and back by dark! i will not hide the fact that it was very hard to motivate myself this am. after trying skip a couple of times--with no luck--to see if those un-skied lower sections of cardigan would tempt him, i decided it was too fast to solo it. where else? la salette kept coming up and i kept rejecting it feeling like i was 'overdoing' it. maybe the old road up up to the 'garage' on smarts or the old road off the AT this side of holts ledge? i finally just started getting geared up, that would force a decision.
at the last minute i changed out of the sorels and put on the garmonts--the decision was made, ski right out of the yard, go up over town hill, go northeast a bit to horseshoe pond, follow the outlet stream south, and head toward bear pond. on the map, our house would be just off to the left of "approximate..." town hill has a logging road up and over it that hooks up with hall road that got extended a few years ago. i kissed my love and left very close to the stroke of 1:00p. it was a fine feeling to be clicking on ski bindings rather than a seat belt; i always feel more relaxed not having to drive. as i pointed myself up over town hill, it was fairly obvious, the woods still would be fast.
about four inches of fluff covered that bombproof icy crust and promised some speedy descents. slippery was just under the surface but i was able to keep it there with the scales underfoot grabbing going up, rather than sliding back. as well as covering the crust, the fluff up in the trees was total winter wonderland-ish and i practically forgot i was skiing. gliding along, watching a bird flit over there, or a wind shake a snow load loose from the tippy-top of a tall pine over there, i topped over the height of land. the sudden speed with gravity now assisting, brought me back and i started turning in plenty of time to avoid the old truck at 'rest' mid-trail.
after the dead truck the pitch got steadily greater and was slippery enough to launch off a few rocks. the steepest section held a few more rock jumps, but only one infiltrated my concentration on trying to stay upright and on the trail. i managed that goal down to hall road and onto the old bear pond road where i started following a herd of footprints. the tracks were probably from the upper valley land trust hike "exploring the bear pond natural area". when they turned and headed across the marshy area at the low point in the road, i got interested figuring they were headed toward bear pond--exactly where i was hoping to go.
across the marsh and over the beaver dam on the south end of horseshoe pond, i was still excited but had some questions about the path these folks were taking. their trail was squirreling around in the woods and tending left, so when i had a clear line toward the pond i slid right. after an aborted attempt to forge my own path through the thick, snow laden, 10-12 foot balsam, i switched back and picked up the uvlt trail again--hoping once more their end point would be the pond by some route one of the leaders knew better than i. for a brief, fairly clear distance, that hope stood. after i had to take off the skis to make it up a steep section, thick with brush, then more circuitous bush whacking at the top, that wish fell face first into the snow. they were clearly not headed toward the pond.
leaving their twisted trail, was one thing, blazing my own more pleasant one was a whole 'nother. i managed to descend the hill i had to boot up headed more toward the pond now. it was not all free and clear but it was doable keeping to a fairly high traverse, as opposed to pointing things straight down. after reaching the bottom though, i had to stop and switch sweater for jacket with a hood, prepping for going back into the thick balsam. for extra ammunition, i downed some water and had a couple bites of chocolate before diving in.
after about a half hour of whacking, ducking, and constantly searching for bits of less dense sky lines, i worked my way onto some higher ground and was actually able to stride a few ski lengths before dodging some obstacle. i passed several trees with flagging tape and wondered if my friendly ornithologist lenny had been up here mist netting and tagging warblers. (look at posts 5/20/16 and 5/28/16 for some info on len and his canada warbler activities.) continuing ever pondward, i ran across a fairly fresh deer trail that seemed to be following some sort of direct line. i took that as a hint and was rewarded with said line turning into a clear trail headed right where i wanted to go.
it is hard for me to judge skiing distance when i am deep in the woods, but after about a half mile of really pleasant skiing i hooked back up with the uvlt tracks, right at the bottom of that hill i had to boot up. from the map, i took the trail i was just on, to be the sweet water trail. i retraced our original tracks back to a woods road between horseshoe and bear pond and turned south again. about a half mile later, i went over what i took to be a brook feeding bear pond, probably about a 30 minute heavy bushwhack away. i opted to keep skiing out to hall road as it was getting late and i would just make it home by dark if i avoided any more detours.
that being decided, after climbing the last bit of steep that connected with hall road, i couldn't help but ski down and link a dozen turns together. it was worth the climb back up. when i got back to the steep part coming off of town hill--the one that took some concentration zipping down earlier--i didn't take that option and just continued on up past the truck and over to our side of the hill. as i came over the height of land, i let gravity pull me aiming for all the rock launches i remembered. through the s-curves it got fast enough to keep my attention. it steadied out until one final pitch just before our stark hill road.
it was not yet pitch dark as i skied up the drive, but pam had the light on and her snowshoes were back on the porch, so i figured she was inside. sure enough, she was, and she had a hot pot of tea to boot! life was good--especially considering it was forecasted to snow somewhere in the neighborhood of a foot sunday into monday. if that were the case, i bet i could get skip up a mountain, sooner than later.
at the last minute i changed out of the sorels and put on the garmonts--the decision was made, ski right out of the yard, go up over town hill, go northeast a bit to horseshoe pond, follow the outlet stream south, and head toward bear pond. on the map, our house would be just off to the left of "approximate..." town hill has a logging road up and over it that hooks up with hall road that got extended a few years ago. i kissed my love and left very close to the stroke of 1:00p. it was a fine feeling to be clicking on ski bindings rather than a seat belt; i always feel more relaxed not having to drive. as i pointed myself up over town hill, it was fairly obvious, the woods still would be fast.
about four inches of fluff covered that bombproof icy crust and promised some speedy descents. slippery was just under the surface but i was able to keep it there with the scales underfoot grabbing going up, rather than sliding back. as well as covering the crust, the fluff up in the trees was total winter wonderland-ish and i practically forgot i was skiing. gliding along, watching a bird flit over there, or a wind shake a snow load loose from the tippy-top of a tall pine over there, i topped over the height of land. the sudden speed with gravity now assisting, brought me back and i started turning in plenty of time to avoid the old truck at 'rest' mid-trail.
after the dead truck the pitch got steadily greater and was slippery enough to launch off a few rocks. the steepest section held a few more rock jumps, but only one infiltrated my concentration on trying to stay upright and on the trail. i managed that goal down to hall road and onto the old bear pond road where i started following a herd of footprints. the tracks were probably from the upper valley land trust hike "exploring the bear pond natural area". when they turned and headed across the marshy area at the low point in the road, i got interested figuring they were headed toward bear pond--exactly where i was hoping to go.
across the marsh and over the beaver dam on the south end of horseshoe pond, i was still excited but had some questions about the path these folks were taking. their trail was squirreling around in the woods and tending left, so when i had a clear line toward the pond i slid right. after an aborted attempt to forge my own path through the thick, snow laden, 10-12 foot balsam, i switched back and picked up the uvlt trail again--hoping once more their end point would be the pond by some route one of the leaders knew better than i. for a brief, fairly clear distance, that hope stood. after i had to take off the skis to make it up a steep section, thick with brush, then more circuitous bush whacking at the top, that wish fell face first into the snow. they were clearly not headed toward the pond.
leaving their twisted trail, was one thing, blazing my own more pleasant one was a whole 'nother. i managed to descend the hill i had to boot up headed more toward the pond now. it was not all free and clear but it was doable keeping to a fairly high traverse, as opposed to pointing things straight down. after reaching the bottom though, i had to stop and switch sweater for jacket with a hood, prepping for going back into the thick balsam. for extra ammunition, i downed some water and had a couple bites of chocolate before diving in.
after about a half hour of whacking, ducking, and constantly searching for bits of less dense sky lines, i worked my way onto some higher ground and was actually able to stride a few ski lengths before dodging some obstacle. i passed several trees with flagging tape and wondered if my friendly ornithologist lenny had been up here mist netting and tagging warblers. (look at posts 5/20/16 and 5/28/16 for some info on len and his canada warbler activities.) continuing ever pondward, i ran across a fairly fresh deer trail that seemed to be following some sort of direct line. i took that as a hint and was rewarded with said line turning into a clear trail headed right where i wanted to go.
it is hard for me to judge skiing distance when i am deep in the woods, but after about a half mile of really pleasant skiing i hooked back up with the uvlt tracks, right at the bottom of that hill i had to boot up. from the map, i took the trail i was just on, to be the sweet water trail. i retraced our original tracks back to a woods road between horseshoe and bear pond and turned south again. about a half mile later, i went over what i took to be a brook feeding bear pond, probably about a 30 minute heavy bushwhack away. i opted to keep skiing out to hall road as it was getting late and i would just make it home by dark if i avoided any more detours.
that being decided, after climbing the last bit of steep that connected with hall road, i couldn't help but ski down and link a dozen turns together. it was worth the climb back up. when i got back to the steep part coming off of town hill--the one that took some concentration zipping down earlier--i didn't take that option and just continued on up past the truck and over to our side of the hill. as i came over the height of land, i let gravity pull me aiming for all the rock launches i remembered. through the s-curves it got fast enough to keep my attention. it steadied out until one final pitch just before our stark hill road.
it was not yet pitch dark as i skied up the drive, but pam had the light on and her snowshoes were back on the porch, so i figured she was inside. sure enough, she was, and she had a hot pot of tea to boot! life was good--especially considering it was forecasted to snow somewhere in the neighborhood of a foot sunday into monday. if that were the case, i bet i could get skip up a mountain, sooner than later.
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