Vote Now: Best Powder - January 2013

Can you spot Noreaster BC in this untouched sheet of cold New England powder? 

Proving once again that all the freshies are in the backcountry. Help us spread the word. 

Vote NoreasterBC for Best Powder - January 2013, New England Backcountry Magazine

View the goods and cast your vote.

Mapless Skier Found, Dead. Locals Fined.

The ski blogosphere exploded this week following news that yet another East Coast big mountain skier had wandered too far from the corduroy and gotten stuck tits-deep in a spruce pit somewhere in resort side-country. In the two week window over Christmas and New Years, Vermont search and rescue crews saved forty five skiers from a hypothermic death by their own design. And, to the dismay of local power hounds and non-skiing taxpayers alike, they were left picking up the bill.

Dick Cheney in blue jeans should pay his own SAR bill some say. Others are proud our SAR guys and gals were there to pull Yankees fans and their fat wallets out, to live and pay to ski another day.

It's a wonder that during this same time period yours truly at Noreaster BC were chided, ridiculed and scolded like schoolchildren for posting detailed maps of our recent trip report from Lincoln Gap (comments about Andy being a Masshole have since been deleted). Critics said we had committed an egregious violation of the sacred blood oath of backcountry secrecy, while our more forward thinking readership complemented us on the service we do, which saves them both time and mental anguish trying to schwak their way to popular top secret BC powder stashes.

I'd like to think that we've done a whole lot more for them though. I'd like to think that those maps, which are absolutely essential to us executing a successful BC tour, might just save your life someday.

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.

Google Latitude is not an Avy Beacon

Nothing says I love you at your favorite seasonal gift giving holiday than the gift of an avalanche beacon. My wife purchased one for me last year. Given the annual snowfall we had already seen by January 1st 2011, my new BCA Tracker 2 Beacon was a very thoughtful and appropriate gift, and one we both wanted me to have. She wanted to know I might not die of my own stupid designs, and I wanted at least a slight chance of living through all the future bad lines I might pick on wind-loaded northeast facing slopes above 35°.

Around these parts, 2012 is not shaping up to be a big year for the avy beacon business. Not a single storm where you couldn't measure precip with the stick that god gave you.. ahem... a ruler. Even with these pitiful snowfall amounts and non-existant upper elevation snowfields, I'm now a convert to the avy beacon of hope. So do me a favor.  If you're too unloveable to get one from someone else, run out and buy one for yourself. You never know when some other ski dummy (like me) might need your help.

Gear Review: Black Diamond Voodoo

My love affair with Black Diamond skis continues.  I purchased a pair of BD Machine skis from the Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington last year, and this year it was time to add to my quiver by getting a wider snow specific ski. 

Again, it was OGE to the rescue, who hooked me up with a great deal. 

Matched with the Radium boot, I've ridden the Voodoos on several recent in-bounds ski days.

The Voodoo has a wider shovel, and less pronounced sidecut than the Machine.  I purchased a shorter length (175cm) than the Machine for easier turns in the woods and moguls.

As indicated on "The Ski Chart", the relaxed sidecut translates to a larger sidecut radius, but don't let that fool you.  The front shovel is designed for easier turn initiation.  While it lacks sidecut, it still turns easily.

The real magic, however, is made when there's fresh powder.  Folks: these are powder skis.  If you like jumping around on pillows then you'll love these skis.  I had one fresh powder day at Bretton Woods and another at Whiteface where they shined as I floated around on the groomers and in the glades.  But I found Nirvana on truly epic day at Killington during the recent Nor’easter.  I rode these magic carpets around the mountain: from blues to the black diamonds to the double blacks.

Their kryptonite, however, is exactly what you would guess for a relatively light ski: steep ice.  I discovered this as they rubber-bandded while traversing some wind scoured crust at Whiteface.  This is somewhat moderated by the modest sidecut, which keeps more of the ski in contact with the slope.  But alas, they won’t stick to lens glass groomers like Spiderman.  But you should bring your big guns when the hardpack calls anyway.

Gered modeling the Voodoos at the top of Killington.

The verdict: these are great skis.  But don’t take my word for it.  My tele-skiing buddy Gered thought that mine looked so cool he had to go out and get a pair for himself.

That’s right, I got mine first.  And now that its on the internets, it must be true.