Trip Report: Ascutney 12.30.12

Kick turn and a bute!

Senior citizens, while slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose. In the grand scheme of generational greatness, obviously the bar was set pretty high during WW II. Slightly further down that list are pioneers, Vikings, and coming in a close 4th, the extremely badass leather ski boot generation.

These nuts have been strapping on their woodies to careen awkwardly down the neighborhood ski slope longer than most of us have been on shape skis. So pay attention next time you see a streak of blue hair whizz by and cut you off in line for the rope tow. Old people can shred too.

I've been thinking a lot about old people since our last tour to Ascutney, where Brad and I found ourselves strapping up in the West Windsor Town Forest parking lot along with notorious big mountain skier and Alaska aficionado Ben Szekely, and two Elderhostel busses full of crazy grizzled old whitebeards in leather boots and knickers.

Trip Report: Lincoln Gap 12.28.12

If you're anything like me you'll spend most of your workday this Friday pawing through satellite images, psychoanalyzing canopy density, speculating on tree species and forest age, tracing shadow length and slope grade, and generally looking for the perfect backcountry tour. But before you do, burn this image into your mind. This is what the world's most perfectly spaced hardwood glade looks like. From the ground up.

If, by some stroke of luck, you can actually learn to read the signs and find yourself guessing right and standing some place that looks a little like this, there's a very good chance you will be somewhere in central Vermont, just south of Lincoln Gap Road.

Trip Report: Christmas on Cardigan 12.25.12

It's been so long since we last toured Cardigan Mountain (see: A Backcountry Mountain with Training Wheels (2008)) that I almost forgot how much I like everything about this tiny little southern NH peak.  It's close to home, quick to hike, short enough to forgive poor planning, and covered in nice, shallow, mostly avy-free snowfields. There are multiple ways down that are easy to scout on the climb, and and if there's no powder to schuss there's still bound to be enough ice to give Yukon Cornelius a 12 inch pick. Most importantly, Cardigan is a place longtime gear-queer turned first-time BC skiers and alpinists can go to cut their teeth, and bring their family along for the ride.

Since that trip long ago in 2008, climbing Cardigan from the east via the AMC lodge and CCC trail, I've been thinking about a return to explore the western approach. Maybe I've been overlooking it for more exotic tours, or maybe it's just my place of last resort from a bad snow year. Regardless, the things I've seen and done and skied on on the western approach were enough to make me regret these past five years of neglect.

-Trip Report- Mt. Hor, VT: Insert Inappropriate Remark Here (February 2012)

Gered ponders whether he can freeclimb a granite wall with tele skis.

If you look out from the mid-mountain lodge at Burke, you can see an immense crack between two mountains where Lake Willoughby is located. Let me tell you the story of that crack's Hor.

-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.

-Trip Report- North Twin III: Third Time Is the Charm (March 2011)

Finally.

The music from my phone alarm pierced the morning air at 5:30am.  I had carefully prepared myself the night before for my "morning-self" and was armed with reasons that I wanted- no, needed to heed the call.  But there he was in my head at 5:30 telling me that I just wanted more sleep:  that today would be a good day to sit on the couch and watch some basketball; that I wouldn't be letting anyone down by not going.  He had a good point.  I mustered as much consciousness as I could gather and concentrated on a single thought:  It'll be worth it.

-Trip Report- North Twin II: Nubble Stubble Boogaloo (March 2011)

Skiing Through the Nubble Stubble

Failure can breed success.  It can also breed more failure.  My second attempt at the North Twin slide met a familiar end, but provided more invaluable lessons.

Adventures in Sidecountry Part II: Bolton Valley (Get It While You Can)

View of the Bolton Backcountry from Stowe View 

If you've only skied the lift accessed glades at Bolton Valley you've probably been impressed with the acreage of glade skiing, but unless you've also ventured onto their cross country trails with your backcountry gear you don't even know the half of it.

Adventures in Sidecountry Part I: Burke (Ski the East... Bowl)

Birch Glades at Burke

Sidecountry, slackcountry, cross country, backcountry, upcountry and no country for old men.  Whether you like lift accessed glades, hiking a little beyond the chair, or hiking alot to get to that distant slide, we're all looking for the same thing: fresh powder.

After a late week storm that brought close to a foot of snow to the Vermont Northcountry, I decided to go back to the motherland for some lift-assisted backcountry skiing.  I didn't leave disappointed.

-Trip Report- North Twin: I Don't Want To Be Right (March 2011)

This is not a slide.  That's okay though. 

Sometimes things have to go wrong for them to go right.  I set out to ski the North Twin Slide.  Instead I discovered a hidden gem, and set the foundation for a successful second attempt.

-Trip Report- Mt. Ascutney: It's a (Terrain) Trap!

It's 4:30.  You've got about a half-hour of daylight left and one headlamp between you and your two friends.  You ran out of water about an hour ago.  You're staring at a 50 degree colouir to the bottom of a drainage that may or may not get you back to your vehicle.  Above you is a steep slope of rock, ice and occasional evergreen bramble.  Somewhere beyond that climb is a trail.  Maybe. You have a decision to make.  Do you climb up and risk running into an un-climbable rock face, or do you slide into the unknown facing a similar un-descendible face?  You've been terrain trapped.

-Trip Report- Mt. Monadnock: Chasing My Shadow

Ice coated trees = a crust..... somewhere.

There is a distinct disadvantage to starting off the weekend by attending Crotched Mountain's Midnight Madness.  It totally messes with your internal clock so that you're not exactly jumping out of bed for an alpine start on Saturday.  Or Sunday for that matter.

So when 11:00 am rolls around and you're still organizing your gear for the trip out to the closest mountain, you know you're behind the eight ball for your solo tour.

-Trip Report- Hunger Mountain: I Lovermont (January 2010)

It had been a while since I skied the backcountry of the motherland.  A rainstorm from a couple weeks ago decimated most of the snowpack in New England, including my backcountry targets in the White Mountains of New Hampshire.  While there was plenty of cold to go around, snow was at a premium.  Earlier in the week, Bolton, Jay and Stowe had been hit by a storm that dumped upwards of six inches of fresh snow on each.

This gave me a perfect excuse to drive a little further, and get back in touch with the mountains of northern Vermont.  I was quickly reminded why Vermont is the "Ski Mecca" of the East.