more sun than you can 'shake a stick at'...

although why you would want to, is a fair question!

ok, friday's wet, snowy day was not sunny. and the 4 inches of mush was looking pretty sketchy at best. but i had to try something to get off the first couch, out of the second book, and away from a third pot of tea. so i loaded the usual gear and went to check out the shaker wma. i figured even if it was crappy, i could stop in for the friday sweep at drummonds. 

it was, crappy-ish, though it took two runs and a wintry mix blessing my head and shoulders to convince me. i bailed on a third try and went over to drummonds to pick up a broom. i went to bed that evening feeling satisfied that i had accomplished something.

when i woke saturday morning i was not expecting to see it still snowing. four more inches of white on the ground and the thermometer down around twenty boded well for a proper ski, sans broom. when it started clearing around 10:00a, i figured skip would be calling any moment. 

the phone finally rang around 1:00p--which made perfect sense, it was post lunch-o'clock! i went and fetched him and his gear and we headed up to cardigan. we played the 'guess how many cars in the lot' game and were both shocked to see it full up--many of them snow covered from being there overnight. i parked roadside, happy to see there was a lot more snow up here than down below.



as you can see by the trees, the snow was a little sticky, so we started up with no skins attached. the lines of white you can see in my picture are all on the south side of the trees. the wind overnight was obviously coming out of that unusual direction, but i had heard it might be a 'nor-easter' coming up the coast and dumping some snow in the mountains. lucky for us it did. 

our luck continued as we got higher, it got deeper! i snapped a picture of skip practically skiing over the east amc sign, normally three feet or more above the ground. equally amazing, at least to me, is how long he adjusts his poles. he swears he goes faster.

besides deeper, the snow was drier and getting slippery-er. i convinced skip it would be both faster and easier if we skinned-up before the steep sections on the ski trail. he is always game for going up fast and easy.



in no time we were up at the top of the chute, only slightly bummed that a snowshoer had gotten there before us. the track spoiled the pristine line so i didn't bother to take a picture. the cornice was even bigger than it had been when we had hiked up last weekend. the drop in was sweet and i felt pretty good hooking around the mostly buried pine at the corner a hundred feet after. that was when i saw the huge 'mogul' in the middle of the narrow path! there was no avoiding some airtime...i stayed upright and got in a few good turns after. 

skip must have done something similar as i heard a big whoop not too long after. by the time he came around the corner he was wearing a huge smile! we took off, stoked that conditions were about as good as they get up here. 

at one point i grabbed his camera and skied down to get a movie of him coming through the woods on one of his favorite lines. unfortunately, his little cannon, works a bit differently than mine. i got a good movie of my skis and the three whistles we signal each other with. here is a picture of the fresh line--goes straight up beyond the tracks--at least. you can thank me you can't hear the whistles.

turns out, it was pretty slow so he just kind of cruised along with minimal turn action. at the next steep section, i got another video of skis and whistles. here, again, is his untracked line with my tracks coming in from the side.

oh well, i can't tease him about his camera skills anymore. especially after he took a great still of my run further down, skiing the skinny side of the creek.


we skied out the rest of the way over the moon at how good conditions were. so good, that i suggested we go run the glades over to shaker wma. still smiling, skip said sure.


immediately, we bailed on the glades but decided since we were over here, to just ski to the upper junction. there was barely two inches of really crusty snow over a tracked up icy base. before descending i snapped a picture of us as happy campers. i was not sure how long that would last.




i took off and after a handful of turns was thankful we didn't go any higher! you had to stand taller and pretty much cruise the fall line. it was fast, but not totally furious. 

once skip got the hang of it, he agreed that it wasn't too terrible, just felt like a let down compared to our earlier run. to humor him, i said i would go back up cardigan and sled with him and linda in the morning.


and that is what we did! i picked the lovers up and we found an open spot up at the winter lot. the overnighters were still there. it was a beautiful day, even warming up enough we had to remove layers by the time we got up to summer lot. we kept them off all the way to turnaround rock. 



we tied up our sleds and put all our layers back on just past that. it was plenty breezy up top, but you could see a long ways--all the way to mt washington.




the sleds were waiting for us. i got there a bit early and took right off to go set up for another video session. i almost kept going the sledding was so good in the deep stuff! but i was also pretty keen on getting a video--without skis and whistles.

i won't put in the one of skip as his run was pretty lame. but linda's was smooth, especially after she took off her micro-spikes.

turns out linda had the fast sled. the 'hole' in skip's was enlarging as we went. and i couldn't stay out of the powder, which was so much fun, but a ton slower. 

we passed quite a few folks coming up as we went. i kept going 'off trail' and managed to avoid most. toward the summer lot, i finally convinced skip to follow me into the fluff. he zoomed by me at one point and plowed into the ditch at the bottom. i managed to slow down and stop. i also had to stop laughing as his legs started cramping as he lay there sprawled out.

on the road out, i tried laying down face first. it worked ok, but by the final section, i was back, mostly sitting up, feet forward, making turns. now that was fine way to go outside and play!

just another sunny day...

the sun came up this morning, shining on a thin blanket of new snow that had fallen over night. having spent a good portion of yesterday inside, the fresh white motivated me to get outside and play.

but first i had to listen to one of my favorite shows, on the media. as soon as that finished, i called skip and convinced him to hike up cardigan. that was easy. the hard part was it coming on lunch o'clock. i suggested he eat quickly and i would stop in to pick him up.

he was well fed and happy when i got over there and got himself dressed and packed without too much drama. we were out the door and going down the road--well, up the first stretch--just after noon.

i am not sure why he was surprised to see "four cars...?!" in the winter parking area, it was a beautiful day. we donned our micro-spikes, stowed our jackets, and started hiking. 

we met a friend andy, up at the picnic tables in the summer parking area with two of his buddies. they were snacking after their hike. still thinking about the cars down below, skip calculated that there would be one more person above, at least on the west ridge.

maybe that encouraged us to take south ridge when the two trails split. it's always fun looping, going up the steeper, icy south and coming down west. the weather of late, would make the ice flows the trail crosses thick and exciting.





we stopped to capture our mugs on either side of the bottom section--it looked really 'cool'. rounding the corner and switching back beyond skip in the above picture, we got to the upper flow, which maybe was even 'cooler'!



a tiny icy cave under the large rock on the right made me wonder how long that would stay frozen into the spring. one never knows, but i will put my money on ice into late may, possibly even june if the weather stays on the cold side. i will have to hike it some to check on that. 


not long after the flows we came out of the woods onto the ridge and could see up to the tower. the high rock was mostly bare, but some solid lines of snow got skip testing the surface every hundred yards or so--"this wouldn't be bad skiing!" 



i wasn't convinced. the salient adjective above was "solid"--any skis sliding today, would be sliding really fast. just to be sure, we turned off to check out the top of the chute. i was telling skip how the cornice was building up like crazy. the drop was part of the "furious" i posted back the last time i went off it! we took some pictures as it was even bigger today.



sliding down on his butt helped skip judge the speed he would be going down on skis. when he was back on top talking about dropping in this way or that, i got the feeling he was dreaming. if not, it would have made a great video!

we got up to the summit and met the predicted one other person, jeremy. turns out we knew him in a bunch of different ways. skip had even been to his wedding--it's a small world. it was plenty windy and we didn't stay too long. 

nor did we dawdle on our descent. the only time i really slowed was passing two skiers going up. i stared a bit waiting for skip to say something. he kept quiet, but maybe he was thinking what i was: "their run down is going to be crazy!"


on the summer road toward the bottom, he did mention "i'm surprised those skiers didn't catch us yet." i chalked it up to prudence which probably slowed them now and again. as we walked by the shelter, i found a swix hat frozen onto the concrete under a picnic table. that just about made my day--i've always wanted a swix hat.


the weather, the company, the mountain, the hat... it was a grand day to be outside playing!

it's a good thing...

being outside playing, i have not put up any new posts for a bit, but there has been plenty of activity!

today, i am suffering heat stroke, so i have come inside to cool off a bit--that is almost true. i got back to the house between helping kate and matt load the moving van and going back to unload it after their closing. the thermometer read 42 around 10 o'clock.

this warm-ish spell comes after a couple of weeks of solid cold, interspersed with 4-6 inches of snow here and there. three weeks ago i took a 'before' picture of the path down to the compost, followed by an 'after' a snow shot a week ago.



unfortunately, the fairly frequent snow has been mixed some with frozen rain more than once. this has given the surface a substantial crust, which makes for really fast skiing. after a couple 'fast and furious' runs, i have suspended running cardigan for the time being. pam and i have been getting out around here, on snowshoes and skis.





we went up over town hill on yet another bright sunny day, down to the marsh between the beaver dams. it strikes me as i write this that i have heard several people talk about how they "wish the sun would come out once in a while." the series of pam on the way up features the sun overhead.


the one of both of us at the marsh has the sun on our faces--and reflecting off my forehead. if you click on that one and look closely, there is a set of fox tracks over pam's shoulder.



during the week i took a bunch of solo trips over at lasalette after work. i have been trying to get a couple of runs in before dark, finishing with the big hill. i forgot the camera the first night which was ok as it was too fast to stop for a picture. as i came down the field to the truck, i realized my jacket and hat were flapping. i don't think i had ever gone that fast down that section. i zoomed right by the two bird houses i usually weave as gates.


the next time i remembered the camera and stopped on my way to the glades to get a picture looking north over the potato field. up at that elevation, the snow was pretty deep and not too crusty. that got me excited to ski the trees.


the trees were deep in the snow, but the skiing was pretty sketchy. i could stick in the fall line for about 5-6 turns until the speed was too much for me. after a hockey stop and a breath for sanity, i turned back down hill. finally, with the safety of the wide open field within reach, i let it go and zoomed out of the woods in a big arc and long whoop.



that was almost too exhilarating. but, then again, i was upright and smiling. skiing out to truck i was thinking, more snow would make that run a lot safer/fun.


i came back one more weekday--without the camera--and things were about the same, only i stayed out of the glades and stuck to the woods roads. it was great and a coming snow on the weekend was promising to make it even better. i would have to call skip and bring him along.


the snow did come for the weekend after a 'bluebird' sky on saturday. pam and i went out around her little loop and i practiced a little rock hopping. it was again, like butter making turns in the field. the sun warmed and softened the snow to a perfect consistency, not super fast, but very comfortable. pam made a movie which turned out to be in slow motion--funny enough for me, but not exactly exciting.


it started snowing that night and dropped about 5" inches of medium wet snow. the temperature stayed in the freezing range. skip came over after lunch o'clock and we headed over to lasalette.

we left the skins in our packs and scaled up the main trunk. we turned around for a quick try on the top of that run and found the speed inviting enough to go back up and try the steeper side--moses johnson half.

since i brought the camera this time, we took shots of the two of us, ready to go.



the snow was super sweet. halfway down i thought to get a video of skip carvin' it up. but by the time i stopped and got the camera out, he came to a stop above me. i got that shot. the snow was really just about perfect. it had been tracked up by a couple of snowshoers and their dogs, but somewhat filled back in with the new snow.

almost to the bottom, i was flying around the final zig-zag corner when some hidden ice slid my skis out from under me. i went with the flow into a combination tip-/worm- roll. it probably looked pretty funny but skip missed it having his own fun carving his own turns above. when he finally pulled up, he still had a good laugh at me lying on the ground.

we made it to the bottom with whoops, hitting the bottom earth berms, launching us for some final air. we turned left and headed toward a short cut to the feast grounds, for a final pitch down the big field to the truck.

i had told skip about how fast things had been during the week, but today the speed was just about right. i remembered to weave the bird houses, hunting for the untracked patches down the big hill. it felt really good--both of us were smiling pretty big as we got to the truck.


it was a great day--a whole bunch of days--to be outside and playing! 

fast and furious...

like the movie franchise, this year's 'descents at speed' sequels are getting up there in number! with this posting, i could easily be on 8, 9, and 10 now!


let's start with a late run on the james jewitt trail, over a week ago now. it was late in the afternoon when i finally got my act together, geared up, and heading out on the jjt--the green trail going counter clockwise--over at lswma.


when i say late afternoon, i mean after 4p, with the sun headed over the horizon. the four or five inches of fluff on top of a somewhat solid crust, seemed fast from the start, and as the temperature dropped, it only got more slippery. the dark was coming fast as well, so i turned at the potato field, locked down, and pushed off. i figured the cruising the less steep jewitt in semi-dark would be safer than flying the sustained, steeper moses in more-dark.


probably a good choice. i was having so much fun playing the edges: zipping up and dropping back off banks, hitting rock launches,  turning totally off trail and weaving trees. well, mostly weaving them. a couple of smaller branches i was unable to avoid; at speed and with the dimming light, i barely saw them as they whipped my cheeks. by the time i made it back to the truck i had a few scars, but i was smiling big!

the following day, i made it a point to get going a lot earlier. and given the great snow, i decided to try a cardigan run. hoping the crust was just as firm and maybe even topped by deeper snow, i figured it should be a really sweet run.

it certainly was a beautiful 'blue bird' day. i grabbed a picture of the upper ski trail before i skinned up. it was definitely slippery and the crust seemed a little sketchier than over at lasalette. while i had the camera out i snapped an image of what was going on under ski on the way up.











besides the collapsing crust, the snow was not any 'extra' deep here either, but i kept going higher hoping. at the top of the chute i grabbed another couple of pictures while i still had on a smile and wasn't wearing any new scars! this was going to be fast and i would be chasing control as much as fun.




dropping into the chute off the growing top cornice--well over my head this trip--was enough to get the juices flowing. good thing too as it didn't get any less exciting the rest of the run. on the top tight section, i took two hemlock/snow splats to the face. on the next piece i was feeling good and 'hucked' the ice flow, landed it, and was railing the run out thinking, "i got this."

that might have been a bit premature. immediately,  my skis slid out from under me and i went down--sliding toward a tree and a new scar. fortunately i lost speed quickly and was able to tuck my head in and 'take one for the gipper.' (that's paraphrasing--and i never did like reagan.) as i got up i thought of linda always reminding skip to "wear your helmet!"

the rest of the descent i kept on top of things--i.e. my skis and the snow--and away from any trees. it was indeed a sweet run.

the following week, after another 4-5 inches, i decided to give it another try. this time i left the house and was on my skis before noon. i even remembered to grab the camera and my wallet. it was much colder, but another brilliantly clear day and i had the idea to take an artsy picture of my shadow skinning up getting first tracks! that's when i discovered i had left the camera--and wallet--on the front seat.

no problem, i would be down in plenty of light to get a picture, at least of the lower section. as i continued up, i was plotting how to avoid any craziness this time and opted to stop early and ski from below the ice flow. that turned out to be a very wise choice as it was even faster than it was last time.

i made it down to the lower middle section, without mishap and in pretty good style. feeling pumped, i opened it up a bit, staying in the fall line down one of my favorite sections. unfortunately, i flew right by the shortcut to side hill a wicked gully rather than hitting it straight on. i skidded out trying to stop and slid toward another tree and more scars. this time i lay on my back, dragging my pack to cut speed. that worked well but i couldn't watch where i was going and both my knees thudded against said tree, bringing me to a halt.

my first thought was damn, the knee i tweaked earlier in feb. was all better. when i got back up, it moved without too much pain but i was now thinking, not only should i be wearing a helmet, i'm gonna have to get knee pads too!

playing it safe, i hockey stopped at the top of the next sustained drop and stayed upright for the remaining steep bits. by the time i got to the lower road, i was playing the edges again, looking for excitement!

i got to the truck and fetched the camera for a couple of final shots. i was still the only soul on the mountain.


















the knees might be sore tomorrow, but for now i was feeling happy to be outside playing!






ps--sawyer came up for a visit and the next day he and i went for a ski in the morning. we limited ourselves to pam's snowshoe trail and the field. not nearly so furious, we had a lot of fun, especially turning in the field. it was like butter out in the open. under the trees, the crust was waiting to grab you--more like butter, then glue, then butter, then glue...! the answer clearly was to stay in the field--it was beautiful out there!

not an expedition--more a fest...

expeditions often involve long hours of hard work, getting somewhere--and back--that seems significant, maybe even extreme. they usually include multiple people, but a solo journey can certainly qualify. the word epic sometimes fits the effort.

a few weeks ago, over four days, i spent a good number of hours at the lower shaker wildlife management area, working trails for the annual shaker museum snowshoe fest. i had already put in a bunch of solo days clearing blowdowns. on one long afternoon, with a chain saw, going well into dark, i cut out a dozen big trees and managed to get pam all worried. 

it took two days of marking, thursday with a team of joanie, susan and i, and friday with harrison. saturday, harrison, joanie, and i re-grouped and stationed ourselves at strategic spots to help guide snowshoers on the three different trails.



sawyer also joined us on saturday and led a couple of younger gentlemen with intellectual disabilities. travis, a former student i had in a couple of classes, was as enthusiastic as ever. 

enthusiasm was a good thing as it was really windy--as in really, really windy--and plenty cold. we fitted snowshoes inside the cellar of the stone mill, and didn't take our jackets off.

a while after they left, i took off in the opposite direction and ended up meeting them on the down hill part of their trail with a sled.

the surface was frozen and really fast--as in, again, really, really fast--so for their first run on the 'big hill', we started from a ways down. soy took a panorama of us getting ready. trevor was first to try it and whooped pretty much the whole way. we got a second sled and they went down racing each other, with twice the volume. 

an hour or so later i went back to coax them in to warm up and eat some lunch. i didn't see them again until at the very end of the day as i was packing up snowshoes. their two pairs were leaning against the mill. they were back up on the hill sledding! i wish i would have gotten a picture of that fun.

the next morning, i met harrison really early--ok, not all that early, but before harrison usually gets out and about. we split up and swept the flagging from all the trails, managing to gather them all in less than two hours, without crisscrossing, as if we planned it.

it was a fine four days to be outside and playing!

ps thanks again to: joanie, susan, harrison, and sawyer on trails; carol and daughter on sleds; mvrhs honor society students, peggy, happy, and clark on snowshoes; ll bean-ers on crafts...