snow! what we were waiting for...even better, snow on top of snow. ok the last day it did warm and rain at the end, but the first two storms were all snow. shoveling, skiing, and sledding kept me busy--and happy tired at the end of the day.
it turns out, even though you're out in the weather, you generalize everything. if i don't keep an accurate record in the moment, feelings dominate memory. i round snow depths in 6" increments, sometimes it's just skimpy or deep. same goes for temperatures. single numbers, teens, twenties, and thirties, become cold, cold~ish, cool, and warm. it's windy if >10mph, breezy if <10, and dead still when it's...dead still. then there's the sky, the rare bluebird day, along with somewhat or mostly sunny\cloudy ones.
caution: my feelings and memories about the days, may or may not be supported by any photos.
the days, the adventures, & the memories:
friday, january 20th still snowing in the morning, leaving half a foot of fresh snow on top of a thin base, cool temps, a bit breezy, and definitely cloudy.
after thursday night's snow i was pumped to get out and couldn't wait for skip, so i skied out the dooryard, up over town hill, and back. coverage was skimpy and the snow was fast, but not too furious. i stopped to clean up the path around the truck, even dug out a door from the snow and threw it into the bed.
skip joined me for the afternoon over on the 'secret sherbie' on moose mountain. it was the same, coverage skimpy, snow fast, but not furious. last fall i had built a stump jump on the new alternative ending. i got so excited flying over it at speed, i climbed back up and convinced skip to try it. as the picture above attests, he landed it! it's such a good trail, and now has two endings to choose from.
sat. 21st friday's fresh snow dried out overnight with cold~ish temps making skimpy slightly skimpier--but still fun--a bit breezy, and definitely cloudy. again.
before noon, went solo over to the shaker wildlife management area and on the way up the main trail i met two other skiers, hannah and kenny. they were just skinning up for a finishing run down the fields. i took them back to a stash we keep quiet about. it wasn't too bad where people had not been. plenty fast, not furious. after we skied to their car i went back up and took a run down 3rd left. stopped and got a picture of their early tracks up and mine coming down.
sun. 22nd friday's fresh snow dried out even more with cold~ish temps, coverage less skimpy in windsor, with a slight breeze, but still cloudy. again.
pam and i went down to sadie, otavio, and ethan's to celebrate o's birthday. after a yummy lunch, we went out into the back yard and pulled ethan around in his christmas sled. it was the happiest he was all day.
mon. 23rd more than a foot of fresh snow by morning, with snow still falling most of the day adding up to foot and a half by the end of the day, cold~ish, getting windy, especially out in the open, and like most of this winter, cloudy. again.
early morning, i started up cardigan following adam and friends' tracks. the deep snow had me wicked excited. sadly, before i even got to the summer parking lot, my binding broke and i had to bail. after shoveling for a couple of hours, skip came over and we went back to swma. everything was fresh and deep. we focused on skiing the steep: the bottom half of 3rd left, the 'little sherbie'--2nd left--and the far side of that stash i took hannah and kenny to. we finished down the upper and lower fields. a total of 10+ miles.
our old~er legs were a bit tired from plowing through all that snow, but we were happy!
tues. 24th all that deep ~ish fresh snow settled some, cool, not much of a breeze, and surprise, cloudy. again.
after work, skip came over and we went up and over town hill. much better coverage except for a bare spot at the bottom of the steep pitch below the truck. neither of us took any pictures, but it was great skiing.
wed. 25th snow is still fresh and up high, still deep ~ish, cold~ish, windy~ish--but not bad in the woods--and surprise, surprise, cloudy. again.
mid morning, skip and i went back to moose mtn, skied up to south peak, took a tea break, and hit the AT.
back on the wolfboro road, we cut off into the woods avoiding the open, wet, rocky areas and angled over to connect into the middle of the 'secret sherbie'. we had seen a lone ski track when we went by the bottom on our way up to so peak and knew the 'secret' was out. we can only hope it doesn't go viral. the stump jump was in fine shape. the deeper, slower snow made for less air, but it was still a lot of fun.
thurs. 26th a half a foot of snow got rained on and reduced to 3-4 inches of mush. falling temps from above freezing to well below, froze the surface into a thick crust. getting windy--still not bad in the woods--and no surprise, cloudy. again.
after work, i went back up to the 'secret sherbie' thinking all that mush would be excellent to pack down the jumps and the 'ski hole' in the stone wall. it was great, but as it got darker, it got colder, the crust got thicker and harder. after finishing the stump jump i headed down. i got to the truck before dark dark, but it was a desperate descent--jump turns and well planned sit downs saved me. i was ok with no camera, pictures would have been really ugly!
notes:- skimpy coverage, fluffy snow = fast skiing
- deep, dense snow = slow skiing
- too fast is furious, too slow is a slog, just right is sublime
- outdoor parents = outdoor kids
- tea and cookies are always good
- when taking pictures, make sure skip has his helmet on
go outside and play!
