Work-wise I have a whole bunch of deadlines coming up as 2010 closes out. I needed some quiet, focused time. So the dog and I headed to NH where distractions are few(er). Hunkering down in the solitude of a snowy setting can be great way to get some writing done. It can also be a great way to start seeing ghosts and chopping down doors. So learning a lesson from Mr. Torrence I made sure to avoid the all-work-and-no-play syndrome.
It had rained pretty hard last Sunday and NH lost virtually all of the snow they had received so far. Fortunately the Notch did it's thing and 10" fell Tuesday with another sixish on Wednesday. I managed to get some slope time Wed, Thurs, Fri. Conditions on those days were very good, good, and OK respectively. MD joined me on Thursday. Here's a small sampling...
Friday, December 17, 2010
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Lincoln Woods, Cannon, Bretton Woods
Commuting to Boston is not what I do. But lately I’ve had to head in on several occasions for some testimony. It’s like going to another planet. We are closed up in a small room with no outside contact for 8 hours. That is why I had no idea a nice storm was developing in the mountains on Monday. Monday night, I left the hearing and got on the commuter train all set to get home and settle in for a big Pats-Jets game on Monday Night Football. The Wi-Fi option on make the commuter rail a pretty sweet way to get into town. I logged in and started my routine: email, weather, ski reports. Whoa! 8-10” at Cannon and more elsewhere? After some quick calls and rescheduling I’m on my way to NH. Chilly and I hit the road by 7pm and were nestled into the condo and watching the Pats by 9:30.
Saturday at 6am I took Chilly out to play in the 2-3" on the ground here in Lincoln. I had planned a quick 20 minute walk but she was loving it and I’m still interested in exploring up here. So we ended up doing about 2 hours on the trail. This trail system I've found leads right out of our place and seems to have endless possibilities. I'm sure there are local names for these trails but until I learn them I'm dubbing this whole network 'Outback 69'. The reasons are obvious when you see it. So this morning it was Outback 69 North. She found a nice big stick to run with.
And I found this. ??
Even with the extended hike I got on the Peabody lift by 9:15. Cannon was reporting 10.5" in the past 24hrs. That was a stretch. The best pockets held around 6". Fresh lines were still found on trail edges. The only trails that didn't ski well were those that had been hit with the guns (esp. Middle and Lower Ravine) . It seemed like the blown snow mixed with the real stuff and eliminated in fluffiness. The front 4 were getting heavily poached and looked good although I didn't bother.
The problem with Cannon on a pow day is that Cannon skiers are all die-hard pow-hounds. We're all thinking alike and fresh lines get used up faster than sunscreen at the albino family beach party. But that's not the case everywhere......
So off to Bretton Woods at ~11:30. BW was reporting 10-16" and that was no lie. Huge swaths of untouched were in plain sight. 8-10" was found everywhere that hadn't been groomed. Although the pitch can be a problem here it was ridable. After 4 fun, fresh runs on the lower mountain I finally realized that the Rosebrook chair was open. At the top was an early Christmas miracle. Upper Express was open, it had 12+ of fluff, and it looked like less than a dozen skiers had hit it. Thank you. I hit that 5 consecutive times. The fluff wasn't bottomless and the board took a few hits. But that's to be expected in early December and I had the right board for it. Unfortunately there is no decent cut back from there to Rosebrook Chair so those laps meant top-to-bottom and 2 chairs up. But the lower mountain was still in great shape so it was nothing to complain about.
At both mountains early season hazards are abundant. Water bars, man-made death cookies, and sharp stuff lurk beneath the fresh. So be on your toes. I got a stick wedged so far into my binding buckle that unstrapping at the bottom was a major ordeal.
Got back around 3:00 and C-dog was ready for round two. So another hour and half on the trail. This time was Outback 69 East. We found that it's an easy walk through the woods to the Kancamangus Ski Hill where they had the snow guns blazing. We explored some more, pushing the limits of energy and light. We got back in just as dark settled in pretty solidly.
I shot a lot of video but don’t have time to edit now. Here’s some unedited footage from Bretton Woods on Upper Express.
Saturday at 6am I took Chilly out to play in the 2-3" on the ground here in Lincoln. I had planned a quick 20 minute walk but she was loving it and I’m still interested in exploring up here. So we ended up doing about 2 hours on the trail. This trail system I've found leads right out of our place and seems to have endless possibilities. I'm sure there are local names for these trails but until I learn them I'm dubbing this whole network 'Outback 69'. The reasons are obvious when you see it. So this morning it was Outback 69 North. She found a nice big stick to run with.
And I found this. ??
Even with the extended hike I got on the Peabody lift by 9:15. Cannon was reporting 10.5" in the past 24hrs. That was a stretch. The best pockets held around 6". Fresh lines were still found on trail edges. The only trails that didn't ski well were those that had been hit with the guns (esp. Middle and Lower Ravine) . It seemed like the blown snow mixed with the real stuff and eliminated in fluffiness. The front 4 were getting heavily poached and looked good although I didn't bother.
The problem with Cannon on a pow day is that Cannon skiers are all die-hard pow-hounds. We're all thinking alike and fresh lines get used up faster than sunscreen at the albino family beach party. But that's not the case everywhere......
So off to Bretton Woods at ~11:30. BW was reporting 10-16" and that was no lie. Huge swaths of untouched were in plain sight. 8-10" was found everywhere that hadn't been groomed. Although the pitch can be a problem here it was ridable. After 4 fun, fresh runs on the lower mountain I finally realized that the Rosebrook chair was open. At the top was an early Christmas miracle. Upper Express was open, it had 12+ of fluff, and it looked like less than a dozen skiers had hit it. Thank you. I hit that 5 consecutive times. The fluff wasn't bottomless and the board took a few hits. But that's to be expected in early December and I had the right board for it. Unfortunately there is no decent cut back from there to Rosebrook Chair so those laps meant top-to-bottom and 2 chairs up. But the lower mountain was still in great shape so it was nothing to complain about.
At both mountains early season hazards are abundant. Water bars, man-made death cookies, and sharp stuff lurk beneath the fresh. So be on your toes. I got a stick wedged so far into my binding buckle that unstrapping at the bottom was a major ordeal.
Got back around 3:00 and C-dog was ready for round two. So another hour and half on the trail. This time was Outback 69 East. We found that it's an easy walk through the woods to the Kancamangus Ski Hill where they had the snow guns blazing. We explored some more, pushing the limits of energy and light. We got back in just as dark settled in pretty solidly.
I shot a lot of video but don’t have time to edit now. Here’s some unedited footage from Bretton Woods on Upper Express.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Finally
Finally some days up north this winter. It’s a late start for us, especially considering that this October was one of the best early, early seasons on record and lots of people were getting high quality turns. But at that point we were focused on clearing the plate to make room for the real season. And here we are.
We have been talking for months about conducting some recon in the Lincoln area. Looking for routes and lines prior to real snow cover will hopefully save some time when it counts. On Friday we scoped an area that we’ve been looking at for quite a while – Pollard Brook off of Big Coolidge.
Canines Chilly and Chestnut joined humans Leighann, Matt, and I. It was a first meeting for the dogs in what will surely be a long friendship. We weren’t sure about hunting in the area so the dogs donned bandanas. I opted for a hat that thankfully was not photographed.
We found that a combination of established trails, old logging roads, and bushwhacking got us to a nice lesser summit/ridge to the SE of BC (Little Coolidge?) Although mostly tree covered, views into Lincoln and across the valley were plentiful. The whole area has been extensively logged in the past meaning that while there are no big trees there is a lot of scrub. Ski lines would be tight but the definitely exist in places. Short sections definitely abound.
We hadn’t started until 1:30, so with dark closing in we had to limit our exploring and be sure that our random route could be retraced to the cars and beers. The next trip will start earlier and will include full recon of Big Coolidge.
Saturday 12/4/10:
With no shades on the condo windows and a dog that likes an early breakfast there was no sleeping in on Saturday. I got up thinking of a quick walk with her. But my curiosity got the better of me and I NEEDED to discover the local trails that I knew had to be there. Sure enough, a little bit of investigation uncovered an excellent network of trails that head in all the directions I wanted them to. We did a few miles of exploration uncovering the routes to the north and to the east although never completing any of them. XC-ski possibilities appear endless and there were some very nice wide-open, moderate pitch tree lines that could keep a group of skiers and riders happy on a pow day.
After that good dose of exercise and exploration I knew C-dog would be content to lounge about while we headed over to Cannon. The Cannon Cloud was in effect. Lincoln was blazing sun and dry roads, the Notch was windy with light snow blowing everywhere. Of course we ran into Tom N. before we even got out of the car. Caught up with him for a few minutes then grabbed our passes and headed out. Leighann opted to get her first fall of the season out of the way early by tumbling down the stairs and faceplanting in front of the lodge. Considering last year’s teeth incident I was pretty happy to see her get up laughing hysterically. With that out of the way we finally headed up good ‘ole Cannon Mtn. There were only 2 routes down but conditions were surprisingly good. 2-3” of new snow on top of some very high quality faux-snow made for enjoyable turns along the edges. Although there were a lot of race teams there it really wasn't crowded and he hopped straight on the lift each time. It wasn’t really enough to hold our interest long though, so after 3 runs we called it a successful shake out day and headed back.
IT IS ON!
We have been talking for months about conducting some recon in the Lincoln area. Looking for routes and lines prior to real snow cover will hopefully save some time when it counts. On Friday we scoped an area that we’ve been looking at for quite a while – Pollard Brook off of Big Coolidge.
Canines Chilly and Chestnut joined humans Leighann, Matt, and I. It was a first meeting for the dogs in what will surely be a long friendship. We weren’t sure about hunting in the area so the dogs donned bandanas. I opted for a hat that thankfully was not photographed.
We found that a combination of established trails, old logging roads, and bushwhacking got us to a nice lesser summit/ridge to the SE of BC (Little Coolidge?) Although mostly tree covered, views into Lincoln and across the valley were plentiful. The whole area has been extensively logged in the past meaning that while there are no big trees there is a lot of scrub. Ski lines would be tight but the definitely exist in places. Short sections definitely abound.
We hadn’t started until 1:30, so with dark closing in we had to limit our exploring and be sure that our random route could be retraced to the cars and beers. The next trip will start earlier and will include full recon of Big Coolidge.
Saturday 12/4/10:
With no shades on the condo windows and a dog that likes an early breakfast there was no sleeping in on Saturday. I got up thinking of a quick walk with her. But my curiosity got the better of me and I NEEDED to discover the local trails that I knew had to be there. Sure enough, a little bit of investigation uncovered an excellent network of trails that head in all the directions I wanted them to. We did a few miles of exploration uncovering the routes to the north and to the east although never completing any of them. XC-ski possibilities appear endless and there were some very nice wide-open, moderate pitch tree lines that could keep a group of skiers and riders happy on a pow day.
After that good dose of exercise and exploration I knew C-dog would be content to lounge about while we headed over to Cannon. The Cannon Cloud was in effect. Lincoln was blazing sun and dry roads, the Notch was windy with light snow blowing everywhere. Of course we ran into Tom N. before we even got out of the car. Caught up with him for a few minutes then grabbed our passes and headed out. Leighann opted to get her first fall of the season out of the way early by tumbling down the stairs and faceplanting in front of the lodge. Considering last year’s teeth incident I was pretty happy to see her get up laughing hysterically. With that out of the way we finally headed up good ‘ole Cannon Mtn. There were only 2 routes down but conditions were surprisingly good. 2-3” of new snow on top of some very high quality faux-snow made for enjoyable turns along the edges. Although there were a lot of race teams there it really wasn't crowded and he hopped straight on the lift each time. It wasn’t really enough to hold our interest long though, so after 3 runs we called it a successful shake out day and headed back.
IT IS ON!
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