more yo-yoing!

and at least a few of days, winter is again involved--for which i am grateful.

in my last yo-yoing post, i left off with a forecast of "warm and rain" as justin and i were skiing about the swma at a good clip, just to stay warm. from the glorious sun but downright chilly low teens of that adventure it did indeed warm, into the damned balmy 50s! and it rained close to an inch over the weekend. a change of 40° is something you notice along with the ice that forms from a 'big melt'.

on friday, as the thaw started, pam and i trucked up and over town hill, she on snowshoes and me-s on skis! to say it was sticky was an understatement. i distracted myself with trying out her phone's pan mode, shooting for a caterpillar effect. i got mixed results, but this one was close. i especially like the 'missing' body up at the front of the line.

we were headed down to the beaver dam where i took the 'thumby' in the 'happy new day' post--i avoided my phalanges in this one. the snow coverage was still looking significant, but it was not to last.

nor was it fast skiing. going uphill was right this side of maddening. while sometimes i could kick slide my skis to dump the huge clump of snow sticking to the bottom, it was not a sure thing, and it was way more work than i was looking to do. the only positive was my favorite short pitch was slow enough that pam was able to get a video.

saturday was a washout. i got in a good amount of reading--ironically getting to the part on new orleans' crazy flooding with katrina in sarah broom's outstanding memoir the yellow house.

sunday, i convinced skip we should run up cardigan without skis, as opposed to his idea to skin up and ski down the 'shuttered' whaleback. with all the rain and melt water, the ice was sure to be building on the shady parts of the trail. like at the bottom of that steep section on south ridge.



for those who follow goap! religiously--and have a good memory--'just another sunny day' posted last march captured a very similar moment. while it was "windy" that day too, it was probably not blowing like it was when we summited sunday. the two other hikers snugged into the lee side of the tower structure--former students and at least diane, featured now and again in goap!--greeted skip and i excitedly. the wind was making quite a racket blowing over things and when we dug out the anemometer, john predicted in the 50s.

we took the gauge around the corner and saw it top out, with gusts above the 50mph reading. had i been with it, i would have taken a picture of skip 'leaning into' the blasts at some pretty low angles. i did remember to snap a memory of the three before we took off downhill.

at turn around rock we put the micro-spikes back on and made a quick decent stopping only to disrobe some when we got out of the wind. oh and one other time on an upper portion of the ski trail where the ice always builds. it was a good chance for me to practice my recent obsession with taking photo series--with the less than ideal camera again.



amazingly, about 100 yards below this section, skip stopped and pointed out how the deep the snow was--easily up to our wastes.

monday and tuesday remained mild enough, and with partial sun, the snow coverage fell way back. at some point on wednesday though it went cold enough again to start snowing. that lasted through the night and was 5-6-7~ish inches thursday morning. the 'cold enough' to snow all night meant school was on a delayed opening schedule to let the plows clean up somewhat. it had to be tough to move, as it was some of the best packing snow i have ever made into a snowball. when i went by the high school they were mostly done as students were starting to arrive.

i was headed over to the shaker hills thinking that area would have enough coverage to not scrape off the bottoms of my skis. and it did, barely, and at that clumpiest of temperatures. it was a slog going up, but i didn't have to use skins.

unaware of what might be on our as yet un-skied 'glade' section, i locked things down and pointed the tips into the fall line winding through the trees. it was an adventure. not quite fast but even so, nearly furious with all the debris, as yet uncovered. i took off into the woods a couple times to avoid some major blowdowns that i would have to bring skip along to help clear out.

at the bottom, i opted to park the boards for the coming cold and wind. i figured that the snow would completely dry out and friday, might be almost heavenly. without snow, the coverage would still be thin, but in a yo-yoing season, beggars can't be choosers! that and i figured i would stop in at drummond's and help them set up for their yearly party.

i had brought along a telemark kit for cory too, in hopes that this weekend we would get the promised snow. the skis were my old karhu guides and would need inserts to keep the bindings on, but i figured we could get that done before sunday--our planned outing.

on friday, we woke to below~ish 0°F and some stiff winds. after breakfast and helping pam sweep & scrape her car getting her off for the day, i loaded the skis back into the truck and went over to the shaker hills again. the snow was magically fluffy powder again and very enjoyable to ski through, albeit 'thin'. a long~ish run from the potato field down was smooth and quick so a trip back up to try the 'little sherbie' was in order. i was rewarded, or at least i thought so. it was fun rushing by my yesterday's going-up tracks.




all in all, even with the radical up and down of temps and snow coverage, it has been a fine time to 'go outside and play!' i try and wear a smile no matter the weather.

ps--time to stop here, and gear up for a quick run up town hill with pam. later!

yo-yoing back into winter!

this has been a crazy up and down winter--cold and snowing one day, warm and raining the next. definitely not conducive to backcountry skiing--my favorite 'going downhill fast' activity. 

but, last week a warm, wet snow of 6-7-8~ish inches, blanketed everything--again--laying down a solid base we could ski on without hitting rock--mostly. as the storm passed, the temperatures fell to seasonal levels and the bulk of snow froze up. the next couple of snows were much drier and a 3-4-5~ish fluffy inches accumulated on top of the crust. this put me back in a wintery mood--again--and i pulled my skis back out.

i can't remember last friday for the life of me, but i don't think i was out skiing. it was predicted to get warmer saturday morning. it was definitely raining by then, even though the thermometer was holding at 30°F. desperate to get in some winter activity before we lost our 3rd 'blanket', i called skip and proposed a ski.


him: it's raining!

me: it's supposed to change to snow...

him: when? it's lunch-o-clock you know.

me: i realize. by the time you eat and we gain a little elevation it will be snow...i hope.

him: ok.

me: shaker wildlife management area or the road up to mowgli and firescrew?

him: firescrew! it will be snowier!

me: good choice. you eat. i'll be over.

sure enough, about an hour later, + a 1000 ft, that is a smile on a mostly dry skip as we headed up the mowgli trail toward firescrew. it was snowing!


conditions were good for going up, read we didn't need to hassle with skins. but as we came to a couple of steeper sections i started wondering aloud. this might get tricky going down, do you want to turn around here? i actually wrote about it in ttyol last sunday.

"skip and i kept going higher and higher on a narrower and narrower, steeper and steeper trail. ...the snow was thick & heavy, ie wicked hard to turn in, at least smoothly. i dropped a few hints that perhaps we should turn around here...or here...or maybe here. he kept mentioning something about it "leveling off" and "let's make this a tour." i guess i'm an easy sell. thank god for that knee high blowdown signaling further progress would be downright dangerous on a decent.

as we locked down boots and bindings and looked downhill, i thought i heard skip agree that maybe we shouldn't have come so high up. ...i quickly calculated that taking any more of [time] before dropping in would only [help] me...visualize disaster. at that thought, i pointed my tips down the fall line."

back out at the road, i found a vantage point to practice my recent fascination with series shots--the kind you can click on and toggle through like a flip book.



yeah, i know, i need a lot more practice. but despite the old 'camera' camera, we had a grand day going outside and playing! nobody melted--or bashed any trees either, hop turning though the thick, cement-like snow.

and speaking of practice, pam and i looped around our snowshoe trail sunday at sunset. this time i used her phone camera. the quicker recovery time, makes for a much 'neater' series.





the two series above are uncropped. the one below i cropped to look like she is entering and leaving the frame. click and toggle through--it's fun.



the sun setting over moose mountain as we headed back to the house, gave us quite a show--

--and made a strange roof melt sculpture as well. it was definitely another grand day, outside and playing! plus, there was a bonus in the forecast for some cold and snow tuesday and wednesday!!

and snow it did! on tuesday, it was a mostly all day event giving us 4-5-6~ish inches. the video above is the first minute of my commute. on the way home, i to clamber up onto the snow bank up against the bridge railing, hoping i wouldn't fall over into the river, while two plow trucks passed each other on the road. i didn't take a video. on our way to bed, we made a plan to get out on the snowshoe loop the next morning, before we went into work.


on wednesday, after our glorious morning loop with tuesday's snows slowing 'melting' off the trees, we got another 6-7-8~ish inches. only instead of tuesday's gentle all day snow, it came in two heavy squalls. proverbial, dumps!


the first, an honest to goodness whiteout, started soon after school let out and pam was driving back to work from the dentist--rather, trying to. the second, intensified a couple hours later, just after pam canceled her evening writing group and was again driving, this time home. the roads were horrendous.


on my walk home--i managed to time that between the heaviest snows--i passed a mile long line of cars waiting for a tow truck to pull a car out of the ditch. for me, that made getting across the bridge easy, but the police/fire traffic guy strongly suggested i walk home via goose pond road. for pam, the line was still there two hours later, and the police/fire traffic people were letting one car at a time go up the hill. she took goose pond road as well.


what made for terrible driving wednesday evening, gave us a thursday of heavenly powder. it was so good, i went out twice. the first trip was over to the shaker wildlife management area with a former student, justin, on break from college.


we had a grand tour, avoiding the glades and the steepest of the trails over there, as justin's gear was extra 'light'--read skate ski boots and fairly skinny skis. there is a lot to ski, no matter what you are looking for.


the day was still cold, even with the sun up high in a bluebird sky. but beautiful would have been an understatement given the snow conditions.


we had talked about hiking up cardigan to catch the sunset-moonrise after skiing, but after almost three hours in the shaker hills justin let his brother dirk, use the car to get to ski practice. i didn't mind as i could always go out the kitchen door and head up over town hill.


after a little snack and some tea, still hot in the thermos, i geared up again and went out. passing through the neighbor's stone wall 'gate' i built two years ago, i picked up a mostly filled-in snowshoe track neighbor bob must have made wednesday morning--before the squalls. he looped at the top of the hill, but i kept on and went down the east side, past the truck, over the 'porky trail', down my favorite pitch, down the smaller 'stone wall' pitch, through the 'pine gate' to hall road.



porky track's on the left, and koby tracks on the right. i discovered the lovely little critter hole in the middle, at the stone wall before 'pine gate'.

the trip back up the hill and down the west side, was sublime. coming out of the woods into the neighbor's field, i saw a tell tale white plume of snow blower and skied down to say hi to neighbor bob. he didn't see me until i got in front of his blower chute--"i'm hunting for powder!" we had a good chat, mostly on how sweet the snow up the hill was, with only a brief mention of the warm and rain forecasted for the weekend.

yuck, more yo-yoing! (if you look up yo-yoing in the urban dictionary, i am referencing the #2 definition.) if this is to be our winter weather of the future--my efforts to get pam to move north have not been successful--it is well we have days like wednesday to lift our winter loving spirits. going out to play! in such fluff is always good for a 'chilly' smile.

happy new day--

--year, oh and decade!

new year's day--like any of the other 364--is always a good day to go outside and play! pam and i decided a hike out the kitchen door, up town hill, and down to the marsh at the beaver dam would start these new times off right. as we left the drive, pam turned and grabbed a picture of the sun and shade on the house.

the snow from the last couple days has given us a prime base and i was even tempted to go back and grab my skis. instead, we made it a together hike, stopping now and again to take pictures.




the sun was nice and warm, especially climbing. not long after this pam took off her jacket. not that you can see all that clearly, but the shadow shows mine already tied around my waste, with my hat and mittens in the pockets.


not that it surprised us, but it was really beautiful in the woods. it also was no surprise that the rest of the world was still out there when just after crossing the 'porky track', pam's phone buzzed in my pocket. it was a text from hannah--thanking her for the birthday wish. she and soy had just gotten home from their annual sunrise trip to their own beauty spot--the ocean.

obviously the weather is different down on the cape. but, while i am a dedicated snow person, all that sand looks pretty inviting. it reminds me of the early morning romps on popham beach.


we walked all the way down to the marshy area just past the beaver dam. i took pam's phone back and got a picture--complete with a finger in the frame. maybe it's just me, but i see some similarity in the textures and colors between pictures.

on the loop back we passed through the new opening we cleared on the weekend. pam had never used a two person saw, but in two cuts, she came into her own. the cut on the left only took us about a minute.

moving the cut section took a lot more time than sawing through it. the tree was big enough with plenty of branches propping it up or planting it firmly in the ground.

it's out of the way now and through the clearing, you get up to my two favorite pitches to ski. i sped to the top of the higher section and set up to take a series of pam powering up. it makes a fun little 'flip book'--click on the first one and toggle through them!





the cell tower seemed perfectly aligned from this vantage, as close to the spot we got hannah's text going out, we now got one from sadila, coming back. she and otavio had gone out for their own morning hike in a local park.

the pond is close to where they kayak and swim in warmer times. again, it makes a wonderful frozen image with its textures and colors.

like reception on the hill, the families' collective 'eye' seemed well aligned this new year's day!






the only thing better than hearing of the kiddos' adventures is actually being on one with them. thankfully, that happens enough despite our being a somewhat spread out. going outside to play! makes us all smile!!