if you don't like the weather, wait a while...

...it will change! under any weather condition though, being in the mountains has always felt enriching. 


without a doubt, weather has given me pause--more accurately taken away any pausing--a fair number of times, but i would not trade those experiences for anything. i cut my east coast mountain-teeth in the mt washington valley where attention to weather gets frequent warnings with the ubiquitous 'stop' signs along trails leading above treeline. it didn't take too many trips up high before i fully understood the threat.




earlier in the week, when i read "what friday's extra-long lunar eclipse can tell us about the earth", i got pretty excited about going up high for a viewing. four MOC student had texted about a moonrise-sunset hike going above treeline to see the "'blood moon'". even if it wasn't going to be eclipsed, a full moon coming up over the horizon is always a treat. when you can see that in the east, turn around and see the sun setting in the west it's a double delight.

like all week, the weather was solidly forecast to be iffy at best and most likely stormy. sure enough, thunder clouds started rolling in around noon and we had a couple of heavy showers around five-ish. still in fast changing conditions, you never know when you are going to get a break. as i finished my 2nd piece of pizza it was still thundering in the distance. i texted olivia and asked if she was still going. she zipped back a "max and i are leaving now!" that motivated me into action. i packed my rain jacket and headed out the door.

we met and started hiking under a drippy grey sky, but there was always a chance we might see something up high. that chance got a little 'brighter' when we got onto the rock at treeline, at least in the west. you could see where the sun would drop into a fairly cloudless zone as it went down.

i got my fellow hikers to strike a pose with the opening in the clouds over their shoulders. max took a panoramic that shows the varying cloud cover well. it also shows a nice time elapse of olivia's left hand...

at the summit, we stayed to catch the sun's descent. the light kept changing and max repeated more than a couple times, "it just keeps getting better and better." the biggest break came close to the horizon, and the sun sent out vivid orangy-reddish rays. the moon in the east though, had no such breaks. the cloud bank was totally full and they were still lining up to deposit.

as we started down, we were all pleased with having made the effort and sorry that others had missed it. the sprinkles never increased enough to take the raincoat out of the pack. while the cloud cover made it darker than usual, we made it down without headlamps without too much trouble. 

as for the lunar eclipse thing, this trip was more than enough to get me dreaming about jan 21, when our part of the world will be able to see the next one--in total. i predict a great time atop 'our' local mountain. at a minimum, i'll have a chance for a shot like olivia took a couple years back...

until then--go outside and play! 

outside and playing...!

on my new scott addict gravel bike!!

i have been dreaming of a new ride for two years, ever since i helped dick drummond--drummonds custom cycles--with the shop roof after a major leak. one thing you may not know about me, i take forever to make a purchase decision, and then i second guess myself 'til the cows come home. if you live in vermont, that would be 'ke-ows'.

i finally dropped the visa on a carbon frame gravel bike--just in time to get out and condition a bit for a vt back road tour over in that great state next door. this week has been a bit drippy for riding, we have had 3 inches since monday. it is hard to stay off a new bike though and i have pedaling between the drops.

a test ride around a loop in the shaker woods, one we ski when there is snow, got me pretty excited. it was light and wicked agile. going up was, not easy, but doable--most of the way. going down, fast, was doable all the way, thanks a good deal to the disc brakes on front and back. i got back to the shop and robbie convinced me--mostly by just unboxing a frame and promising to build me up, a custom cycle. 

i gave them the weekend to do their own thing and two rainy days. wednesday morning as i rolled up on the ol' nishiki, robbie met me at the door, "we just finished!" while i swept the floor he swapped out my peddles and adjusted the seat to match what i had on the nishiki. i rolled out the door and headed back to the woods across the road. they had put on a bigger gear ratio and i definitely felt the difference. pedaling up steeper sections i started spinning out in the leaves and muddy spots. i walked less, but still got pretty sweaty going up. i wasn't thinking about the heat coming down, mostly because i had to work the brakes hard to keep from launching myself.

when i came out of the woods i went for a cool down ride on the road to test a smoother ride. it was wicked nice. the brifters were a new convenience for me and shifting is something i will be doing a lot more, micro adjusting for a steady cadence. a few miles out, a few miles back, the sweat and bit of rain had practically dried out of my shirt. we settled on the bill and i rode off back to school, and a photo op.

big thanks to robbie and dick at drummond's--they know bikes and get to know you as a biker, when you come in. their jokes about my upgrade--it only took 34 years--were spot on and made me feel loved rather than shamed. 

now, when it stops raining for longer than an hour or two, i am going back outside to play...! 

a month and more...

lots of playing outside! much less blogging.

out in the garden early today, then again after lunch, about seven hours--still not caught up after a week away up to popham beach. this year i was wondering what would grow while we were away. it has been a really dry spring but we had gotten 2 1/2" of rain thursday the 28th, two days before we left. i had weeded on friday, but all that water and a week of sun and heat pushes growth like crazy.

sure enough, everything had put on a lot of green, plants and weeds alike. by five this evening i had to come inside and rest my back. i came back out to water and snapped this picture, complete with cows in the background. the electric fence is my feeble attempt after a few years off, to keep deer from grazing the vegetable isles. this year was the first time i ever saw them go after tomatoes! so far my little solar zapper seems to be working. a week at the ocean is totally worth a long day--or two--in the garden. 

it has been plenty busy all june, but since the last post of the four MOC 'campers' i have gotten in a few good outings, and one monster bruise! pam and i had run up south peak on moose mountain one saturday from the canaan side of wolfboro road to where the AT crosses. i try to hike a few times a month barefoot. it helps me pace myself when i am with pam and gives the bottoms of my feet a workout. i swear, even though pam laughs at the idea, that i pick up a fine silt making things pretty slippery down there. at least that's my story as to why i slipped on the stairs the next day.


my lower back swelled up like a balloon. some arnica and vitamin i fooled me into riding down to windsor the next morning to meet with the PBEE, place based environmental education, wellborn folks. just a bike ride might have been ok--but maybe i should have past on the five mile kayak paddle down the connecticut. my chiropractor might not agree, but i don't think it made it too much worse. of course a week later, the first time i went into the ocean, a fellow cabin dweller we've known for years, came up and pulled at my trunks, "i don't mean to get fresh, but what the heck did you do?" do you think all that color makes my butt look big?



the cold water hopefully sped up the healing. i say cold but, it didn't seem as frigid as it sometimes gets. pam even went in on three different days, one day for two long swims. i was in at least once a day and noticed that as the week went on, the temperature seemed to go up--at least i could stay in longer. one low tide, sadie and i swam out a fair bit where it felt a lot colder. coming back in, we both clearly sensed passing into a warm zone.

while i wasn't swimming, i was often reading. one of our favorite times is after five, when the beach pretty much clears out. we sit and read until one of us gets hungry enough to go up and cook supper.

another routine i have is an early morning beach walk to collect toys and things that get left behind by the crowds. this year was big on clothing as well as buckets, shovels and flip-flops. the treasures on sunday and monday helped me make early plan to make the yearly 'sculpture' like the three figures pictured below.

the cartwheeling figure was inspired by 6 year old katherine, who jumped up and did a perfect one when i asked her how she liked gymnastics. when her craig, her father and a long time cabin dweller, announced he could do better, she quickly flubbed one and told him, "that's how you do it." the tree pose was an ode to two namaste yoga mats i found one morning. the lttle release the beast croquette player got built to use up the 9 different bucket handles i picked up--finally, a way to place the ubiquitous but rather useless handles.



friday was our one rainy day for the most part, but warm-ish and not bad for building a "go outside and play" theme. 

last year's sculpture, the picture to the left taken just before halloween, was up through the winter, but my buddy tom, a semi-permanent cabin dweller and off season documentarian, has informed me that the rangers are saying they have to take this year's down as the clothing counts as debris. 

i wonder how they classified all the stuff hung from the dream catcher last year?

oh, well art is ephemeral...and why worry when i have plenty of weeding to keep me busy!

spring has definitely sprung...

the snow is all gone around here and now its all hiking and biking!

i have been up cardigan a few times with the 14" 'big boy' hand saw, tactfully avoiding the several large blow downs up high on the west ridge, south ridge, and a couple on skyland trail. sooner or later i will lug up the chain saw but this morning it was all about an early summit and my first barefoot outing.



a few MOC stalwarts had gone up the night before for a late fish fry and sleep over. i made a batch of muffins for a surprise breakfast and was bringing thinking i might be able to sneak in under a thick cloud cover and catch them still sleeping. it was definitely foggy and bare feet are pretty stealthy, but two of the four were already out of their sleeping bags having already taken a little walk-about around the tower!

when i topped over the rock they were using as a pillow, i heard some laughing and "it's koby, and he's barefoot." the only surprise was that it was five in the morning.

"when did you start hiking to get up here so early?"

"even earlier...i brought muffins!"

i ate one myself--they were tasty--and chatted a bit before heading down to 'stir the clivus'. it wasn't even 6:00 yet but i actually met a woman hiking up. i also took a couple of photo opportunity stops.

























the FLF, frail-little-fellow as pam calls them, was out for its early morning crawl. the lady slipper wasn't strolling at all, but then slippers tend to stay pretty close to home.

it was a fine way to spend a couple hours "outside and playing!"

corn snow at the skiway...

and high avalanche danger up in tuckerman and huntington ravines--where would you rather ski?




it must be dangerous up north as i heard the warnings on nhpr this morning. extreme weather reports, out of gray maine, have been around a while, but i have only heard avalanche warnings once before. when i looked at the mt washington avalanche report, i noticed immediately the different colors on the graphics compared to last week when MOC was planning on being there. check out "lots and lots of ice" to see the difference.


the new snow we skied up on cardigan yesterday, was the source of slide danger on mt washington. snow pushed around by high winds, will build up in slabs. if those slabs are atop unstable snows, avalanches are more likely--especially triggered by human activity or rising temperatures and sun. those two things sound an awful lot like a nice saturday in april!









down 'south', that sun was the skiers' best friend. warmer temps would soften up the top layer of the plenty of snow left over from ski areas snow making. skip and i packed up and headed to the skiway about 3:00p, a tad late-ish, but a tea celebrating the queen's birthday pre-empted anything earlier. when we got parked and geared up, we choose the winslow side for a first run as we could forego the skins to summit that side. 

fairly soon, we had to take our jackets off. the day's wardrobe didn't match as well as friday's. skip had the camera today, but for some reason, the quality on video mode is really low--read awful.

i didn't realize how unfocused things were, and borrowed the camera to capture skip coming down the next headwall. as i look at the two, i realize how different our styles are. or maybe that just comes out on wide open slopes, in the trees, you won't see it that much. oh, you might want to mute your sound, unless you like heavy breathing.

the winslow side had plenty of sun at that hour, but we were pretty pumped to run down warden's schuss over on the holt's ledge runs. that half of the area was mostly shaded and had been since we got there. we would be skinning up holt's side as it was a lot steeper and needed extra sticky. fortunately, the temperature was warm enough to corn up the top, even in the shade. we saw a number of fresh, deeply carved tracks from somebody--or most likely -bodies--cruising at speed giving us hope.


since this run is a dartmouth alpine race course, there is snowmaking the entire winter--leaving plenty of snow in the spring. i snapped a picture of the skipper climbing the upper, steepest headwall on the mtn. along the orange safety netting. click on the picture and you might be able to pick out the group of skiers at the top.



the group of four, were on their second run so one of them could throw a 360° off the jump you can just make out on the top right in the picture.


there was still a bit of sun and a bench up at the summit for us to relax, take skins off, and have a snack & water break. skip got the camera out and somehow set it differently, now it took video in blk & wht but it was much clearer. it was so smooth, it looks like i can ski.

the butter soft snow in the video, got a bit stiffer as we tipped over the edge into the 'dark'. if the steep and stiff didn't keep you on it, crossing the 'racer' groups' big carved tracks would wake you up. i turned toward the netting and found a soft untracked line which ran most of the way down. when the net ended, i started experimenting going over the side lip left from grooming. i had one chattering moment, making skip wonder if i would end up in the trees. i got back on the flat trying for the little launch i had seen going up. the salient word is "little" and any lift i got was minimal.

we skied down to grass and unbuckled...it was another big smile day in the after season.

go outside and play!