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...
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...
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