Catching up & 1st half of season

As blogs usually go there are big chunks of time when you just don't post. Then it's compounding cycle. You don't want to put newer info up until you get around to posting previous reports, but you don't have time to do it all, so you put it off some more.

This week I have to be away from the mountains and back to real world. I also have to be away from L and Chilly-dog so I'll have some lonely nights well suited for computer time and writing. Hopefully that means getting back up to the present here.

The first place to start is with this video recap of the first part of the season. I've shared this in a lot of venues but not here. So here goes. This encompasses up till the end of January 2011. Settings include Cannon, Bretton Woods, and BC areas around Lincoln. The cast includes:
Matt D: Black Coated Skier (and POV of fat Sir Francis Bacons)
John E: Orange Coated Skier
Leighann M: Stylie Rider
Chilly-D: Black fur
Alex M: Camera Man, occasional Blue Coated Skier, POV Rider, etc

Music is by Dirtybird Beats. This is a guy making amazing music out of his home in Humbolt County. He gave me permission to use this great track "and it falls" for the soundtrack. Check him out at http://dirtybirdbeats.blogspot.com/

And here you go. More to come soon...

Good bye April

You don't skip a chance to catch 2' of snow at the tail end of April. So JE, MD, CT, and I hit the road. There was a lot of talk about where to go. Temperatures, wind, avalanches, crowds, and more all got factored into the equation. The result (as it so often is) was to head to Cannon. As a group we have about 80 years, hundreds of days, thousands of hours, and maybe millions of vertical feet of experience on this hill. But none of us have ever skinned/skied it. So the familiar became novel.

Front row parking is the first benefit of off-season skiing.


The skinning was smooth and easy. Although not so true for C on the slowshoes.


At the bottom of the Cannonball we spent some time deciding on our approach to the summit. We ended up choosing Profile which was a steep windy slog. But it was the most direct approach and the wind at our backs both helped our ascent and kept the body temp out of the red zone.





A nice little backcountry hut. I had big dreams of sitting out the deck enjoying the views and coldie. But the wind was easily 60-70MPH. The one sunny sheltered spot I found was getting barraged by 'knock-you-out' sized ice chunks. So we enjoyed a somewhat surreal indoor lunch break. It was also nice to lighten our loads....thanks Cannon.


Heading back into the sun, wind, and snow we debated options. From the tram building we could see that Tramway and probably Vista were totally scoured. On the way up we had seen that Hardscrabble was virtually untouched and looked better than ever. So we headed down Taft. The coverage was good, the snow was sticky but not bad. And then it all went down hill....or I should say we wished it would go down hill. The snow was so deep, wet, and sticky. Even the steepest pitches required straight-lining and turns were mostly out of the equation and ugly at best when attempted.

We decided the flat run-outs on that side were unwise so we slog-traversed are way over towards Zoomer. C was in and out his bindings all day. Even though is seemed that conditions would be board favorable, ultimately he had it extra hard.

We are actually pretty good skiers. And when I get a chance I'll post some video that proves it. In the meantime I hope you enjoy how hilarious water logged snow can be. My apologies to J for the evil laughter. (best viewed at 720).


There's plenty more to come, including the rest of the day's adventures.

Slushboarding paradise

Spring skiing has turned into summer skiing. It is HOT at Sugarbush. At least 75 on Friday and should hit 80 Saturday. The limitations of the Claybrook internet connection are only exceeded by my interest in computer time while here. But anyway I thought I'd throw up a quick look at the soft bumps, blazing sun, (and dirt) found on Paradise.

Obviously I need to revise the camera mounting location so viewers don't hurl (this was my on my ankle). But this was the first attempt and not too bad.




Bluebird (and clear skies)


Lunch by the river (of melting slopes)


Location, location, location