while the snow is dry-er and fluffy-er!
wednesday, noon-ish, the snow started falling pretty seriously and school had been canceled due to the expected crazy commute home. sure enough, the expected delivered some crazy. for a good part of the afternoon, we were getting about two inches an hour. i packed up my skis and the flagging tape and headed over to lasalette, figuring i'd mark trails between turns. i got tapped again as 'trail boss' for the shaker museum's snowshoe fest on saturday. it's not a bad gig, with about 12 miles of total trail, in three flavors: green, yellow, and blue. i had recruited joni to help, so i picked her, skis, and the dog up just after 3:00.
by the time we had our skis on and headed up the trail, the snow was about more than 5 or 6 inches and accumulating. i convinced her to make the green loop going counterclockwise which would bring us down the steep side. i was pumped for that, a 3/4 mile downhill, and hoped i could get joni to tie the flagging tape while i just kept turning. things went well and we got to the top fairly quickly. i was going light on flagging given the easy to follow tracks this deep snow would afford.
the trip down was as smooth as the proverbial baby's bottom and joni tied a good number of the flags, letting me cruise along. i couldn't remember when conditions were this good--and the storm was still improving them. by the time we made it back to the truck it was dark but i could tell joni was smiling as big as i was.
thursday, early-ish, the snow had mostly stopped, but school was on a delayed opening, so i headed up to cardigan. we had somewhere in the neighborhood of a foot of snow, and at least in the woods, it was fairly fluffy. the cold night had even dried it out more than what it fell as, and only 'light' winds, at least down low, left it unpacked. i stepped into my bindings and headed up about 7:30.
i semi-followed a set of tracks somebody must have made during the storm, but they were pretty buired. i took the ski trail sections up, even though who ever made the tracks had only come down that way. their pattern had me guessing, was it skip or josh. one section that was untracked made me think more josh as skip loved to hit that part. i kept to the ski trails as at over a foot of snow, a broken path would allow me to keep some speed. when i got to the 'east amc' arrow cairn, totally covered under a mound snow, the tracks stopped and turned back down. that made me think more skip as josh would most likely ski higher.
as i skied on by, headed over to our stash we call 'the chute' i thought whoever it was, i bet they were up here now--there was a foot and a half or more of untracked snow. of course as the trees got shorter, the wind picked up. it must have blown some over night as the drifts were waste high in spots. when i got to the top of the chute, the usual cornice at the top was substantial.
as i stripped off my skins contemplating dropping in, three birds flew by and perched up behind me. obviously birds are not uncommon up in the mountains, but these were not your ordinary winter-over species--they were robins! it was february 8th, the morning after a big storm and i was looking at three lively and plump harbingers of spring. i didn't have the camera out at the time, but they put a smile on my face that i was able capture a minute later.
back in my ornithology days, i had learned that the reason the first robins of spring looked so hearty is that there is a north eastern sub-species, Turdus migratorius nigrideus, that is darker black above and has a brighter red breast. if you see them early, like on a cold february day, they could also seem a bit bigger as they would be somewhat fluffed up for warmth.
the skiing was wonderful, a tad slow up high, but sweet down in the bigger trees. i didn't stop for anything until i found another set of ski tracks just past the summer parking lot. they must have gotten spooked following me though as they turned around and went up the regular hiking trail. definitely not skip or josh, i figured they weren't local.
sure enough when i got down to my truck there was one other car, with massachusetts plates. they'll figure it out, and if nothing else, they'll have a good time--the snow was great.
after a stop at the school to check in, i went back to lasalette to mark the yellow trail. long story short except for one huge blow-down, it went smoothly. so smoothly that at the top of the big hill, where everybody sleds, i tucked all the flagging gear in my pack, tightened up my boots, and took off for a downhill run. it was well worth it, even if i would have to come back the next day, with my chainsaw, to finish that last section of 1/2 mile of yellow, and the blue.
friday, mid morning-ish, after another check in at the school and grabbing the outdoor pursuit's snowshoes, i was back at the shaker museum. kyle, the museum education guy, told me that harrison was due around 10:00 to help. i showed kyle on the map where i would be cutting, put on snowshoes, grabbed my saw, and headed out. the tree ended up even 'huger' than it appeared--a whole second trunk was buried in the snow. i was glad i hadn't attacked things yesterday with my handsaw, it would have taken a couple of hours. with a chainsaw i had it done in under a 1/2 hour. i met harrison on the way down.
we stashed the saw at 'grand junction' and took off uphill for the blue trail. for about 3/4 of a mile we followed joni's and my faint ski track. when we got to where blue took off on its own, we got into the fresh, untracked deep stuff. i usually don't appreciate snowshoeing as much as skiing, but harrison is great partner to flag with. we broke out the trail all the way to blue's junction with yellow, maybe a mile and a half. harrison's phone brought us back to the other world, when betsy called to say she was done helping in the kitchen. we headed back the short way, skipping that pesky last yellow section. oh, well i'd get it saturday morning.
saturday, early-ish again, i got to the stone mill and finished the shoveling job where the plow guy had blocked the trailheads. just as i broke through the 8 foot pile, joni showed up--yeah! we tested out the new 'gap' and headed up with yellow flags to finish that last bit. since, she had snowshoes on and i had my skis, i sent her on to tramp out my ski tracks in the upper field. i tightened up my boots again and took a last fluffy run down the big hill. the weather was supposed to turn warm and possibly even rain, so why not turn while you could.
with everything laid out and tracked, i assigned harrison and betsy to guide at two certain key junctions and went to find olivia, to direct traffic at a third. she was in the main building, when i went in to grab a scone (i remember them as super delicious from past years). we went back to the mill, grabbed some snowshoes for olivia and i got into my skis. i told her she should also take one of the sleds up and we could find a few spots to glide down.
we made it up to the blue-yellow junction and kept going up beyond for a run before fest-ers came up and needed guiding. the snow was still cold and fast for me, though olivia had to keep the sled in tracked areas or she would bog down in the powder. i got down quick enough to take a series of olivia coming down the last steep section.
after the sledding, we did some guiding, drank some tea, did some more guiding, drank more tea, ate a granola bar, more guiding, more tea, more guiding...you get the picture. finally, we went up to take a last run and go down to lunch. on the way up the hill i spotted kristine, owen's wife, and she was pregnant--yeah! no owen, but kristine said his sisters were coming up shortly. and sure enough, margaret and hannah were snowshoe-jogging up the upper field. we had a great chat, until hannah's dog cocked his head in the classic canine "can't we go now?" pose.
olivia and i climbed up to the top of our private run and pointed things downhill. we didn't stop until we were practically down to the bottom, and lunch. before we got across the street, i saw my friends the seegers: jacob, nikeo, and lo-lo, out enjoying the snow. i fitted nikeo into a pair of little tyke snowshoes and he loved them. after that, it was time for a late-ish lunch.
when i got back out, i helped close things down some, and told the others i would wait for the last few snowshoers that got a late start. harrison and betsy arranged to meet me the next morning at 9:30 to take down flagging. all in all it was a grand day out--in fact it was a grand four days out!
oh yeah, today, sunday--it wasn't all that bad, wet, but there's still plenty of snow. harrison and betsy picked up the trunk trail and green, while i ran over the yellow and blue. i did go up toward the potato field, but didn't see them. the rain was hard enough to chase me down. and now that i am dry and writing this, i hope they got home to dry off and warm up as well. i suppose, that's why people have phones...
wednesday, noon-ish, the snow started falling pretty seriously and school had been canceled due to the expected crazy commute home. sure enough, the expected delivered some crazy. for a good part of the afternoon, we were getting about two inches an hour. i packed up my skis and the flagging tape and headed over to lasalette, figuring i'd mark trails between turns. i got tapped again as 'trail boss' for the shaker museum's snowshoe fest on saturday. it's not a bad gig, with about 12 miles of total trail, in three flavors: green, yellow, and blue. i had recruited joni to help, so i picked her, skis, and the dog up just after 3:00.
by the time we had our skis on and headed up the trail, the snow was about more than 5 or 6 inches and accumulating. i convinced her to make the green loop going counterclockwise which would bring us down the steep side. i was pumped for that, a 3/4 mile downhill, and hoped i could get joni to tie the flagging tape while i just kept turning. things went well and we got to the top fairly quickly. i was going light on flagging given the easy to follow tracks this deep snow would afford.
the trip down was as smooth as the proverbial baby's bottom and joni tied a good number of the flags, letting me cruise along. i couldn't remember when conditions were this good--and the storm was still improving them. by the time we made it back to the truck it was dark but i could tell joni was smiling as big as i was.
thursday, early-ish, the snow had mostly stopped, but school was on a delayed opening, so i headed up to cardigan. we had somewhere in the neighborhood of a foot of snow, and at least in the woods, it was fairly fluffy. the cold night had even dried it out more than what it fell as, and only 'light' winds, at least down low, left it unpacked. i stepped into my bindings and headed up about 7:30.
i semi-followed a set of tracks somebody must have made during the storm, but they were pretty buired. i took the ski trail sections up, even though who ever made the tracks had only come down that way. their pattern had me guessing, was it skip or josh. one section that was untracked made me think more josh as skip loved to hit that part. i kept to the ski trails as at over a foot of snow, a broken path would allow me to keep some speed. when i got to the 'east amc' arrow cairn, totally covered under a mound snow, the tracks stopped and turned back down. that made me think more skip as josh would most likely ski higher.
as i skied on by, headed over to our stash we call 'the chute' i thought whoever it was, i bet they were up here now--there was a foot and a half or more of untracked snow. of course as the trees got shorter, the wind picked up. it must have blown some over night as the drifts were waste high in spots. when i got to the top of the chute, the usual cornice at the top was substantial.
as i stripped off my skins contemplating dropping in, three birds flew by and perched up behind me. obviously birds are not uncommon up in the mountains, but these were not your ordinary winter-over species--they were robins! it was february 8th, the morning after a big storm and i was looking at three lively and plump harbingers of spring. i didn't have the camera out at the time, but they put a smile on my face that i was able capture a minute later.
back in my ornithology days, i had learned that the reason the first robins of spring looked so hearty is that there is a north eastern sub-species, Turdus migratorius nigrideus, that is darker black above and has a brighter red breast. if you see them early, like on a cold february day, they could also seem a bit bigger as they would be somewhat fluffed up for warmth.
the skiing was wonderful, a tad slow up high, but sweet down in the bigger trees. i didn't stop for anything until i found another set of ski tracks just past the summer parking lot. they must have gotten spooked following me though as they turned around and went up the regular hiking trail. definitely not skip or josh, i figured they weren't local.
sure enough when i got down to my truck there was one other car, with massachusetts plates. they'll figure it out, and if nothing else, they'll have a good time--the snow was great.
after a stop at the school to check in, i went back to lasalette to mark the yellow trail. long story short except for one huge blow-down, it went smoothly. so smoothly that at the top of the big hill, where everybody sleds, i tucked all the flagging gear in my pack, tightened up my boots, and took off for a downhill run. it was well worth it, even if i would have to come back the next day, with my chainsaw, to finish that last section of 1/2 mile of yellow, and the blue.
friday, mid morning-ish, after another check in at the school and grabbing the outdoor pursuit's snowshoes, i was back at the shaker museum. kyle, the museum education guy, told me that harrison was due around 10:00 to help. i showed kyle on the map where i would be cutting, put on snowshoes, grabbed my saw, and headed out. the tree ended up even 'huger' than it appeared--a whole second trunk was buried in the snow. i was glad i hadn't attacked things yesterday with my handsaw, it would have taken a couple of hours. with a chainsaw i had it done in under a 1/2 hour. i met harrison on the way down.
we stashed the saw at 'grand junction' and took off uphill for the blue trail. for about 3/4 of a mile we followed joni's and my faint ski track. when we got to where blue took off on its own, we got into the fresh, untracked deep stuff. i usually don't appreciate snowshoeing as much as skiing, but harrison is great partner to flag with. we broke out the trail all the way to blue's junction with yellow, maybe a mile and a half. harrison's phone brought us back to the other world, when betsy called to say she was done helping in the kitchen. we headed back the short way, skipping that pesky last yellow section. oh, well i'd get it saturday morning.
saturday, early-ish again, i got to the stone mill and finished the shoveling job where the plow guy had blocked the trailheads. just as i broke through the 8 foot pile, joni showed up--yeah! we tested out the new 'gap' and headed up with yellow flags to finish that last bit. since, she had snowshoes on and i had my skis, i sent her on to tramp out my ski tracks in the upper field. i tightened up my boots again and took a last fluffy run down the big hill. the weather was supposed to turn warm and possibly even rain, so why not turn while you could.
with everything laid out and tracked, i assigned harrison and betsy to guide at two certain key junctions and went to find olivia, to direct traffic at a third. she was in the main building, when i went in to grab a scone (i remember them as super delicious from past years). we went back to the mill, grabbed some snowshoes for olivia and i got into my skis. i told her she should also take one of the sleds up and we could find a few spots to glide down.
we made it up to the blue-yellow junction and kept going up beyond for a run before fest-ers came up and needed guiding. the snow was still cold and fast for me, though olivia had to keep the sled in tracked areas or she would bog down in the powder. i got down quick enough to take a series of olivia coming down the last steep section.
after the sledding, we did some guiding, drank some tea, did some more guiding, drank more tea, ate a granola bar, more guiding, more tea, more guiding...you get the picture. finally, we went up to take a last run and go down to lunch. on the way up the hill i spotted kristine, owen's wife, and she was pregnant--yeah! no owen, but kristine said his sisters were coming up shortly. and sure enough, margaret and hannah were snowshoe-jogging up the upper field. we had a great chat, until hannah's dog cocked his head in the classic canine "can't we go now?" pose.
olivia and i climbed up to the top of our private run and pointed things downhill. we didn't stop until we were practically down to the bottom, and lunch. before we got across the street, i saw my friends the seegers: jacob, nikeo, and lo-lo, out enjoying the snow. i fitted nikeo into a pair of little tyke snowshoes and he loved them. after that, it was time for a late-ish lunch.
when i got back out, i helped close things down some, and told the others i would wait for the last few snowshoers that got a late start. harrison and betsy arranged to meet me the next morning at 9:30 to take down flagging. all in all it was a grand day out--in fact it was a grand four days out!
oh yeah, today, sunday--it wasn't all that bad, wet, but there's still plenty of snow. harrison and betsy picked up the trunk trail and green, while i ran over the yellow and blue. i did go up toward the potato field, but didn't see them. the rain was hard enough to chase me down. and now that i am dry and writing this, i hope they got home to dry off and warm up as well. i suppose, that's why people have phones...
