a late afternoon ski, checking conditions

 the day: january 29. "the northeast has been getting hammered by a powerful winter storm all day." so reports the news in 'blizzard conditions batter northeast'. it has been pretty windy here "all day", and down in the single numbers temp. wise, also snowing. but we only got maybe four, five inches in our neighborhood, and much of that got blown into the woods. it was a small~ish "hammering" around here.

the adventure: i was leaving the house at 4:00p, so i just went up town hill for a test run from the wolf pine down. the hope was enough snow fell to make skiing on top of the crusty layer at least somewhat, risk free.

the memories: it was neither too fast nor too furious. wicked chunky in places deer and turkey had tracked up, but i tried to avoid those spots by sticking to the edges where there was ok snow. on the way up i took a picture from the bottom of the 's curve'. i scared at least 6 or 7 turkeys off their roosts up in the taller pines at the top of that section. on the way down i took one looking back at some magic tracks.

notes: while it would be nice to have the foot or more of snow soy and han got on the cape, we do have more hills in new hampshire. 

• a little snow is better than no snow
• yay, it wasn't rain!
• turkeys make a heck of a racket flying in the woods

go outside and play!

a calm skate before the storm

the day: january 28. mid 20°s, not all that windy, cloudy, but no precip. another fine day to go outside and...skate!

the adventure: skip and i met over at mascoma lake to skate the mlsa ice trails before the snow. we did the north side of the bridge, from the beach down to the baited hook twice. skip was trying pam's shorter nordic blades and comparing them to his longer ones. we then went over the road and did a bunch of loops to the south side of the bridge. 

the memories: a large "meet up"--led by the infamous jamie hess--was just leaving when we came down to the beach. by the time we had our blades on, there were maybe a handful. on the other side, we were the only ones. you could tell it had been windy as wherever the path went east-west, there were numerous drifts across the ice. the edges on the north-south were filling in a bit as well, as you can see in the pictures of skip 'coming', north of the bridge, and 'going', south of the bridge.

notes: the mascoma lake skating association is a great organization. 

   -there are new benches with a nice little mlsa logo on both sides of the bridge

   -it's not final yet, but skip likes the shorter blades

   -i'm not wishing for rain, but the ice could use a bit of resurfacing

go outside and play!

our first skate of the year

the day: january 23. mid 20°s, not too windy, cloudy, but no precip. not a bad day to go outside and...skate!

the adventure: pam and i took our skates over to mascoma lake to try out the ice trails the mascoma lake skating association plows. there is a 1.5 mile trail on the north side of the bridge leaving from the beach all the way to in back of the baited hook. south of the bridge there is a 1.1 mile loop leaving from a rink out from the boat launch. 

the memories: it was a fine day for skating and lots of folks were out. after about a half dozen "one more!" loops we were headed for the car and saw joni--one of the founders of the mlsa. she reported good things about the north of the bridge trail so we went over to the beach for "one more!"

notes: one of the nicest things about the ice trails, it attracts all sorts of different people.

- nordic skates are definitely an advantage on 'bumpy' ice
- reduce speed when you meet people

- watch for cracks running parallel with you

- careful of pam's "one more!" 

go outside and play!

days four-six--abandoning skis and going snowshoeing

the days: january 20-22. for brevity's sake let's just say it was cold out. i never saw it above 15° or below 5°, at least when i was out and about. it was never really windy, but at times it was pushing such cold air, it felt almost brutal. after some morning clouds on thursday, the sun was out and brilliant. monday's snow was still deep, but wednesday evening's warmup left a troublesome crust on top.

the adventure: skip showed up in the drive about 9a and we got skis on and started up town hill. it was extremely slippery, so we turned around after 100 yards to go down and put skins on. that's when we discovered the crust made turning wicked hard work--i.e. no fun at all. back in the drive skip decided to bag it and go nordic ski with linda. 

i was all dressed so i switched to my school bag, grabbed my snowshoes, and went off "over the river and through the woods" to work. coming home, i stomped out the other half of the x-c trail. on friday, i did the whole loop again. on saturday, pam and i did it once more when i went to grab a timber sheet from the shop. (dave's building and construction class is going to help me frame another outdoor classroom starting tuesday.)

the memories: the commute in on thursday morning and then home in the evening.

friday was definitely one of those cold, clear days. of course i left the house without my camera, so there is no visual record. that didn't bother me as that cold "brutal" wind was channeling down the river where i like to take a picture. on friday though, pam had her phone and i had a camera, plus there was no wind on the river.

notes: the three sets of tracks above are just me, trying to make a straighter and straighter line.

- skip does not like snowshoeing 
- my hip sometimes does not like snowshoeing 
- pam loves to snowshoe 
- everybody loves going "over the river and through the woods"

go outside and play!

day three--"the best skiing ever!"

the day: january 19. partly sunny and warming up--somewhere in the twenties, probably. no wind down in the woods, but we could hear it howling up on the ridge. and i mean howling, every time we stopped moving, skip mentioned it, "oh wow, listen to that roar!" monday's wet snow is now dry and at least 6" deep on a solid base.

the adventure: we have been trying to ski all the local areas, one a day, in order of their likelihood of getting traffic. today was "secret sherbie" day. it's up off the wolfeboro road and highly unlikely to get skied. i have taken a few students up the main road to the south peak of moose mountain. so far skip, pam, and i are the only winter travelers on the sherbie. it's a 1/2 mile~ish from the height of land back down to the road, with two steeper parts divided by a flat~ish middle.

the memories: as skip says, it was "the best skiing ever!" the sun popping in and out didn't affect snow conditions, but our smiles improved the brighter it was.

it looks like a totally different day when the sun is shining. as we were about to take a second run, skip snapped another picture of an extra happy skier. my camera battery was dead.

notes: great coverage

• charge up a new camera battery
• we need one more storm to cover the rock i tried launching off
• skip highly recommends skiing down low in the woods when it's super windy up high

go outside and play!