up high and in the wind...

the smartphone is still in the rice--but i am getting out and about!

the wintery mix has been with us of late, the couple inches of pellet-y snow under ice now after a few hours of rain inspired me to climb up cardigan and check out the local conditions 'up high'. 

the drive to the winter parking lot was not as bad as it probably was on friday but as i came up the last hill it was snowing hard. it was somewhat hard to see the women who walks her three or four, 'coated' dogs, up to the height of land. i also spotted andre, a former student and MOC member walking along chatting on his phone beneath a jacket laid over his head. we said hi, but he declined to walk up the mtn.

i strapped on my creepers and went up alone. the summer road in was mostly much softer than i expected. on the lower sections of the ski trail, i almost could have used gaiters, snow was about six mushy inches. i stayed to the trail after that and after the waterfall started meeting folks. to a group, each spoke of how windy and cold it was on the top. you could hear the wind rushing through the tops of the trees, so perhaps it was bad on the bald top where there was nothing to break it.

at the 'east amc' sign stuck in a low cairn i met laura and tim. we chatted about wind speed and how most people think it much higher than it is. i carry an anemometer, and they said they would look this post up if i would measure and record it. 

before i got to the top, two other groups passed me with their own wind-cold stories. one gentleman warned that "i hope you have a hat and gloves" as he assured me winds "had to be higher than 50 miles per hour." the young woman with him exclaimed, "it has to be 10° below!" i think i mumbled something like it must feel bad if you are not used to it.

the next couple, from the boston area, were also impressed with the weather, but didn't seem to have the same exaggerated forecast. the gentleman was even interested in possibly doing some backcountry skiing on the mountain. i mentioned my wind speed mission and gave them the blog url.

coming up onto the bare rock, the wind was indeed stiff, but not exceptional. i zipped up, put my hat and gloves on, and got out the anemometer. i measured as i went along up to the high spot, just west of the tower. the wind out of the west, north west, was pretty steady around 20 mph. i was thinking that would be about right, but stayed around to see if it got any higher. there were some higher gusts, up above 30 mph, but not much more. so maybe, 35 mph, certainly no more than 40 mph. 

running along on the way down, i wondered if either of the two couples whom i gave kobyvanbeest.blogspot.com to, would ever get the 'official' measurement. laura, tim, bc skier, and partner--if you see this great. and if you have any pictures from the hike, feel free to send them to kobyvanbeest@gmail.com. 

i did catch up with the one group with the hyperbolic wind speeds and temps. the man asked, and i gave him what i had measured before running on.

it was a great day to be outside and playing!

more skating--the thick and thin of it...

5 golden hours, 4 cold nights, 3 warm days, 2 different lakes, and a pair of skates on my feet...

maybe not perfectly tuneful, but you get the point--merry christmas and a happy new year! sunday i met skip, linda, and eben over to grafton pond for an after noon skate-a-thon. sunny, warm-ish, not too windy, fairly large patches of pretty smooth ice, what's not to love?

as i am want to say, "do you want the long list or the short one?" i will give you the short one now, a thin layer of ice over water from all that rain and warm. in the first minute skip's blades cut through--he went from racing along to flopped down hard in an instant. from then on we were actively sussing out those soft spots...avoiding the weakest spots, looking for their special glint and listening for the tell tale, high pitched crackling that spreads like a web from under your blades.

grafton pond is a wonderfully diverse skate, with all kinds of nooks and crannies, loaded with boulders, stumps and islands, protruding from the frozen surface. i was enjoying finding some interesting lines, criss-crossing the middles of bays and exploring the edges. at one point i aimed myself between a large boulder and a fallen tree. as i glided through i started hearing the web-crackling and made a turn toward what i thought would be harder ice.

long story short, i flopped like skip only instead of ice below me, i was doing the plank to avoid the few inches of water on top of the old, thicker ice. extricating myself carefully, i kept the soaking to the front of my legs and my gloves. if i kept skating, i knew i would dry.

it was about 15 minutes later, going to take a picture of linda gliding along in the distance, her blue jacket sandwiched between the ice and sky, i noticed my phone was gone. not hard to figure it out--it had to be back in the water. sure enough, when i skated back, i could see it lying atop the old, bottom ice, beneath the thin, broken top ice--in the water.

i picked it up and stuffed it into my pants pocket. skating up to skip, we heard the tone of an incoming message. something was still working. a few minutes later, another tone made me take it out and look. i took a picture of the pendletons, thinking maybe i was going to be lucky.

the image was still pretty sharp. even the shadow of the phone in my hands looks clear.

we skated for another couple hours, circumnavigating the winding shoreline, from cove to cove. toward the end, we found a couple of clean, smooth lines that crossed one of the widest portions of the pond and skated back and forth multiple times. at one point linda lay on the ice, absorbing the sun and resting up for a final push against the strengthening wind.

as we took off our blades we were all smiling--it was a sweet skate.


so sweet i woke up on monday and went off to try goose pond's ice. bright sun again, colder-ish, and about the same wind. i was all alone this time and able to fly to the north end with a couple of side trips exploring and launching off ice rising up sharply around sunken boulders. one large flake jutting up at a sharp angle lifted me into the air for a couple of feet when i hit it with good speed.


getting to the northernmost cove on the lake included crossing a stream of water running along a crack from the western to eastern shores. i wasn't too worried about falling through, but i didn't want do any more push ups in the water on the surface like at grafton pond. once across, the ice deteriorated, so i made a quick loop and recrossed the watery crack.


zigging and zagging, shore to shore i came back to the dam at the south end. i tried taking a panoramic, but this time the image was really blurry--i assumed moisture had finally infiltrated to the electronics and was now doing its damage.

the dam to the left, the 'beach' to the right, and the shadow pointing pretty much toward the north end makes for a weird perspective.

even with the failing phone/camera, it was a grand day outside and playing. when i go back inside, i will see if the ol' bag of rice trick can make the phone 'smart' again. 

skating on thick ice...

given the big snows we had after the initial freeze up, i was not expecting much of a skating season after the couple of heavenly black ice days we had back at thanksgiving. boy, was i wrong!


--and happy to be so.


last sunday i saw a flurry of texts that friends were going out on mascoma lake. i had heard the night before that conditions were prime. grabbing skates and some outerwear, i went to find them. jonie's and bob's house was the gathering spot, but i assumed they were already out on the ice as i could see a chair and a bag out a ways from shore.


i followed the boot tracks down and geared up. these folks were all using nordic skates--the same kind pam and i have--a ski boot and long blades mounted with ski bindings. the free heel setup and extra long blades, make perfect 'pond ice' skates.

way off in the distance, i spotted a half dozen tiny figures and headed toward them. amazingly, the ice was nearly as smooth as it had been before all the snow. with the wind at my back it was fast. that--the wind direction part, not the speed--surprised me as the prevailing wind is exactly the opposite, not today though. i ran into the group quickly, as they were pushing against the wind. i recognized all the women and figured the remaining skater still back by the bridge had to be billy, the guy in the group. i skated on to meet him.

we were all skating together toward the south end of the lake--against the wind. we ran into a wide swath, crossing the entire lake, where i saw the answer to why the ice was so nice. billy, who lives on the lake, explained that the warm, windy days had 'opened' things and the huge chunks had pushed to this end. last weeks cold refroze it all back up. now the south end was chunky and snowy. the rest, was nice and flat save for huge 'running' faults where water had come up and refroze into a bumpy white network--a lake size spider web.

if i had a drone, that would have made a good picture. instead of photographing, i kept skating. when the women went in billy and i made another end to end loop. we met some other skaters, who warned us we should have hand spikes incase we fell through. as we skated away, billy said he had a pair, somewhere--i gave mine away. billy went off toward his house and i made another big loop back to jonie's launch. as soon as i took off my skates, i remembered i should take a photo.

the 'pano' function, running left to right, would be looking north to the bridge, east toward cloud covered cardigan, and then south, where you can see a couple of houses at the shoreline. the white spider lines are barely visible as is a lone skater on the left, way off in the distance.

it was such a lovely day, i planned to go back. unfortunately, a small storm on monday, dropped a couple of inches of fairly wet snow. that did not promise well. the saving grace was a big drop in temperature and crazy strong winds all monday night. as i headed out the door tuesday, i had my skates with me, and the camera.

still trying to master the panoramic view, i tried for a repeat of sunday's image. obviously the ice is not as clean and hence wasn't as smooth. as i started pushing toward the bridge i noticed my skates were dull and could use a good sharpening. the prevailing winds today were back to northwest-southeast and as don mahler used to say, "the hawk was flying!"--i assumed that was a reference to colman hawkins, but never asked.

wind over ice is always stronger than on land. today, stronger was an understatement. but as i opened 'ttyol' with yesterday, "the hard, uncomfortable, slow struggle was more to my liking than the easy, comfortable, fast success." 

i found pam's spikes...

when i got to the bridge, i wanted badly to skate under and keep going all the way to the dam on the far north end. open water gave me pause enough that the wind literally turned my body and started me going back south. i went with the wind, prudence seemed a drier choice than valor. that and i didn't have any 'hand spikes'.

flying south, the chunky end came up quickly. when i turned, i stopped to take a picture looking up and down the lake. you can make out the chunky end of things behind my head.

heading back into the wind, i found my bag, took the blades off, and hiked back to the truck parked at drummonds. despite the diminished ice surface, the brutal wind, and my *dull skates--"like a pickle" *according to dick--it was indeed a grand day to be outside and playing!

ps--i went over today to skate a few laps and ran into two other skaters. going along and chatting, one of them casually noted "those skates are pretty old..." as i was agreeing and admitting they also needed to be sharpened--remember they were "dull as a pickle"--i realized it was jamie. 

jamie started the nordic skater where pam and i had gotten our skates way back at his original shop in downtown norwich. kerstin, a colby-sawyer professor, was skating with him. i had seen her on sunday, she was the one who suggested we have hand spikes. i noticed she wasn't wearing hers today.

after jamie had to leave, kerstin and i took another loop and discovered lots of connections. her "it's such a small world" let me know she was a kindred soul...

the annual winter harvest...

we have been cutting a christmas tree here on broadbeest farm since 1988...

soy, sitting on the tree so it won't get away--'91...

soy and i mid '90s            ...            sadie and i late '90s

all of us in the '00s...

bringing it home in the '10s...

this year it was fun to have sadie and otavio looking for theirs and sawyer joining the hunt and photographing the event. we missed hannah and her keen eye for trees!

note: in brazil, december is obviously summer!

the snow cover helped fun the spirit of gathering the tree even though it was a warm-ish day. we found sadie's and otavio's "little" one first. after cutting it and a proud 'family' photo, i handed o the clippers with a warning, "careful." he didn't know what i meant until after snipping a couple of branches, a chorus of "whoa-s...stop-s...and no-s..." rang out.


the tradition of 'trimming' the tree, at least for the broadley side of the broadbeests, is restricted to hanging things on it, not cutting off unruly branches.


finding pam's and my tree, followed another broadley tradition, that of spotting about a half-dozen possibilities, tromping from one to another--and circumnavigating each--and debating their finer points. remember, these are 'wild' trees, growing under a much taller canopy, which pretty much means they will be fairly skimpy. a "charlie brown-er" as pam's dad used to call them.






this year, it didn't take too long to come to consensus on which tree would make 'the cut', so to speak. sawyer, creative with perspective again, caught the moment.









with trees on shoulders, we were hiking out of the woods in practically no time. we wrapped the one headed to windsor in a tarp while sadie figured out how to lower the seat between the trunk and back, so the bundle would fit in.


the happy couple waved as they drove off, dreaming of stringing lights and hanging decorations.

once i got our tree cut to size and into the stand, soy and i put the lights on after a bowl of soup. he and pam took up hanging decorations and soon enough the scene was set. not too much later sadie texted their version--canaan on the left, windsor to the right.

tis the season--to go outside and play! or in this case cut...

almost too good to be true...

at least for long--ie the whole winter--after all it is only the first of december.

i saw the forecast earlier in the week and figured friday was my window to get up and ski cardigan. plus, mr wilson had stopped in on thursday and reported that he was still cleaning out the 2 feet of snow they got up high in orange. that would mean there would be plenty of coverage up on the mountain.

the winter lot was mostly full when i got there around 10-ish. going up, i only met two folks coming down: a friendly hunter and a "f*^king unemployed carpenter" (his words). what i ran into a lot more were low hanging, snow laden branches and blowdowns. i got the saw out early and took a long time cutting things out and whacking at snow as i went. i kept my hood up.


one skier and one snowboarder had made tracks before me. probably josh who always gets out early, and adam who had emailed he had gotten a split kit. the snow was dense, deep, and best of all drier than it was on wednesday. that meant my skis were sliding smoothly rather than clumping and i needed to skin up as soon as i got to any steep.

it was incredibly beautiful. when i turned off the hiking trail, it was also trackless. the amount of snow only a week off thanksgiving was impressive. everything was filled in and then some.

('classic'--read old--picture)

well, almost everything. once i got up into the low spruce zone, at the east to amc sign,  wet, open holes were everywhere. up the hiking trail, a string of black, wet, stone patches at the bottom of each pit turned me onto the hurricane cutoff. i aimed for top of 'the chute'.


avoiding wet didn't seem like a bad idea, but the open spots were just as numerous going 'east to amc'. i press hard to the edges, often slipping down into the wet holes, catching pack straps on grabby trees, having to stop to adjust my binding after one of my skis fell off--finally, doubting that the chute would be worth it. as i passed the bottom of the chute, the lone snowshoe tracks going my way, turned up. i chose to stay on the trail going around to the top. the wet-bottomed pits and overhanging snow-heavy spruce got worse, but turning around would have been just as hard as going forward--i continued on.

soon enough i broke out onto the ledgy south east shoulder up by the fire warden's cabin and turned up to the top of the chute. i opted to skip the summit and took pictures looking up and down where i took off the skins.



looking down the snowed in chute, most of the snowshoe tracks were covered. looking up to the bald summit, there is a tower up there, beyond my bald head.

i was smiling still when with my boots buckled, skis locked, and my baldness covered up, i pushed off and dropped in over the cornice. i laughed aloud when a handful of turns later i 'face-planted'--big time--in a desperate attempt to avoid one more extremely deep, wet-bottomed hole. a little muscle and a good bit of vinyasa yoga, i extracted myself and slid on.



sliding more carefully, at least around the holes, i zipped past 'east to amc' and didn't stop until i got to the bottom of the next ski trail section. this was the last picture i snapped as the skiing took over.


at the bottom, still smiling, maybe even bigger now, i wheedled around the gate and  slid off the final snow bank and fell into the road at the winter lot. the guy getting into his car about to leave, was probably wondering what kind of fun is that?


with a last bit of yoga, i got out of my skis, picked myself up, and clomped over to my truck--wondering myself, what's not to love about 'going outside and playing!'