lincoln's throat...

under less than ideal conditions...

jeff had gone on quite a bit about the ideal conditions up in the whites on lincoln's throat last weekend--"it was so good on saturday, we went back on sunday!" i was a bit bummed i had not been there, but we could always go ski something this weekend. so when he called on friday, i told him i would be up early.

i pulled into his drive right at 8:00 and we loaded up after he finished breakfast. when we got to the lafyette ridge trail parking, jeff's friend ryan was gearing up. he was headed up with us, but might be going over the ridge to ski lincoln's slide. soon enough we were skinning up the old bridal path. if it didn't warm up a bunch, this was going to be a luge run on the way down.




a ways up, we dropped down to the drainage coming down from the throat. the whole time i was winding along behind them, i was noting the tracked out and fairly icy conditions. while not quite a luge run, this part was going to be a mad exit. at one point, jeff dropped a ski and it slid down toward me. maybe this would be my high spot.




a little above there, i decided to stop and take my skins off. i figured jeff would easily catch me as i slowly picked my way down. watching the two of them way up above me, it struck me that this might be a young person's game. going down and passing another group of 20-30 year olds going up, i affirmed those thoughts when they asked about conditions. "i think i am becoming a 'perfect conditions' skier."

jeff passed me soon enough and informed me ryan was going to take a few more laps. i suggested he would have a bit more fun if he went ahead. he slid on by, but being a good sport, he patiently and strategically waited until i came along behind. my goal was to get down safely and enjoy being outside playing. we made it to the car, nothing broken, nobody bleeding, both of us smiling. even as i told jeff i would do that again, if pressed, i would prefer those 'perfect conditions'.

back in plymouth, we ended the day at the café monte alto and were surprised when his wife kelsey stopped in. it was a fine way to end the day over a cup of tea.

go outside and play!go outside and pl

another two 'one more times'...

skip and i on tuesday's school 'snow day' and again on thursday with my buddy jeff!

i was up pretty early tuesday, hoping the snow would start early and fall heavy. i was disappointed, but skip had a snow day at lyme the same as mascoma. so i waited a bit and then called to set something up. he voted to stay local and said he would come over and pick me up when he finished plowing out.

by the time he showed up, we had about five or six inches, not nearly as much as we got the last storm, but plenty to ski on given the nearly two feet was still underneath. with the cold-ish weather, it was still fairly fresh. we chose the 'short' steeper up, headed to the glades, and found the snow getting deeper and fluffier the higher we got.

























you can see in the picture that it wasn't quite covering my saturday downhill track, but it was getting there. when we turned off for lost pond, i found the pole hole where i had measured depth on friday and stuck it in again. it was still pretty close to the camlock--20-22 inches or more--lovely.

we got our skins off just after the pond and started down. the snow was pretty fine and i was having so much fun, i didn't stop until i got to the fallen tree that tackled skip on sunday. it was a good place to set up to video him in case it got him again.

he made it past me upright and we finished the run with big smiles. as we slid toward the truck, he mentioned that if i had asked, he would have taken another run. and here, all the while i was thinking another pitch sure would be sweet but don't push him, his knee will go bad or he'll get sick. oh well, the snow will be there tomorrow.

even in the ideal world, tomorrow never comes. 

the very next day, skip was tied up at a meeting and jeff had left his ski boots at his house. we made plans for the next, next day. thursday, jeff remembered his boots but now skip was sick. we decided to hit the glades one more time.




the temp was warmer today, so the snow was pretty sticky on the way up. not until we got nearly to the pond was i able to glide without grabbing. that worked out for me as i was just on scales as today i brought the wrong skins. the only worry now was, would it be smooth sliding going down, or would it be slower than comfortable.


it turned out fine. after jeff took his skins off, we sailed down with only one stop after the first steep pitch. this was jeff's first time here and he was pretty stoked at the bottom. but this time a second run was preempted by his wife's request for a date to go to her school's musical. oh well, the snow will be there...another day.