day one--wolfboro road and five or six inches: right from the get go, i was having fun. when i got to linda and skip's on sunday, i went in and had a cup of tea with a couple of linda's "best cookies ever" right out of the oven. munching and sipping helped us come to a consensus on the best trail for the conditions. we loaded the truck and headed for moose mountain, that was our decision and we were sticking to it. the trailhead, right at the bottom of at least a mile 'uphill' pretty close to "cemetery" on the right side of the map, had a fine two-truck parking area all plowed out. four or five fresh inches lay atop the solid base--that half inch of icy crust i have written about--and it was still snowing hard. i had my 'fast', no-scales, skis with skins for going up and good slide-ability for coming down.
i had told skip of the late fall hike pam and i took up to the south peak and over to the AT shelter--something else i wrote about--and about how they had 'graded' the trail. it was probably with a tractor and bucket, but it did make things a lot less rocky, which the snow would only make it smoother. as we headed up to the height of land, where the AT crosses the road--at the red dotted line going from pink highlight to pink highlight--i convinced myself that it would be worth taking my skins off and linking some turns on the hanover center side. it was long and steep enough to get me excited. skip had his scaled skis and would only need to click his bindings down, so he was all in when i suggested it.
going down was indeed well worth it, at least for me. we stopped where the steep ran out, right where the two dotted lines center left on the map crossed. skip was feeling his skis were pretty slow and he had to schuss down more than linking turns. but after i passed him with a whoop, he traced my track and was satisfied with the speed. and when we got to the bottom and i had to put my skins back on, he just clicked out of downhill mode--what's to complain about that!?
we got back up to the AT junction and turned toward south peak, again at the red dotted line on the map. the almost filled in herringbone tracks of a skier from friday or saturday that we had been following up the hanover side, turned with us so we kept on following. the snow on the trail seemed deeper here than on the road and looked like it would be a fine time coming down. at the summit i snapped a picture before tucking into the woods to take off the skins once more and have a snack. the tea in the thermos was still plenty hot, and another of linda's 'best' cookies was another high point. we tightened boots and bindings up, pointed our skis down, and shoved off.
from those high points, i was smiling all the way until i stopped at a good spot to catch skip in the action of turning. again with his scales under foot, he was moving slower and tracing my tracks except for where it got steep enough to keep some speed. he wasn't complaining anymore, as it was a sweet run. when i stopped again back on the road, i noticed it was getting much colder and the wind had really picked up. when skip pulled up he agreed and put on his goggles.
the road back down to the truck was moderately pitched, with only a few steeper spots, so it was pretty much gliding along looking for something to spice it up: skiing up banked edges and jumping off or popping off rocks. i had stomped out one launch on the trip up, and when i finally reached it, i was not going all that fast, but i took a leap anyway--and toppled forward on the landing. skip, gliding along even slower behind me, lept as well, but he landed it.
as we got back to the truck, having fallen or not, we were both satisfied. enough to plan out another day of it, just in case there was a snow day monday.
day two--cardigan and more than a foot: and snow day it was! i made it over to skip's after helping pam get off to work. we had gotten maybe ten inches total in the storm, but the snow seemed to be stopping. i was sort of hurrying skip as i figured we were not going to be up there first. that was ok with skip as he did not want to break trail. as we came up the last hill to the winter parking lot, he asked his usual "how many vehicles are going to be in the lot?" i guessed three and he went two--there was one. but, i saw tracks of two others that had already left. on the trail up, there were plenty of tracks coming down which must have belonged to those that had already come and gone.
as we booted up, a lone skier came down to the other car. he had started at 6:00a and crossed paths with the others--two pairs--they had started even earlier. having to go to work will make dedicated east coast skiers do crazy things for powder. all five had skied both the east side alexandria ski trail, and the west ridge trail, with a few bits of the ski/fire trail thrown in. that was our plan too. we tracked up any of the sections that were untracked, as the foot of powder would really slow us if left fresh in the less steep areas. for fun, we cut over to south ridge at clifford's bridge.
when we got to the bare ridge, the wind was pretty wild. what we could only hear in the woods, was in our face and we had to put our hats and gloves back on and zip up. we couldn't find the trail right away when we got to the 'stone wall' on cardigan's south peak. finally, a little white blaze pointed us into the woods and we went for it. we passed the amc high cabin and went on to the top of alexandria where we buckled up boots and clicked bindings for the downhill. i watched as skip pushed off and noticed the snow was really deep and there was plenty of it even though it had been skied already.
as we went down, i swear there were drifts two feet deep or more. at one point my skis submerged deep and i couldn't turn it out, stalling just as i went into the woods. i had to back myself out from under the load and crust. skip went by thinking i was just peeing. i zipped by a bit later as he was catching his breath, feeling a good rhythm, blasting through the unskied puff balls in between the tracks already laid. all of a sudden i dropped into a dip that threw me mostly over, one ski still in full contact with the snow the other pulling some ballet move behind me. that went on for maybe twenty yards until i gave up trying to get it back and somersaulted into a lump of fluff. skip came down laughing about how he thought i was going to pull it out, but the crash looked really good.
i don't remember stopping the rest of the way until i hit the clark trail junction, pulled up, and waited for skip. we put the skins back on and started up, very happy. as skip announced on his arrival, it would qualify for some of the "best skiing ever!" the sun was shining and made it quite pleasant in the woods, even with the wind roaring ever loader up in the canopy. any snow left up high was blowing loose and swirling like crazy. as we went along, i couldn't help but want to ski back down again, only this time i was going to come right down the clark trail. it was so beautiful and the snow seemed perfect for it.
unfortunately, it was well past lunch o'clock and we stopped to fuel up at the high cabin. i drank my full thermos of tea as skip ate his sandwich. i had to search his bag for the "best cookies ever" when he attempted to pass off linda had not put any in. by the time we finished that he confessed that he was too tired to go down the east side again, climb back up, and then finish on the west side. it was only his second time out this season, so i put the clark trail on my to do later list and we took off to look into skiing the chute.
as we approached the top of the chute--formerly a secret little stash that very few people outside of us knew--i saw tracks, both snowshoe and ski, headed in. oh well, we were here, lets just go for it. we took the skins off for the last time, buckled up, clicked in, and dropped over the cornice. it was not the best, but there was enough snow to make it fun. we kept on finding more snow as we went and soon enough got onto the upper section of the ski/fire trail. i know this is a repeat, but it was sweet.
and it just got sweeter as we went. i was pretty surprised how much snow was available even tracked as it was. there were a couple of sections that nobody had tracked that were extra special. and the parts that were tracked, had plenty on the edges. we met back up at the summer parking lot where i told skip i would get down faster so i would set up for pictures at the gate. i was ready when i heard him call out and was able to snap three shots. the camera has a pretty slow recovery and i was too zoomed in for the last shot, but here they are...
it was a second grand day...not only were we out, the snow was up!
skiing both the east and west sides was tiring--even though we didn't rip down the clark trail. hitting the chair afterwards was sleep inducing for skippy. or maybe he was just trying to avoid shoveling the roofs. when linda got in from her ski around the woods beyond cardigan school, he woke up and we all had tea and another "b.c.e."...then went out and shoveled the roofs.
i had told skip of the late fall hike pam and i took up to the south peak and over to the AT shelter--something else i wrote about--and about how they had 'graded' the trail. it was probably with a tractor and bucket, but it did make things a lot less rocky, which the snow would only make it smoother. as we headed up to the height of land, where the AT crosses the road--at the red dotted line going from pink highlight to pink highlight--i convinced myself that it would be worth taking my skins off and linking some turns on the hanover center side. it was long and steep enough to get me excited. skip had his scaled skis and would only need to click his bindings down, so he was all in when i suggested it.
going down was indeed well worth it, at least for me. we stopped where the steep ran out, right where the two dotted lines center left on the map crossed. skip was feeling his skis were pretty slow and he had to schuss down more than linking turns. but after i passed him with a whoop, he traced my track and was satisfied with the speed. and when we got to the bottom and i had to put my skins back on, he just clicked out of downhill mode--what's to complain about that!?
we got back up to the AT junction and turned toward south peak, again at the red dotted line on the map. the almost filled in herringbone tracks of a skier from friday or saturday that we had been following up the hanover side, turned with us so we kept on following. the snow on the trail seemed deeper here than on the road and looked like it would be a fine time coming down. at the summit i snapped a picture before tucking into the woods to take off the skins once more and have a snack. the tea in the thermos was still plenty hot, and another of linda's 'best' cookies was another high point. we tightened boots and bindings up, pointed our skis down, and shoved off.
from those high points, i was smiling all the way until i stopped at a good spot to catch skip in the action of turning. again with his scales under foot, he was moving slower and tracing my tracks except for where it got steep enough to keep some speed. he wasn't complaining anymore, as it was a sweet run. when i stopped again back on the road, i noticed it was getting much colder and the wind had really picked up. when skip pulled up he agreed and put on his goggles.
the road back down to the truck was moderately pitched, with only a few steeper spots, so it was pretty much gliding along looking for something to spice it up: skiing up banked edges and jumping off or popping off rocks. i had stomped out one launch on the trip up, and when i finally reached it, i was not going all that fast, but i took a leap anyway--and toppled forward on the landing. skip, gliding along even slower behind me, lept as well, but he landed it.
as we got back to the truck, having fallen or not, we were both satisfied. enough to plan out another day of it, just in case there was a snow day monday.
day two--cardigan and more than a foot: and snow day it was! i made it over to skip's after helping pam get off to work. we had gotten maybe ten inches total in the storm, but the snow seemed to be stopping. i was sort of hurrying skip as i figured we were not going to be up there first. that was ok with skip as he did not want to break trail. as we came up the last hill to the winter parking lot, he asked his usual "how many vehicles are going to be in the lot?" i guessed three and he went two--there was one. but, i saw tracks of two others that had already left. on the trail up, there were plenty of tracks coming down which must have belonged to those that had already come and gone.
as we booted up, a lone skier came down to the other car. he had started at 6:00a and crossed paths with the others--two pairs--they had started even earlier. having to go to work will make dedicated east coast skiers do crazy things for powder. all five had skied both the east side alexandria ski trail, and the west ridge trail, with a few bits of the ski/fire trail thrown in. that was our plan too. we tracked up any of the sections that were untracked, as the foot of powder would really slow us if left fresh in the less steep areas. for fun, we cut over to south ridge at clifford's bridge.
when we got to the bare ridge, the wind was pretty wild. what we could only hear in the woods, was in our face and we had to put our hats and gloves back on and zip up. we couldn't find the trail right away when we got to the 'stone wall' on cardigan's south peak. finally, a little white blaze pointed us into the woods and we went for it. we passed the amc high cabin and went on to the top of alexandria where we buckled up boots and clicked bindings for the downhill. i watched as skip pushed off and noticed the snow was really deep and there was plenty of it even though it had been skied already.
as we went down, i swear there were drifts two feet deep or more. at one point my skis submerged deep and i couldn't turn it out, stalling just as i went into the woods. i had to back myself out from under the load and crust. skip went by thinking i was just peeing. i zipped by a bit later as he was catching his breath, feeling a good rhythm, blasting through the unskied puff balls in between the tracks already laid. all of a sudden i dropped into a dip that threw me mostly over, one ski still in full contact with the snow the other pulling some ballet move behind me. that went on for maybe twenty yards until i gave up trying to get it back and somersaulted into a lump of fluff. skip came down laughing about how he thought i was going to pull it out, but the crash looked really good.
i don't remember stopping the rest of the way until i hit the clark trail junction, pulled up, and waited for skip. we put the skins back on and started up, very happy. as skip announced on his arrival, it would qualify for some of the "best skiing ever!" the sun was shining and made it quite pleasant in the woods, even with the wind roaring ever loader up in the canopy. any snow left up high was blowing loose and swirling like crazy. as we went along, i couldn't help but want to ski back down again, only this time i was going to come right down the clark trail. it was so beautiful and the snow seemed perfect for it.
unfortunately, it was well past lunch o'clock and we stopped to fuel up at the high cabin. i drank my full thermos of tea as skip ate his sandwich. i had to search his bag for the "best cookies ever" when he attempted to pass off linda had not put any in. by the time we finished that he confessed that he was too tired to go down the east side again, climb back up, and then finish on the west side. it was only his second time out this season, so i put the clark trail on my to do later list and we took off to look into skiing the chute.
as we approached the top of the chute--formerly a secret little stash that very few people outside of us knew--i saw tracks, both snowshoe and ski, headed in. oh well, we were here, lets just go for it. we took the skins off for the last time, buckled up, clicked in, and dropped over the cornice. it was not the best, but there was enough snow to make it fun. we kept on finding more snow as we went and soon enough got onto the upper section of the ski/fire trail. i know this is a repeat, but it was sweet.
and it just got sweeter as we went. i was pretty surprised how much snow was available even tracked as it was. there were a couple of sections that nobody had tracked that were extra special. and the parts that were tracked, had plenty on the edges. we met back up at the summer parking lot where i told skip i would get down faster so i would set up for pictures at the gate. i was ready when i heard him call out and was able to snap three shots. the camera has a pretty slow recovery and i was too zoomed in for the last shot, but here they are...
it was a second grand day...not only were we out, the snow was up!
skiing both the east and west sides was tiring--even though we didn't rip down the clark trail. hitting the chair afterwards was sleep inducing for skippy. or maybe he was just trying to avoid shoveling the roofs. when linda got in from her ski around the woods beyond cardigan school, he woke up and we all had tea and another "b.c.e."...then went out and shoveled the roofs.
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