community service...

helping the shaker museum with a relatively snowless snowshoe festival. i have been working with the enfield shaker museum doing a winter festival for years now. the last five or so, we have called it the snowshoe festival, encouraging people to come out and tromp about the lower shaker wildlife management area trails. back when we started with a winter celebration, i did some trail work for the event and have been the go-to trail guy ever since.




i had great hope for snow on the trails this year, skiing them--three times, each with increasing coverage--before the new year. on the last day of the year, three of us set some good tracks pretty much anywhere we wanted, woods or trails. i actually told my buddies, "at least this year we'll have some snow!" but then we got a couple 'wintry mix' events, a bunch of rain, some days of warm weather, and deep coverage was not to be. in fact, i felt pretty lucky with the scant amount we have left.




regardless of the sketchy coverage, i started flagging the three trails we mark, a few weekends before the event. pam went with on the first go out round the blue loop. she noted that she was very thankful to have her micro-spikes on. i went back alone the next day and put out the green tape. i ended up cutting a few blowdowns out of the trail as well. then last friday, i brought over the high school loner snowshoes, and finished the yellow trail, all the while wondering if many people would venture out given such icy conditions.



early saturday morning, i headed over to do one more loop around to leave a few footprints for people to follow. when i came back down to the start at the stone mill, where they had set up the loner snowshoes, i found olivia and amy, NHS students volunteering for the day. both of them are also active in the MOC and i was pleased to see them. while amy stayed at the mill to help with the snowshoes, olivia and i went back out to loop the green trail--the only one i hadn't done in the past week. at the height of land, just before the 'potato field', we ran into a large ash that had been leaning over for years, but now was on the ground. we worked at clearing that for quite a while, as it was over 12 inches in diameter, and heavy.

we got to the blue-green junction and met up with harrison, another trail guide, and chatted a bit. we took off after a large group of shoe-rs went by. i wanted to be sure of a fairly messy stream crossing before they got there. we got to the crossing ahead of the group and cleaned up the large beech that obstructed the easiest way over the stream. after directing a few other groups, some going one direction, some the other, we took off toward the yellow-blue junction at the top of the upper hay field.

at that junction, we stopped for a while directing people coming and going. it got to be after noon, so we decided to head down to the great stone dwelling where they had a lunch set up. as we were passing a connection into the hayfield i crossed over to help a group of about a dozen micro-spikers, shoe-rs, and plain ol' booters. turns out it was joe's family gathering with three of the denzer kids. i see owen at this event every year, sometimes margaret. this year hannah was with. we stopped for a group shot of the old and new MOC members.

we got to talking so, that olivia finally escaped to go get some lunch. the rest of us slowly made our way down. at a tricky part in the trail, we met betsy--harrison's wife, fellow trail guide, and mother of meg who just happens to be one of hannah's good friends. it is a small world. (speaking of which, check out jan 28's post on coincidence.)

we finally made it down to lunch and kept chatting over chili and mac & cheese. the event was winding down as we split up and i went back out to pack up the loner snowshoes. as i pulled away from the mill headed down the icy drive, i wondered if next year we would have better snow.

on sunday morning, pam and i went back to the trails to meet betsy and harrison and sweep the trails, removing the flagging. new hampshire fish and game, who own most of the land the trails pass over, has asked us to take down the flagging each year. i am not real sure why this is a priority for them, but we get to use the trails, so i am happy to do it. we split up in a fashion to get it done fairly quickly with nobody having to walk the whole system. we met up again at the blue-green junction and walked the final half-mile back to the vehicles.

out the icy drive one last time, i wondered again about snow. i won't hold my breath for next year but, it would be nice to get a little this winter. the MOC deep freeze overnight olivia is helping me organize happens over february break, in just three weeks. i will let you know...

anatomy of a disappointing snowfall...

looks beautiful, but is so fast and furious to ski in the backcountry, i should be wearing a helmet. and if you know me, that would be just wrong. but hope reigns supreme, and those forecasts linda gave me--see the last post--had me drive over to kevin's and poise myself close to the whites, with my poles crossed.

i left for the north country right after work on tuesday and got there in time to help trim mariel's new skins to fit her new skis, and dinner. we finished both those things, cleaned up, and headed off to bed. it didn't start snowing until my first wake-up-to-pee and it felt kind of wet, not a great sign, but it was snowing. in the morning, there was only about two inches, another less than wonderful sign. but it was still snowing and after we cleaned up the drive to help the boys get off, it was quickly covered again. hope was alive as we loaded up our gear and headed out.

i had brought up my notes on the nh 4000 footers and after looking though the maps, we headed toward the top of crawford notch with mt jackson in mind. the roads were bad enough to keep some hope going, but the more i looked the less new snow i saw atop the old. as we passed attitash ski area, there were some folks out on the slopes, and it was still snowing. when we pulled into the parking area at the trailhead, i ran across the road and over the plow pile onto the trail. two, maybe three inches of new snow covered a well packed trail up to jackson--i convinced myself and kevin and mariel it might be doable.

we booted up, attached skis, and started skinning toward my third 4000 footer. soon enough i stopped and turned to my partners, "this is definitely thin, icy, steep, and will not be pretty coming down--how about trying mt willard?" kevin was basically already turning around as he wholeheartedly agreed. we crossed back over the road, the railroad tracks, and went through the woods toward the willard trail. the coverage this side of the tracks was not much better, but it was not nearly as steep and should be doable. 

of course i had said that before. but after getting up about a mile we came into some long gentle sections that i convinced myself would even be fun. a bit more than a half mile of that, we came out of the woods to the top of the willard cliffs. i had not been up here in a long time, and not by the trail approach. back in the 70's i worked with a mtn rescue team and we did a few practices on these cliffs. we always climbed up from the railroad tracks below. i remember playing the injured climber once and getting a free ride down, lowered in a litter. 

the view today was not nearly as good as the one i had then, but we enjoyed a snack and planned to have as much fun on the decent. at least i was thinking that. kevin and mariel were a bit more skeptical of the lack of coverage and narrow passage, especially where it got steeper on the bottom half. i hoped to use the woods where i could to slow myself and avoid rocks. they were thinking taking off their skis and booting down.

turns out, we both had some of the answer. we all had some fun swooshing down the wider and gentle parts. the pictures show some of that joy of just being out in the woods in a winter wonderland--minus a foot of snow, but wonderful.

then it got narrow and steep. while i kept my skis on and used the woods, it was sketchy at times and not "the best skiing ever!" as skip would say. kevin and mariel still smiling, were more comfortable with skis in hand and walking out, only a little tempted to follow my tracks. at one point, i turned around and went back up and tempted them some more. we all skied out glad we outside and playing.

at one point on the way up, the two of them offered to go up willard together and let me go up jackson, summiting a 4000 footer, whittling away at the winter's goal. i stayed on willard thinking that maybe i would give it a try on the way home thursday. that idea, made more and more sense to me, as it kept snowing into the night. it was not really building up, but it was still snowing on my first wake-up-to-pee. the sun and fresh snow in the morning was so beautiful, i convinced mariel to come along for a second try--she on snow shoes and me on skis.

as we drove back up the notch, the peaks all around were socked in with clouds. but it was definitely clearing. unfortunately, there was barely any more coverage. we geared up and started happy enough, but didn't get much higher than the day before. this time, it was my third slide-fall off the trail on the bulges of ice that lurked under the three inches or so of fresh snow that stopped the effort. mariel would have been happy to keep going while i went back and got boots and spikes, but i was not in the mood to hike, especially with my cold.

two attempts, two bails, two words--more snow! the goal of summiting all 48 nh 4000 footers was being inverted, but i had little interest in being reckless and getting hurt. as we headed back down the notch, i naturally turned to the next best thing to being outside playing, taking pictures of the outside. this one's for you sawyer, maybe you and i can get out in that coming storm forecasted for next week...

skating away...

two days, two lakes, the two of us, and two others. so last weekend, i started hearing about a forecast for some significant snow tuesday night and into wednesday. after two days of flagging the shaker trails, any snow would be much appreciated and help there actually be a snowshoe fest in two weeks. at that moment things were extremely thin and very icy. saturday, pam went with me and was really thankful to have her micro-spikes on. sunday i marked another trail on a cautious solo loop, spending some time cutting a couple of large blowdowns.



when i got home there was still plenty of daylight left to coax pam to grab her skates and go out for a glide around canaan street lake. we met linda and skip already out on the lake and linda repeated the hopeful snow forecast, throwing in noah's confirmation of 3-5 inches, maybe even emphasizing the 5. the ice was marginal, but as the sun was going down coloring the sky pinkish-orange, we were happily flying around a large smooth area over in the cardigan bay.


we headed back toward the town beach and our boots (about "street" in canaan street on the google picture) and discussed a possible skate for monday--martin luther king jr. day. pam would be home and skip and linda would not have school. skip suggested grafton pond which sounded good, possibly smoother ice. it would be worth a try it at least.

pam finished her salad lunch and we loaded the skates about one o'clock. as we got to the dam on the pond a car came at us with the "bearded" driver wildly waving. at least that is what pam described, i was trying to stay on the narrow road. turned out it was colin, who had just had a fine skate and was headed home. so the pendletons, already out on the ice, came back and reported when they saw us gearing up. 

grafton pond is much larger and convoluted along the shoreline, as well as around the many islands scattered about. it is one of our favorite places to skate, and today only cemented that bias. the ice was indeed fine, smooth and with very few 'bad' spots. i tend to fly about faster than the others so i was able to swing around many of the islands and bays, circling back to pam and linda. skip was circling his own path, his hockey skates not as long as my nordic blades, and hence not as speedy.

but, speed was not the reason we were out there. the sun was shining and the surface as smooth as could be expected given our winter so far. it was a perfect day to circumnavigate pretty much the entire perimeter, which made for a wonderful afternoon and big smiles. we met another skater skating a large oval along the furtherest end of the northern cove (the top right of the google picture), the ice there zamboni smooth. we joined his loop until our legs said time to get back to the dam and our boots (the middle left where the road meets the dam on the google picture).

of course there was one other very large, and quite smooth, cove to circle. going in well ahead of the others i lowered my back, put my head down, and pumped hard. i felt like hans brinker as i cornered, my inside arm tucked behind the back, the other swinging with each crossover and clack of the skate snapping back. linda and skip were taking a rest when i lapped them. i whizzed past and shot out back into the middle of the pond. toward a little island that i thought i spotted a rope swing hanging over the ice. just visible on the far side of the island in the picture below.

true enough, as i approached the rope i thought this might be fun. dodging a few ice fishing holes i took aim and grabbed ahold swinging way up off the ice and turning in midair. as i whipped back onto the ice i was laughing aloud and planning to go at it again with a bit more speed maybe. the second time up and down, i saw skip coming over--i encouraged him with a "faster" or two. we traded a couple more goes each when pam went at it. i didn't know if it was for real, but gave a whistle and clapped when she grabbed ahold, launched--ever so slightly, reversed, and came back toward with her own little whoop. it truly is the little things in life that make us happy.

by the time we got back to the dam the sun was dipping behind some clouds moving in. linda announced them to be the "weather" that was to bring us snow. if indeed they were, we were all ecstatic to have gotten in a few hours of "the best [skating] ever!" at least that is what skip would say...

ski local...

and try to keep it on the mellow side!

friday, noah had to leave early, so he, si, and i, headed over to la salette and took a large looping tour. thursday's more than six inches was welcoming, but the previous monday night's rain had opened a bunch of new water crossings and nearly exposed a bunch of new rocks. still, being out in the woods was sweet.




sweet indeed...warm and sunny too, in places the snow was even sticky. listening to the sounds of skis sliding along--two pairs with scales and one with skins--gave me a meditative 'base' going up. coming down was more swooshing, aggressive in a good, carving way, especially the long downhill on moses johnson. (the one skip calls the little sherburne.) hikers had been over the path a fair bit, and the cold had frozen it chunky enough to make it kind of loud. that made me prowl the edges.

the edges and into the woods did have the most snow. we finished the steep taking first tracks on 'the spine', a section i originally scoped out for bikes. we dropped off the ridge, 'out of the trees' onto the main trunk of the trail. from there, the long way around the cross-trail bridge that collapsed two summers ago, took us back across the bottom of the hay field and to the car. as we de-booted and packed in, noah's "hurry hurry" made simon smile and ask "what's the difference, you're already in trouble."

morgan was indeed waiting and ready to pull out, but i did not notice any "trouble" as they finished packing and said their goodbyes.

saturday, simon and i had planned a bigger trip to hit another 4000 footer or two up in the whites. but the best made plans are subject to change. first, si tried to recruit alex, who only wanted to go local. next, some longtime friends were coming over for lunch and a little gaming. so as i headed over to pick him up, i was thinking cardigan and sawing out that large blowdown on the ski trail. staying nearby would also make linda happy as i think she was a tad nervous about going big today.

si dumped his stuff in the truck and we headed out. at the winter parking lot there were a fair number of cars and people gearing up. but we found a spot, nosing into the snow bank. in fine vacation-time form, several of the folks putting on their snow shoes were mascoma alums--most of them MOC participants. you might graduate from high school and college, but you never leave the outing club!

we multi tasked, gearing up, visiting, and finally skiing off. the summer road and then both the hiking and ski trails, were well packed down. friday must have been a very busy day here on our local hill. just below a steep section, i stopped to put skins on. si kept sliding up to start sawing the blowdown. as i got to him and the tree, he was struggling. he had already sawn through one end, but it dropped and pinched his saw. i started the other side and we tag teamed the cut. when our top kerf mostly met our bottom one, we used a large stick to pry it free. with a grunt or two, we rolled and heaved it off to one side and whooped at the new clearing. with skis and packs back on, we headed up again.

it would be nice to have a clear shot through this section as it was so tracked up, there would be some speed involved. the higher we got, the more i contemplated an alternative route down. just above the waterfall, i suggested we turn south into the woods and wind our way out and down, reconnecting with the ski trail below--in time to ski the newly freed up bit. si was up for an adventure. i put my jacket on, pulled the hood up, and plowed into the snow laden trees. it wasn't exactly easy going but, at one point i stopped in a patch of sun and thought about how beautiful the woods were. simon snapped a picture to support that.



i borrowed the camera when i got over to him and snapped a picture pointed his way, despite an indigenous resistance to having his image taken. i would have joked that one actually needs a soul for it to be taken, but all the pendletons are sweethearts--zero body fat but plenty of soul!

after our photo shoot, we popped over the knoll we were posing on and came to an honest to goodness cliff. we chose different routes down and tipped over our respective edges. the bottom took us back into the trees not too far away from the hiking trail, so we pointed our tips that way. back on the west ridge, it was time to strip off skins, buckle up the boots, lock down the bindings, and fly. being so tracked out, it was indeed fast and furious. that was something of an advantage as you could see the rocks when you hit them.




now and again there was a tiny bit of snow left at the edges--just enough to make it look like i could ski. we hadn't done anything big, but we were both happy as we piled the gear into the truck and went to lunch!

a thankful visit to waterville valley...

a late start, plenty of snow, a grand day! we could pretend that we were waiting for the inches to build up, but honestly, we were skating and eating again. tecumseh, another nh 4000 footer, sticks up above the waterville valley ski area, about an hour away from canaan. a 2.5 mile trail follows the tecumseh brook up, mostly paralleling the north side runs. we were planning on skinning up to the summit, cutting over to the ski area, and flying down one of their trails. it all sounded doable, even pulling out of the drive at 12:30p in heavy snow.

simon was the designated driver, it was his new car that he just bought from his grandmother. noah road shotgun, i took the back seat and nestled in for a long winter's nap. the roads were slippery but the subaru was all about tracking right along. despite a few pokey drivers, and who could blame them with the conditions under wheel, we made it up to the ski lodge, parked, booted up, and walked about a hundred feet to the trail head. it was a bit sketchy crossing the brook in ski boots, trying to balance on the stones sticking above the waterline. that done with no big splashes that i heard, we stepped into our bindings and started up. noah hung back and took this picture as we wove through the trees.

at that point the trail was fairly wide, snow coverage was ample, the turns rather gentle, and the pitch, not so bad. that didn't last too long. the rocks grew enough to stick out of the snow in lots of awkward spots. the turns got twisty and tight. the pitch, save for one little segment pointed straight down to the open brook, got steep and stayed steep. did i mention that the trees, changing from hardwoods to evergreens, seemed to close in on us too?

it got steep enough that we put up the climbing bails under our boot heels and trudged on. at one point i slipped on some ice under the powder and slid back on one knee, into noah, pushing him down the hill a couple of meters. i suggested he go ahead in case that happened again. lucky thing he did as i went down several more times, genuflecting and sliding--only not praising god at the moment. simon's comment later was, "i almost got annoyed with that trail--it went on and on, up and up--i didn't think it was going to end."

it did end, finally. si's phone/camera ran out of battery right after he took a picture of noah and the summit sign. noah pulled his out and we group-selfied or how ever you say it.

we seemed to be smiling right here, but the immediate decent down the summit cone, put me in a highly focused, less jolly state. noah took off, passing me and careening around the first steep corner, not to be seen again until we got to the cut off. i offered si a pass too, but he said he was good. since he never ran into me i believed him. noah removed his skins at the junction and convinced si to do the same. i kept mine on and should have suggested the same to simon, as our skis had no scales like noah's. i was glad to have them on and si let his brother know it was a 'bum steer' he had been given.

soon enough though we popped out at the top of the ski area, where they waited for me while i de-skinned. we pointed them left and down and scooted along as it was getting darker. i stopped at a headwall and put on a knit cap under my billed hat--going down was a bit chillier than climbing up. the snow was mixed, deeper on the edges and icy-ish in the middle. it was fine skiing though and we flew along. at one stop i did admit to my legs being "right next to officially tired." that got a laugh as we slid away.

we found the road and car shortly there after. it felt good to get the boots off and everything stowed. the subaru pulled right through the pile a plow had pushed around us. we were headed home. to celebrate i found a chocolate bar--dark, with raspberry--that the pendletons had christmased me with and passed it around. i hadn't brought my thermos of tea this trip. the roads were not all that clear, but we got along with only one stop to clean the windshield. thank you sadie and otavio, we used the new scraper you left in my truck christmas eve. simon passed around a few of his mom's famous cookies too--thank you linda.

as we pulled into the pendleton driveway, linda, the famous cookie making mother, was at the door on the phone with pam. we were home (at least i would soon be), happy, and hungry...number 2 of the 48 nh 4000 footers had gone on skis!

thank you simon and noah for guiding and helping carry on the MOC tradition!