-Trip Report- Lincoln Gap Road: Backcountry Groomer Lemonade (January 2012)

I did not use the low gear.

It seems like every place you take your skis in New England, you’ll hear this year’s catchphrase “If we could just get a little more snow...”

Sick of thinking about what “could be”, I decided to take my thin cover lemons and make some backcountry lemonade at Lincoln Gap in Vermont this past weekend.

There are going to be a lot of pictures with a road in them.
Prepare yourself. 

Not even the dog wanted to get up with me at the early hour I rolled out of bed.  She craned her neck to see me with a look that said “Seriously?” then flopped down into my warm spot.  “Thanks, dog.  Rub it in.”  But as cold as the room first felt when I climbed out of bed, it didn’t compare to the steely grip of below zero air that was waiting for me outside.

Lincoln Gap sits between the towns of Warren and Lincoln in central Vermont, just to the South of Mount Abraham.  The road that runs this gap is closed after the first snows in winter and remains un-manicured until springtime.  Given its elevation and smooth surface, it is an excellent destination early in the year, or when there's thin snow cover.  Needless to say, it has been on my mind a lot this year.

I spy powder.

The drive up to Lincoln was a haze until the coffee started to flow through my arteries.  By the time I reached the trailhead the car heater had just begun to bathe me in warm air.  And so I booted up in the cold morning air, shed one of my layers and headed up the closed Lincoln Gap road.

Although the road was unplowed, skiers and sledders had been busy turning the powdery run into a backcountry groomer. 

The lack of deep powder made for an easy ascent as I wound my way up into the gap.  Gorgeously spacious glades line both sides of the trail all the way to the top. Because the road switches back on its way up the mountain, there’s an excellent opportunity to duck into the woods without the worry of getting lost in a wayward drainage gully.  In addition, high above on the steepest section of hillside is a well defined slide that runs into the glades just above the road.  On this day, I was intent on skiing the road but as I climbed I ogled the carnival of features on all sides.

Mind the gap.

As much as the Lincoln side is a playground, the Warren side looks even more fun.  The road itself is steeper, and seems to get less skier and sledder traffic so there is more fresh powder to push around. Further, the Catamount X-country ski trail cuts north from the road at the gap, and provides a route for an alternate descent.  Lastly, rumors abound of narrow gaps in the cliffs above the Warren side road that, when hit in the right combination, yield an excellent top to bottom cliff/glade run.

After windng my way to the top, I happened upon a fellow backcountry skier who had just climbed the Lincoln Gap road from the Warren side.  On his recommendation I skied  toward Warren working my way down the powder covered road until the grade began to even out.

I donned the skins a second time, turned and skinned to the gap again: this time descending the Lincoln side back to my car.

Looking West.

Despite the relatively thin cover the conditions were excellent.  The packed powder on the road gave the tour the feel of skiing a resort groomer. 

As I zipped along back toward the car my eyes couldn’t help from wandering toward the glades again and I started to think to myself, “Now, if there was only a little more snow…”