days four-six--abandoning skis and going snowshoeing

the days: january 20-22. for brevity's sake let's just say it was cold out. i never saw it above 15° or below 5°, at least when i was out and about. it was never really windy, but at times it was pushing such cold air, it felt almost brutal. after some morning clouds on thursday, the sun was out and brilliant. monday's snow was still deep, but wednesday evening's warmup left a troublesome crust on top.

the adventure: skip showed up in the drive about 9a and we got skis on and started up town hill. it was extremely slippery, so we turned around after 100 yards to go down and put skins on. that's when we discovered the crust made turning wicked hard work--i.e. no fun at all. back in the drive skip decided to bag it and go nordic ski with linda. 

i was all dressed so i switched to my school bag, grabbed my snowshoes, and went off "over the river and through the woods" to work. coming home, i stomped out the other half of the x-c trail. on friday, i did the whole loop again. on saturday, pam and i did it once more when i went to grab a timber sheet from the shop. (dave's building and construction class is going to help me frame another outdoor classroom starting tuesday.)

the memories: the commute in on thursday morning and then home in the evening.

friday was definitely one of those cold, clear days. of course i left the house without my camera, so there is no visual record. that didn't bother me as that cold "brutal" wind was channeling down the river where i like to take a picture. on friday though, pam had her phone and i had a camera, plus there was no wind on the river.

notes: the three sets of tracks above are just me, trying to make a straighter and straighter line.

- skip does not like snowshoeing 
- my hip sometimes does not like snowshoeing 
- pam loves to snowshoe 
- everybody loves going "over the river and through the woods"

go outside and play!

day three--"the best skiing ever!"

the day: january 19. partly sunny and warming up--somewhere in the twenties, probably. no wind down in the woods, but we could hear it howling up on the ridge. and i mean howling, every time we stopped moving, skip mentioned it, "oh wow, listen to that roar!" monday's wet snow is now dry and at least 6" deep on a solid base.

the adventure: we have been trying to ski all the local areas, one a day, in order of their likelihood of getting traffic. today was "secret sherbie" day. it's up off the wolfeboro road and highly unlikely to get skied. i have taken a few students up the main road to the south peak of moose mountain. so far skip, pam, and i are the only winter travelers on the sherbie. it's a 1/2 mile~ish from the height of land back down to the road, with two steeper parts divided by a flat~ish middle.

the memories: as skip says, it was "the best skiing ever!" the sun popping in and out didn't affect snow conditions, but our smiles improved the brighter it was.

it looks like a totally different day when the sun is shining. as we were about to take a second run, skip snapped another picture of an extra happy skier. my camera battery was dead.

notes: great coverage

• charge up a new camera battery
• we need one more storm to cover the rock i tried launching off
• skip highly recommends skiing down low in the woods when it's super windy up high

go outside and play!

day two--the snow is fluffing out and everybody is happy

the day: january 18. it was considerably colder today, somewhere in the teens--my thermometer had frozen. the untracked snow had dried out overnight and almost fluffy except where tracked or under the hemlocks and pines. yesterday's piles up on the branches had obviously melted in the above freezing temps and then froze up solid when things turned colder.

the adventure: today, skip picked me up and we headed over to the shaker wildlife management area. on the way up the main trail, all that nice dry fluffy snow led us to choose the glades. that's '1st left' for those interested. we skin up '2nd left', the 'little sherbie', or '3rd left', the longest and least steep, and then cut off to lost pond before taking off skins and pointing things downhill.

the memories: the snow was indeed heavenly, except for the practically hard-plate under the needled  trees. i will remember a bunch of sweet turns. i will also remember that the bottom section of the glades has more blowdowns than carter has pills. the nicest thing though, besides getting around the mess, was meeting up with sue. i had forgotten my boots--yeah, my ski boots--and after going back to get them we had just geared up when sue pulled in. we convinced her to join us--risk free.

bonus: she had her phone/camera with her and we snapped a picture up on the ice of lost pond.

notes: snow was east coast 'perfect powder'...with plenty of coverage.

• don't forget your ski boots
• remember a camera
• ski with friends who have great memories & cheery smiles

go outside and play!

day one--cardigan has full coverage

the day: january 17. the temperature was rising into the 30s. i was shoveling 8-10" of heavy snow. it was supposed to rain at the tail end of the storm, but so far that was not happening--and if we were lucky it wouldn't.

the adventure: i picked up skip and we headed over to cardigan, put boots and skis on, took jackets, hats, and gloves off, at least i did, and started up around 3~ish. at the summer parking we met adam and two of his buddies already coming down. they had topped early enough to hit the alexandria ski trail on the amc east side and were now back on the west side, almost to the winter parking. we went up to the slab on the hurricane cutoff and turned there.

the memories: the skiing was much faster than the earlier clumping had led us to believe. we had stopped to wax a bit. turned out the higher on the mtn. the colder the snow and slipperier--slippery enough we put skins on. amazingly, as we started down, we passed four skiers still going up. skip was going too fast to stop, but i heard them say "it's koby" so i fell over and chatted for a bit. when we got back at the truck it was getting dark enough we both mentioned, "i hope they have headlamps."

notes: snow covered just about everything, now, and as long as we don't get a huge thaw and lots of rain, the rest of winter should be very skiable.

• paraffin wax really helps with glide
• remember to carry your skins incase you overdo the paraffin wax
• carry a headlamp or two, just to be safe

go outside and play!