i kept going into the backcountry, even if i was alone. my soft, sinuous path was nigh on sensual. i wouldn't always make it to the top, even the young people have sense enough to turn around at craziness.  if we do get to a summit fine, if not, i will take this side of heaven anyday. if i pitch it right, i may even convince a few old guys to join me--risk free...

cold is here--snow is coming...

it had been unusually warm the last of feb and the first of march. so warm, that much of the winter's snow disappeared and it felt like an early spring was on tap. in fact, syrup makers that had gotten their taps in early, had already gotten several strong runs and started boiling. friday and saturday things turned back to winter.



by sunday, it was solidly winter again, definitely cold with the wind pushing it well below zero on the charts--perfect time for a couple of hikes. the first was with some trails alliance folks around the webster wildlife management area just west of the high school in canaan. i heard through lenny that alice s. was leading a smallish group starting from the iron bridge over the indian river at the west end of 'the flats'. alice knows a ton about plant species and it would be fun to hear that.


i met alice and two others at the appointed time and we took off into the woods hoping to get out of the rather brutal wind. right after crossing rt 4 we stopped to cut out a couple blowdowns, then point out a few white oak saplings, and carefully inspect a hazelnut shrub. further in, we came up to a tree audibly groaning and visibly cracking, sounding and looking like it was about to fall any moment. it was rather comical that each of us took a different approach in getting past its 'widow making' zone.



past the hazard tree, we worked our way out into the grassy flood plain and stopped at the creek thatcomes out of crystal lake and then mud pond. it was open and running fairly high, keeping us from crossing, so we kept cutting east. as we went, we identified a couple of dogwoods, slippery and red-osier, and two roses, 'really bristly' shining rose and 'paired, down turning prickles' swamp rose.

pushed back into the woods we kept on, headed toward the cranberry bog, directly across the creek from my old environmental science 'forest watch' plots. we gingerly made our way across a 'mostly' frozen surface dotted with red berries. i broke one out of the ice and ate it to see if a whole winter had mellowed its tartness--i thought it had, the others were less convinced. in any case i told alice that i would try to come out and pick next fall.

on the far side of the bog, we crossed back over rt 4 and through a strip of woods to get onto the rail trail. as we hiked along toward our vehicles, we spotted a few more hazelnuts, mostly beaked, but at least one american--or so i was told. it was a good little walkabout, but the increasing cold and bitter wind hurried us toward said vehicles. i offered everyone to extend their time outside by joining the MOC on our monthly moonrise-sunset hike up cardigan, but nobody made any promises.

as i drove off toward cardigan and a second go, i was pretty sure those folks were headed home to warm up and was guessing that no students would be likely to leave a warm house to show for this hike. it was getting colder and the wind would certainly be howling up top. sure enough, nobody appeared even after waiting the normal five minutes. i took off solo and kept moving to stay warm. while i did slow down to take off jacket and gloves, my hat stayed on head or in my hand. above treeline, i raced along, not wanting to stop to put the jacket back on until i was out of the wind on the lee side of the tower up top.




at the top and out of the wind i bundled up. after a drink of 'icy cold' water, a picture of the setting sun behind what i took to be killington, and a windspeed check--a very steady 30-35mph--i started down. i was going to miss the moon topping the horizon, but so was everybody else as the huge cloud bank from the storm coming in early tuesday, would keep it hidden close to another hour. i was not going to wait for that.




all the way down i was stuck on daft punks, "harder, better, faster, stronger...work is never over" only messing with the words to include darker, colder, windy-er. the three syllables of the latter kept tripping me up, but i managed to stay on my feet. back at the truck i had just stowed my pack when it struck me, when i get to the house, pam would be gone headed off to israel. while waiting for the bus down in new london i imagined would be downright cold, she should find it a bit warmer next to the mediterranean in tel aviv or floating in the dead sea.

as the truck heater started to wake up, i remembered that storm coming in. warm can be nice, but i will take winter any day and if we got the foot or more of snow expected, i would feel snug as bug in a rug--whatever that means in this context.

climb local...

a run up cardigan on a frozen afternoon. after saturday's stormy weather, including a rain shower complete with thunder and a rainbow

pam and i were anxious to hike today, but then i heard her get on the phone with her friend rhonda. i wrote a note on the white board "i am headed up cardigan" and mouthed to her "do you want to come?" she shook her head ok, no, and smiled. rhonda was in israel and pam is planning to join her in a couple of weeks, so i am sure there were logistics to arrange.

i don't mind a solo hike and figured today would be a good day to get up cardigan as things would be mostly frozen, including the dirt roads getting up to the park. it never got above freezing today, that i saw, so i grabbed my go pack--some call it a 'bug out bag', there is even an 'bug out bag academy' dedicated to the art packing for survival--threw in the microspikes, a thermos of hot tea, jacket, and gloves and was out the door, just after 3:00p.

the road was indeed fairly solid, and the winter lot was almost empty. i put on my spikes, took off my sweater, and started up. at a water bar on the 2nd ski section, i played in the muck some to get things running off, out of the trail. there was still a fair amount of snow on the trails, but it was starting to go in the woods. i met a lone hiker coming down just above clifford bridge. he was bundled pretty tightly so i figured it was chilly up top in the wind.



the higher i got the windier it got. at turn-around-rock, i stopped and took off my spikes as the rock was fairly ice free. the wind suggested i put on a jacket, but i kept it stowed, deciding to keep going fast and put it on at the tower, loosing any extra heat from the hike.

that seemed to work well, as i made it without freezing. out of the wind, i stopped for a spot of tea and put the jacket on. before heading down, i snapped a picture then pulled up my hood and zipper for the first bit above treeline. i started out, walking sideways into the wind, whipping across the rock trying to blow my nose off.




it wasn't a race down, but after putting my spikes back on at 't-a-r', i didn't dilly dally. i passed a young guy going up and thought i heard a podcast playing from his backpack. i didn't recognize him as a local, but he seemed content with going up late enough to come down after dark-o'clock. when i got toward the lot, i spied his vehicle next to mine and tried guessing his plates--vermont. i smiled at the 'ski like a local' sticker on his window. it comes from the gear-X-change up in burlington and i have one--with the 'like a' cut out--on a water bottle (do you have that soy?).

as i was driving home, i thought about the conditions, or rather lack of them, for skiing. for me, i would rather slide up and down, than step, poke, crunch. it still being february, i have not given up hope for the winter...

steepness off the kancamagus...

while i have not given up totally, the 4000 footers is less of a priority, and more of a dream. still, with kevin and mariel here for one more day of skiing, i got out the maps and argued for a try at the osceolas up off the kancamagus highway. i had never been up there from the north side, but figured we could ski some of it and then switch to crampons when it got steep. we loaded everything and got out of the drive late, but the actual route on the trail was not that many miles, once we got up there and going.

since the 'kanc' is so close to the conways and hence brownfield me, kevin and mariel drove their vehicle and i drove mine, so we could split after the tour. we pulled into the usfs lot after noon and ran a chk on the trail conditions before paying the prkng fee--at least i needed to pay, kevin has a free senior pass that i have to wait until july to pick up. the two of them decided to hike only, leaving skis in the fit. they put on the micro-spikes, i booted up, and we all took off together. the hiking trail had a few interesting stream crossing in the first mile and a half, including single, maybe foot-wide log bridges. i managed not to fall off any of those or in to any open streams--i did need to take my skis once to stay dry.

the day was again, very warm for february and i was in a t-shirt with my bibs unzipped to air out the leg heat. mariel and kevin cuffed their pants to expose some leg or long underware. when we turned up toward east osceola, the trail steepened and i switched to shoes and crampons. as we crossed a marked ski trail for the greeley ponds, i thought that i would try that going out and maybe keep my 'dry' record intact. i would be much more tired after the summits and acknowledge the concept of 'if you are going to get hurt, it is often on the last run.'

in case i could possibly ski the mile over to mt osceola and then back to east osceola--scoring two 4000 footers seemed like a cool idea--i stapped skis and boots to pack and continued to carry them. at times that was a problem given the high snow levels making the tree branches that much closer and subject to catch my tips sticking up over my head. ducking under limbs got a bit tricky as the trail steepened, but at one point i looked up and caught site of the sun hitting the top of a ridge. having studied the map, i knew that point and thought, if i wasn't going to use these tree catchers to ski, i might as well stow them.

as i topped that ridge and broke into the sun, kevin and mariel were perched off to the side, enjoying a banana. when i joined them, i had a chance to scout out that mile from east to 'west' osceola. when kevin supplied the time, i dropped the pack, deciding to not ski across, and just turn around atop the east summit. after  my piece of that banana, a handful of trail mix, some water to drink, and a couple of pictures, i left everything but a jacket on the ridge and took off for the high point.

one of mariel and kevin--with banana:

and a silhouette of east osceola and mt osceola summits--with sticks:

we didn't stay too long at the top of east, but i did snap another picture looking out to the east at a spot free of trees. i remember kevin's comments about those trees being one reason some people choose "to live out in utah--maybe someday the forest service will come to their senses and clear cut all the peaks..." i was not going to take that bet, just thinking about the logistics of such an operation made me doubt it would ever happen. maybe fire could burn off the higher summits as it had in the 1800's on our local mt. cardigan. but even though that bald summit is beautiful now, i would not wish that destruction on anything.


we got back to our sunny lunch perch and broke out the rest of our sandwiches. as the sun edged toward the horizon, we stopped eating and started thinking about getting down--i think the expression was, "before things set up!" as we descended i got a bit fancy with my technique limiting tree-ski interaction. many pirouettes, dips, and tips later, i dropped the pack at that above mentioned ski trail. kevin and mariel went on as i removed shoes and crampons, switching back to boots and skis. going down, on the 'ski only' trail was slow-ish, but free of all the stream crossings, including those log bridges. when i popped out at the kanc, i was just a quarter mile west of the trailhead parking. by the time i took my skis off and started up the road, i saw mariel come out to the road and wave.

when i got there, they had a couple of oranges cut up on my tailgate. after redistributing any gear we had shared, a final snack, and some chatting, we shared a round of farewell hugs. kevin had invited me to turn their way, "it's only thirty miles to our house" but i went left back toward canaan and pam. i figured with only a stop for gas, i would make it home in time to cook us something for dinner. that in mind, and so as to not nod off on the way, i put in run the jewels latest album, cranked it up, and headed 'down the mtn'.

it was indeed a grand day out, and i felt lucky to have shared it with mariel and kevin. now, if this damn rain falling as i type, changes to snow, i will be able to give them a call and arrange another...

this week, more warm, less snow...

last week--the week that was winter (so far)--we got a couple of feet of the white fluffy and those of us who ski the backcountry, were very happy. this wednesday and thursday, kevin and mariel joined me in an attempt to enjoy what was left, though fast dwindling. wednesday around noon, their new little fit pulled into the mud pit now serving as our driveway. after a spot of lunch, we geared up and went in search of going down. the warm, sunny afternoon's goal was la salette, a little front- a lotta back-country.

we didn't bother with skins as we scaled up the main sledding hill, stripped down to t-shirts and wishing we were in shorts. a warm-up run there gave me small hope that the woods roads and trails would be any less sticky and slow. but, back up to the top of the upper hayfield, we went in hoping for something akin to fun.



on the first section of down in the woods, mariel and kevin got in enough linked turns to smile about. i took advantage of that to coax them up another route. tactfully avoiding the grabby snow sure to be in the much narrower, back woods--it gets a little tight in some of the steeper places--we went for the road up to the potato field. going uphill, even though it wasn't all that steep and much shadier in the woods, was hot work. in the field the snow seemed to change, getting a bit crustier--grabby in a new and different way.

after posing for a postcard photo op, we stopped for a snack break, with tea. i laid out the options for getting back to the car: less than a half-hour down the moderate pitch we just came up; a little less than that down a sustained, steeper section ahead; or up another twenty minutes and then down through what skip and i refer to 'loosely' as the glades. of course kevin asked "which do you suggest"--we headed to the sustained pitch on the old road.

up to this point, i hadn't buckled up my boots yet, or put on jacket and gloves, but now figured if that was going to ever be needed today, it would be here. we pulled off the trail and readied ourselves before shoving off. i followed the group and was psyched to see some sinuous tracks off in the fresh snow. i smiled at kevin as i passed and then gave a little friendly hop over the water bar mariel was stopped at. the snow actually seemed ok, especially where it wasn't packed out by snowshoes. it was slower than preferred, but i got in a solid run until i stopped at the last pitch to take some pictures of the other two cutting some fine turns. as i waited, i wondered if they would be as smily this run down as the last.

not quite as smily, and a bit of snowplowing mixed in with cutting turns, they caught up. i pointed out my favorite little side trail, the 'spine', and suggested they not follow me in as i was going to go at least part of it, to clean up some branches. when i cut back to the trail kevin was banking left, so i went right and again, the fresh untracked snow was not all that bad, considering. that last section has two of the bigger water bars which always provide a little lift making for a bit of a fancy finish asone hits the main trail at the bottom.

we finished by skiing out to the mill building where we had to de-ski to get across the footbridge. kevin showed me the bottoms of his skis where residue skin-glue had picked up a pattern of dirt. as he followed me across the bottom field, i showed him a long brown streak in the snow, wearing off the resi-'doo' some dog had left for my ski to pick up. the sun was down over the ridge by the time we got to the car and stowed our skis and boots. as we pulled out of the parking lot, we were talking more about the traditional shaker buildings vs the modern catholic ones than the great or not so great skiing. but, we weren't giving up totally, there was still thursday to ski--maybe up in the whites...

MOC going outside to play...

on the MOC deepfreeze overnight! at our first meeting about a month ago, more than a dozen people voted to go back to the smarts mountain unheated cabin. i gave them a couple of the colder stories over the past 17 years and a couple of the students who went up to cardigan's heated high cabin last year talked up the benefits there. the trick with deciding a month ahead, you never know what the weather will be. this year we hit the warm spot!



sunday, dawned clear and forecasted to get into the 40's, °F, with some sort of front coming through late in the afternoon. jeff, my co-advisor, came over in the morning and we packed up the food, sleds, and snowshoes while in our shirtsleeves, we were very comfortable. as we drove over to the skiway to meet with everybody before heading over to the trailhead, we were downright giddy about how nice a day it was.

almost everybody was waiting for us and after 15 minutes the last 3 showed up. we left a few cars in there and took only three vehicles over to the trailhead. it was such a nice day, that lot just might be full. as we pulled in we were happy to see only one other vehicle and plenty of room for us to park for the night. no sooner had i shut the truck off than jeff and the andrew boys were running up the trails testing conditions. that led us to our first two decisions--which way? and snowshoes or no?



we went with clockwise, up the AT today, down the ranger trail tomorrow, and no snowshoes. having been caught in the wrong before, i had some second thoughts about that last decision, nobody i know likes post-holing up four miles deep snow. on such a warm day, that would lead to wet feet as quick as wading into water. but, both trails had obviously been packed by hikers with snowshoes already (see last friday's post where matt had gone up with me thursday) and seemed pretty solid going. maybe the biggest advantage was coming down tomorrow morning would be a lot easier without having to strap snowshoes on our packs as we were hoping to sled. as the group started up ahead of me, i kept my fingers crossed.

the group was mixed between experienced winter hikers and those who were less so--one or two complete ingenues. liz, ben, maia, and olivia had gone up to the cardigan high cabin with MOC last year. maia and ben had been up to smarts with us the year before--and woke up to -10°F inside the cabin. liz, ben, julia, olivia, torey, cam, brandon, dirk, and justin all went up to tuckermans last year. dirk and justin also cross country ski race throughout the northeast--justin is even going over to norway to race in the birkebeiner. matt and jeff are avid backcountry skiers/winter hikers while logan loves to ski the frontside. given our varied skills, we planned to gather at the rock overlook and eat some lunch, a mile or so up the hill.




at 'lunch rock' people spread out and ate their goodies. as the pictures show, it was sunny and warm enough to be very comfortable. i was glad to have remembered my dark glasses. a couple of hikers asked if the next hill just to the north was where we were headed. they kind of shrugged off that no, we weren't even half way there yet and that where we were going wasn't even visible until we got up on that ridge. as we packed up and started out again, i noticed that predicted front approaching from way west.


up on the ridge, the dark clouds were building overhead, blowing in fast by the increasing winds. now that you could see the summit i heard a couple of hikers wonder, if they would ever make it. we had time on our side and with every step we were getting closer.


after dropping off the ridge there is a little less than a mile to a steep climb up to the junction of the ranger trail. tori and i were bringing up the rear as we were going along that section and we stopped to saw out a few obstructions. i knew of a couple more blowdowns later so i kept the saw out and tromped on. up on the last steep switchbacks i started seeing my ski tracks from thursday. they were pretty melted down and when i got up to that next blowdown, i watched tori and logan barely duck and go right under. those branches were at my belly three days before that--now they could be pretty much ignored. cam and i stopped to cut them out anyway and as i did, i dreamed their removal would bring another big powder day--that would make it really worth doing.

while we were cutting and clearing, henry came by stepping pretty slow. he had mentioned that his back was pretty sore. i had been impressed with maia, cam, and logan each helping him problem solve his pack and load, repacking or shifting his waste-belt and shoulder-straps. i suggested that rather than hurt himself, he drop his pack off and continue on to the cabin, only about twenty minutes ahead--but with two fairly steep sections. i had asked an earlier hiker to drum up someone feeling strong and lively already at the cabin, and send them back this way to ferry a pack if needed.

just in case my 'send help' message didn't work, at the last steep pitch, i borrowed julia's sled, dropped my own pack, and backtracked to bring up henry's. just as i started back up, justin came hopping down the bunny trail raring to carry something. we hustled back up to my pack, which he shouldered quickly, and took off. i was breathing pretty well trying to stay on his heels up that pitch. onto the summer ridge, we stopped at a last blowdown and cleared that out of the trail, before loading up one last time and tramping to the cabin.




with everybody inside, we planned out the sleeping arrangements and set up the 'kitchen' atop the new board i brought up thursday. a few went up to the firetower to watch the sunset and others got into their sleeping bags to play a game of 'ha-ha'. it seemed like both groups got their money's worth. i got after cooking up dinner which i had promised would be worth it as well. we had beans on tortillas, with cheese and salsa, and mac & cheese, with added pesto if desired. after food was all distributed, i noticed dirk was sitting there licking out his dish, so i handed him the mac & cheese pot to clean out. i scraped out the beans for a last tortilla and had the happy thought that unlike some years, we had eaten everything up. for dessert, we heated water for hot cocoa and passed out the hermit cookies. people looked satisfied.





as it got dark, i told the story of "the cat that ran out of gas..." that got us to sleeping-bag-o'clock. some of the heartiest campers had the idea that it would be way cool to sleep in the tower. my rule was if it was above 10°F, that was fine. my only suggestion was they lay down the space blanket cam had packed up--along with practically everything else but the kitchen sink. having that under their pads would help keep the wind out. that, the wind, was supposed to be pretty strong overnight. four students and jeff, grabbed their gear and went up. the others of us, settled down head to head in two rows of five.

in the cabin, people chatted for about two hours--marked every fifteen minutes by olivia announcing "i'm so hot"--trading a few more stories including logan's lonesome lake scary one. things finally quieted and folks mostly fell asleep a bit after 9:00p, at least i did. when i woke about midnight, i lit the night candle for those that had to get up and pee. while i was out doing that, the wind was really howling. i imagined the tower crew was not as quite as cozy as we were. my second, trip sometime after 3a, it seemed even blustery-er, and here i was standing out there barefoot, in a t-shirt and long johns. i bet that the tower five would come down cold.

around 5:30a i woke to justin dressing to go up and spook the tower folk. when he got back in a few minutes i suspected he had done the deed and come right back as it was a lot colder this am than yesterday. that was my signal to get out of my bag and start breakfast. as it got lighter and the sun came over the horizon, the cocoa was heating and the cereal cooking. the tower sleepers took in sunrise and came on down for some heat and food.

bowls and cups came out and folks took their portions, topping them off with fruit, brown sugar, chocolate chips, and almond milk--in whatever combination they desired. people ate and packed up much quicker than i remember in years past. it seemed we were all out on the porch, ready for the pre-descent picture with the early light in our eyes. as soon as the 'sled-safe' lecture was done, they took off. jeff and i made a final sweep and as i shut the door, i was thinking we would be down about long before our 10:30a plan.

things were a lot stiffer this am making the sledding pretty bumpy, but wicked fast. jeff and i started picking up sled pieces right at the first steeper pitch. i was hoping the breakage would be at a minimum, but as we went on pieces grew both in number and size. i got ahead of jeff and captured a picture of him coming over the bulge at the junction with the AT--we were staying on the ranger trail on jour way down. i could hear some whooping from the main group below and figured while we might catch up with some, the 'whoopers' sounded like they were not waiting around for anything.



sure enough i caught two, then two more, taking a break from sledding for various reasons. julia showed me a hand size hole in the bottom of her sled. torey was dragging a pretty small piece of sled along by its leash in one hand, and carrying some big pieces in the other. as we got down to the fire road and the old garage, we caught up to four more. brandon and cam still had their unbroken sled and attested to their controlled two person decent was what kept it whole. we trooped along the track, every once in a while sliding down the steeper pitches. i did catch one shot of the double sledders, though they were going fast enough to mostly beat the camera's slow recovery on the second shot.



almost to the truck i found dirk and justin scooping snow over a huge birch trunk, building a jump "just for fun." it didn't really have enough speed in the approach, but it was "for fun" and was keeping them busy as more than likely they were one of the first ones down.

at the truck people had already loaded their gear, after unpacking what they carried out for me and putting things in the back of my truck. this group was really good at helping each other, noticing what needed to be done and doing it--the overnight was a total deepfreeze success. it made me think of MOC's motto, "go outside and play!"...

metal roofs...

do a good job of sliding snow when it warms up, but i shoveled the back porch to speed things up and direct the snow where i wouldn't have to deal with it again off the roof. here is a picture of what it looked like about 9:00a

you can see the big house roof slid the other day as well as the upper portions of the little house and back house. but, since the porch has less of a pitch the snow builds there and ice forms underneath which makes it even more sticky.

a bit of sticky is good, i don't mind falling into a pile of soft snow, but it is easier if i stay up top. when i got up there just after the above picture was taken, the snow was an impressive foot deep. it was covering that crusty layer i have written about from a couple weeks ago, which was helpful for footing as well. i went up on the left and started on the right, working my way back to the ladder. one place i try to avoid loading snow with is the bulkhead, which you can just see a corner of below the lone downstairs window on the north side of the big house. things were deep and light enough that i used the big snow plow. not sure what you call it, but it is a two handed affair and moves a lot of snow at once. i have heard people call it a float too, and it does float and swing fairly easy if you tip it back and get it on top of some fresh stuff. that made it easy to dump it where i wanted!

things went pretty well--i only slid once, not off the roof or my feet, but definitely sliding. the sun was hitting parts as i shoveled and starting to melt things. it was warm enough for me to work in a shirt, with no hat or gloves. i am hearing that it will be this warm tomorrow too, which will make for a pleasant hike up smarts with MOC for the deepfreeze overnight. while it is supposed to freeze overnight, it will not be as deep as it has been in the past. one morning we woke  to somebody's little zipper-pull thermometer at -22°F--inside. the cabin on smarts is unheated.

while i was snapping the 'after' picture, i took a couple shots of deer activity at the brussel sprout stalks, looking north-ish toward the compost bins, and the kale, going toward the southeast corner post. there were absolutely no tracks there yesterday afternoon, so all that work was done over night.



the deer digging through the snow for bits of vegetation, made me think of the news story this morning talking about reindeer in alaska. we all have to eat. which reminds me, i have to go into the coop and buy the food for the overnight...

deep and fluffy...

real snow! nothing like the normal east coast ice. most of wednesday and much of thursday this part of new hampshire was getting snowed on. i worked on wednesday and was hoping the whole day that 'all afterschool activities' would not be canceled. the MOC deepfreeze meeting had already been snowed out once and we are scheduled to go this sunday--a gathering was called to finalize food and have students present winter travel tips. i got a little nervous when they announced that student drivers could leave 10 minutes early, but in the end we met.

with the logistics and students pretty well set, i woke thursday to good six inches of fresh powder and decided to go up and check the cabin out. i could install the 'kitchen board' i had cut two years ago and get a good ski in while i was out. as i drove up the turnpike i stopped to say hi to one of my former students, matt, shoveling his drive. i knew he hiked so i asked if he wanted to go up to smarts. he said sure, but his snowshoes were in his buddies truck. i zipped back home and grabbed mine while he finished shoveling and then packed.




we got on the trail about 11:00a, a bit late as i had a 4:00p meeting, but he was young and i had brought him a sled to speed up the descent. we were going to take the ranger trail, the dotted black line that basically follows the drainage until it starts to climb more sharply. the lambert ridge, between the pink highlighting, is the AT trail. either way, the snow was plenty deep, but by switching lead, we were going right along. the only thing that slowed us was the occasional blowdowns we stopped to cut out. if it was bigger than eight inches, we left it and went around. i figured the sledders coming down monday could get over anything we could.





matt dropped his pack off at the old fire road garage to help with our speed. the snow was deep enough to make breaking trail a real chore, even switching off like we were. when we crossed the brook and went into the woods were the climb got steeper, and the snow deeper. we hit a half dozen more blowdowns before the junction with the AT--the red dotted line meets the black one--before the final quarter mile of switchbacks at the really steep parts. at one point my skins didn't hold on an icy rock hump and as i tumbled backwards into the snow i lost a ski and the saw came out of my pocket. when i righted myself and collected gear, i decided to stow the saw in the pack and hope for a clear trail the rest of the way.

i caught back up to matt who was stymied at another ice flow over a boulder. we tried a couple of approaches just to slip back down. finally i heard matt mutter, "i guess i'll have to go down to go up." that worked and i followed. over that spot we ran into a mess of a fallen tree, but managed to get under it. maybe one of the students would like to saw it out on sunday. as we gained the summit cone, the snow laden trees hung lower and lower, and as low as i could bend just gave the snow more of a target down my back. i suppose the shovel and kitchen board strapped on to my pack only helped knock more of it down on me as well. we were almost as snowy as the trees--but we could change at the cabin.





after getting around one last nasty blowdown right below the fire tower, we got to the cabin. when we got around to the porch side, it was freshly painted and had a new door on it. i took some pictures then gave matt the shovel and i took the board inside. before putting it on the little sink, i did change out of my soaked shirt. i also noticed that the holes in the wall and the floor had been patched. students who complained last time about the cold leaking in would be happy. the place looked ship shape compared to some of our visits.  we finished our tasks and packed up again. matt took off as i fiddled with my skis. somehow i put them on the wrong feet, but i didn't want to let matt get too far out on his own, so i left them.


that might have been a mistake. as i skied down to find him i kept thinking i should change skis around, but the snow was deep enough that i could make it work--almost. after ripping the my jacket sleeve on a low tree branch making it down the first steep part, i gave in and stripped my skins and changed feet. while i was at it, i buckled my boots tight and clicked down the bindings as well. "ah, that's better." skiing down was back to really fine. a little narrow in some places, but now i was ripping the powder rather than my jacket. what i couldn't believe, the tracks said matt was snowshoeing it the whole way, not sledding. i should catch him fairly soon, even with his big stride.

i got into a sweet set of s-curves where the conifers gave out and the hardwoods opened up. i spotted matt tromping along ahead. as i came up, i asked how it was going, he gave a tired smile and confessed he pretty tired, and was not sledding to keep his hands dry. i could understand that. we got to the garage a bit after that and as he repacked, i kept on. with no skins there was going to be some sidestepping or herringboning to make it uphill.

the fire road out was now clear of trees--except for that one huge trunk at the bottom--and i figured it would be a fairly quick out even with a few uphills. since matt didn't sled the steeper spots, i figured he wouldn't slide any of this section. given that, i sort of poked along, thinking that 'date' i was trying to meet, would wait for me a little past 4:00 if he had to. neither matt nor i kept a watch or phone so we were only guessing it would be close to that time when we got out.



i did get down about 10 minutes before matt made it to the truck about 3:50p. to celebrate, i passed him a cup of hot tea, we packed into the truck, and headed back to canaan. he assured me that despite a sore pelvis, it had been a great trip and he was wicked happy i had stopped and asked. it was mostly all work on the way up but i caught a good picture of matt wearing a smile along with a snow flake at the eye.


we had achieved everything i wanted to: the trail was mostly clear, the porch shoveled off, the kitchen board in place, and we had a great chat as well. as i dropped him off at his drive right after 4:00p, i decided i would stop at the house and see if jeff had waited for me. there was an email with a phone number so i called.



jeff was still at our meeting spot, nursing a beer, and willing to wait for me to get there. what could be better than such an accommodating friend willing to wait--even though this would be the first time i actually met him, at least in the flesh. after such a swell day in the snow, i was counting a lot of blessings!