and try to keep it on the mellow side!
friday, noah had to leave early, so he, si, and i, headed over to la salette and took a large looping tour. thursday's more than six inches was welcoming, but the previous monday night's rain had opened a bunch of new water crossings and nearly exposed a bunch of new rocks. still, being out in the woods was sweet.
sweet indeed...warm and sunny too, in places the snow was even sticky. listening to the sounds of skis sliding along--two pairs with scales and one with skins--gave me a meditative 'base' going up. coming down was more swooshing, aggressive in a good, carving way, especially the long downhill on moses johnson. (the one skip calls the little sherburne.) hikers had been over the path a fair bit, and the cold had frozen it chunky enough to make it kind of loud. that made me prowl the edges.
the edges and into the woods did have the most snow. we finished the steep taking first tracks on 'the spine', a section i originally scoped out for bikes. we dropped off the ridge, 'out of the trees' onto the main trunk of the trail. from there, the long way around the cross-trail bridge that collapsed two summers ago, took us back across the bottom of the hay field and to the car. as we de-booted and packed in, noah's "hurry hurry" made simon smile and ask "what's the difference, you're already in trouble."
morgan was indeed waiting and ready to pull out, but i did not notice any "trouble" as they finished packing and said their goodbyes.
saturday, simon and i had planned a bigger trip to hit another 4000 footer or two up in the whites. but the best made plans are subject to change. first, si tried to recruit alex, who only wanted to go local. next, some longtime friends were coming over for lunch and a little gaming. so as i headed over to pick him up, i was thinking cardigan and sawing out that large blowdown on the ski trail. staying nearby would also make linda happy as i think she was a tad nervous about going big today.
si dumped his stuff in the truck and we headed out. at the winter parking lot there were a fair number of cars and people gearing up. but we found a spot, nosing into the snow bank. in fine vacation-time form, several of the folks putting on their snow shoes were mascoma alums--most of them MOC participants. you might graduate from high school and college, but you never leave the outing club!
we multi tasked, gearing up, visiting, and finally skiing off. the summer road and then both the hiking and ski trails, were well packed down. friday must have been a very busy day here on our local hill. just below a steep section, i stopped to put skins on. si kept sliding up to start sawing the blowdown. as i got to him and the tree, he was struggling. he had already sawn through one end, but it dropped and pinched his saw. i started the other side and we tag teamed the cut. when our top kerf mostly met our bottom one, we used a large stick to pry it free. with a grunt or two, we rolled and heaved it off to one side and whooped at the new clearing. with skis and packs back on, we headed up again.
it would be nice to have a clear shot through this section as it was so tracked up, there would be some speed involved. the higher we got, the more i contemplated an alternative route down. just above the waterfall, i suggested we turn south into the woods and wind our way out and down, reconnecting with the ski trail below--in time to ski the newly freed up bit. si was up for an adventure. i put my jacket on, pulled the hood up, and plowed into the snow laden trees. it wasn't exactly easy going but, at one point i stopped in a patch of sun and thought about how beautiful the woods were. simon snapped a picture to support that.
i borrowed the camera when i got over to him and snapped a picture pointed his way, despite an indigenous resistance to having his image taken. i would have joked that one actually needs a soul for it to be taken, but all the pendletons are sweethearts--zero body fat but plenty of soul!
after our photo shoot, we popped over the knoll we were posing on and came to an honest to goodness cliff. we chose different routes down and tipped over our respective edges. the bottom took us back into the trees not too far away from the hiking trail, so we pointed our tips that way. back on the west ridge, it was time to strip off skins, buckle up the boots, lock down the bindings, and fly. being so tracked out, it was indeed fast and furious. that was something of an advantage as you could see the rocks when you hit them.
now and again there was a tiny bit of snow left at the edges--just enough to make it look like i could ski. we hadn't done anything big, but we were both happy as we piled the gear into the truck and went to lunch!
friday, noah had to leave early, so he, si, and i, headed over to la salette and took a large looping tour. thursday's more than six inches was welcoming, but the previous monday night's rain had opened a bunch of new water crossings and nearly exposed a bunch of new rocks. still, being out in the woods was sweet.
sweet indeed...warm and sunny too, in places the snow was even sticky. listening to the sounds of skis sliding along--two pairs with scales and one with skins--gave me a meditative 'base' going up. coming down was more swooshing, aggressive in a good, carving way, especially the long downhill on moses johnson. (the one skip calls the little sherburne.) hikers had been over the path a fair bit, and the cold had frozen it chunky enough to make it kind of loud. that made me prowl the edges.
the edges and into the woods did have the most snow. we finished the steep taking first tracks on 'the spine', a section i originally scoped out for bikes. we dropped off the ridge, 'out of the trees' onto the main trunk of the trail. from there, the long way around the cross-trail bridge that collapsed two summers ago, took us back across the bottom of the hay field and to the car. as we de-booted and packed in, noah's "hurry hurry" made simon smile and ask "what's the difference, you're already in trouble."
morgan was indeed waiting and ready to pull out, but i did not notice any "trouble" as they finished packing and said their goodbyes.
saturday, simon and i had planned a bigger trip to hit another 4000 footer or two up in the whites. but the best made plans are subject to change. first, si tried to recruit alex, who only wanted to go local. next, some longtime friends were coming over for lunch and a little gaming. so as i headed over to pick him up, i was thinking cardigan and sawing out that large blowdown on the ski trail. staying nearby would also make linda happy as i think she was a tad nervous about going big today.
si dumped his stuff in the truck and we headed out. at the winter parking lot there were a fair number of cars and people gearing up. but we found a spot, nosing into the snow bank. in fine vacation-time form, several of the folks putting on their snow shoes were mascoma alums--most of them MOC participants. you might graduate from high school and college, but you never leave the outing club!
we multi tasked, gearing up, visiting, and finally skiing off. the summer road and then both the hiking and ski trails, were well packed down. friday must have been a very busy day here on our local hill. just below a steep section, i stopped to put skins on. si kept sliding up to start sawing the blowdown. as i got to him and the tree, he was struggling. he had already sawn through one end, but it dropped and pinched his saw. i started the other side and we tag teamed the cut. when our top kerf mostly met our bottom one, we used a large stick to pry it free. with a grunt or two, we rolled and heaved it off to one side and whooped at the new clearing. with skis and packs back on, we headed up again.
it would be nice to have a clear shot through this section as it was so tracked up, there would be some speed involved. the higher we got, the more i contemplated an alternative route down. just above the waterfall, i suggested we turn south into the woods and wind our way out and down, reconnecting with the ski trail below--in time to ski the newly freed up bit. si was up for an adventure. i put my jacket on, pulled the hood up, and plowed into the snow laden trees. it wasn't exactly easy going but, at one point i stopped in a patch of sun and thought about how beautiful the woods were. simon snapped a picture to support that.
i borrowed the camera when i got over to him and snapped a picture pointed his way, despite an indigenous resistance to having his image taken. i would have joked that one actually needs a soul for it to be taken, but all the pendletons are sweethearts--zero body fat but plenty of soul!
after our photo shoot, we popped over the knoll we were posing on and came to an honest to goodness cliff. we chose different routes down and tipped over our respective edges. the bottom took us back into the trees not too far away from the hiking trail, so we pointed our tips that way. back on the west ridge, it was time to strip off skins, buckle up the boots, lock down the bindings, and fly. being so tracked out, it was indeed fast and furious. that was something of an advantage as you could see the rocks when you hit them.
now and again there was a tiny bit of snow left at the edges--just enough to make it look like i could ski. we hadn't done anything big, but we were both happy as we piled the gear into the truck and went to lunch!
