Magic 2/13

Ok so it wasn't the 6" of powder the weather man was calling for

But being able to admire your tracks from the lift because everyone else decided to stay home isn't too shabby either

Killington 12/13

With mommy stuck at work Sunday, mini-animal and I ventured out to take sample of the destruction that the sun and rains had wrought up on the land.


We arrived to find clear skies and gorgeous views at the peak

Expecting the worst with regards to conditions we were pleasantly surprised to find most of the trails were actually borderline pleasant. Most of the upper elevation runs skied fine, with a few icy patches, as we got lower we found re-frozen ice pellets and sugar snow, and in the higher traffic areas it was boilerplate with large piles of granular snow. At no point was anything that we were on "un-skiable" and most of the open trails had very good coverage. Perhaps I may have misjudged our new overlords. Their plan of opening and operating trails with greater base depths to provide a better skiing experience vs just blowing enough snow to max out the total number of trails open seems to have allowed them to weather the thaw better then other areas. To be sure anything that didn't have snowmaking/grooming on it was toast, or more to the point was covered by 4-5" of an impenetrable ice layer, but there's nothing that could have been done to save those trails.

Towards the end of the day Mini-animal started working on his switch skiing steeze, kids got some real talent going backwards

But the best part was enjoying the last run and closing out the mountain at 4 pm. It was a long fun day and we both had a blast just being out there.

Yes and yes it was very good today

8-10" of new........check
skins and touring bindings............check
having the hill all to myself for 4 hours.................check

:-)

Oh Oh its Magic

You know :-)

Met bluebird at the baselodge at 7:45 and we started skinning up

Don't go to Magic kids, it sucks

This is a total photoshop job, there actually isn't any snow

Again go somewhere else, Magic isn't worth driving to

Good to get out and be able to have skis on top to bottom, coverage was good, snow was good, all in all it was a good day

Night of the living shred: A Halloween TR

So when I mentioned I was going to post a hairball TR of my Halloween misadventures I had NO idea of the insanity that was to come.

Dateline Tuesday sometime in the early afternoon:

I had clearance to blow off work for some turns on Wednesday, so with the stoke of continuing a 3 year streak of October turns percolating, I began rounding up the gear, and packing up the car. That’s when disaster hit, my boss came home :rolleyes: She started in with the: “I know I told you could have the day off but…………….” Turns out that two other people needed some time off so they could attend their kids school Halloween functions. For a brief second I attempted to protest this gross unfairness and got as far as threatening not to show up but I got “that” look, which is the one that tells you that if you pulled a stunt like that not only, would you be sleeping on the couch for the next month, the locks would be changed and there’d be no forwarding address left for you to FIND the couch. :smile:

Bummed beyond belief, I resigned myself to the end of a nice little run, when a completely stupid idea crept into my mind. Grasping for straws, I threw it out for approval. I’d leave for Killington immediately, sleep for a few hours slope side, and get a REALLY early start and be back in time for work. To my great surprise, she actually went for it and within 15 minutes I was headed northbound and within 2 hours I was conked out slope side.

Wednesday, October 31 came FAR too early for my liking, but within 15 minutes of the alarm I was up, dressed and ready.

that would be AM, not PM :roll:



Not surprisingly for that early hour of the morning, it was dark and I remember thinking to myself, “this has gone beyond the bounds of ANYTHING resembling sanity.” But despite a strong urge to climb back into my warm sleeping bag I pressed on into the blackness with only a headlamp and my rapidly declining brain cells to guide me. I must have been quite a sight heading up the mountain as I tried to find my route up the hill while avoiding multiple, invisible water bars and other assorted knee wrenching pratfalls.



I’m sure that it must have been quite entertaining, but alas every other SANE person was sleeping. Finally after 45 minutes of the blind leading the brainless, I managed to successfully navigate myself to the base of the glades triple.




It was at that moment when the clouds broke and the stars and moonlight illuminated one of the most wonderful sights that I have ever seen. Looking uphill, a luminescent carpet of snow leapt out of the inky mire of mud and grass, resplendent in a silver glow. I tried every possible camera setting I could in an attempt to capture the shear beauty of this sliver road leading on into what appeared to be black oblivion, but alas it was to be a treat for my eyes only. I had planned on waiting until dawns light to attempt a run, figuring the snow would be the typical ankle breaking, grabby, Styrofoam that is a trademark of early season man made snow. But, drawn in by its moonlit radiance I decided to investigate the feasibility of attempting a moonlit, headlamp assisted decent. Upon reaching the fringes of the snowfield and poking around the snow, I elected to give it a shot. I used the lift tower to give me a visual cue as to where the snow changed over from solid snowpack to thin cover over grass. I dropped the skis off the pack and clicked in and begun skinning up.




I’ve read many accounts of hardcore ski mountaineers talking about the wave of relief that sweeps over them once they put their skis on. While my little escapade was in no way comparable to anything on the scale of hardcore mountaineering, a ripple of confidence and security washed over me. It was if finally my body told my brain, stop worrying, the hard part is over, you know what to do now.




Far from grabby crust, the snow underfoot had a hard icy consistency, and I almost wished I had brought ski crampons along for extra bite. I debated with the idea of switching back over to boots, but continued with skins as I was making fairly good progress and after 15 minutes I arrived at the terminus of the Glades triple. Turning around I peered down the slope following the beam of my headlamp for about 15 feet until it became lost in the darkness, I thought in my head, “yeah, this will work”.




Skins pulled and stowed, I made one exploratory half turn, as a test of the snow and my skills, much to my delight, I did not forget how to ski over the summer :smile: I re-adjusted the beam of light and linked 2 turns together, stopped and smiled as I took in the scene around me, the canopy of stars overhead was all the audience I would need. I jumped back into the fall line and progressed further down, but this time instead of a smooth glasslike surface underneath me, I ventured too close to the edge of the trail and ran into a maze of crusts, death cookies, and frozen chicken heads. Reminding myself to be more careful I kick turned towards the middle, and dropped back in to the intoxicating rush of toying with gravity. While moving, my world consisted of my ski tips, a 3 foot dot of light, and my downhill pole, and I was constantly reminding myself that those were the only things in the world that mattered.


chasing the dot

Any negligence in my attention to any of those three, had the potential to be more costly then I dared imagine. Every once in a while I would stop and soak in the absolute magnificence of the mountains at night. As always seems to be the case, I ran out of snow and time, and rather then spoil the memory of the shear magnificence experienced on the first run with a hasty, and truncated second, I came to a decision that I’d just head back down a little earlier then planned.

In hindsight this was probably the best choice I made, as I decided to return to the base via Great Northern instead of attempting to make my way down a steeper slope. Even on GN, the walk down in the darkness could only be described as treacherous at best and precarious at its worst. Ed Viesturs, always has said that mountaineering isn’t a one way trip, and just for this once I REALLY wished it was.

I arrived back at the car with plenty of time to spare though, and for my effort, and ability for once to actually come in before my drop dead time, I treated myself to a breakfast burrito at Killington Deli, which as it turns out made my late for work :smile:

But the streak of October turns lives on :smile:

TR: Harvest 2/18 and 2/19 - Teton Gravity Research Forums

TR: Harvest 2/18 and 2/19 - Teton Gravity Research Forums


Sometimes you just need to get out and do something, regardless of how good or bad it is, its the experience that counts

Blue light special on POW TR(2/14) - Teton Gravity Research Forums

Blue light special on POW TR(2/14-2/16) - Teton Gravity Research Forums


Yeah it was good

:-)

EC dawn patrol numero uno (2/3/07) - Teton Gravity Research Forums

EC dawn patrol numero uno (2/3/07) - Teton Gravity Research Forums


Just a little reminder that Dawn patrol season is underway

we thank you for your cooperation

A quasi-sufferfest weekend TR

A quasi-sufferfest weekend TR


So the snow wasn't as great as I wanted it to be but a good time was had by all and the mini-animals feeling much better

Killington 12/17

I'm through complaining about the weather, so I'm going to continue in a more positive frame of mind for the rest of the season which is sure to be SWEET, cause it just don't get any better then what I skied today at K-mart!

Its not a ribbon of death, its an opportunity to practice close quarter skiing with 500 of your closest pals

December 17th, and there's only 3 months left until golf season!

If you commit to it you can totally ski 1/3 of Superstar and I bet the ribbon on the right hand side of Ovation is sick powder for those willing to hike for it

To look on the bright side, at least 1/2 the trails are borderline skiable

And look there's always the magic carpet area for the kiddies

In this case I don't even LIKE skiing Ramshead so I'm GLAD there's no snow over there

Mount Snow 12/10/06

After church I decided to make the hour and change drive over to Mount Snow to make some late afternoon laps. Snow was good if nothing spectacular, its going to get really interesting next week as we hit yet another warm spell. Had a lot of fun testing out my home bent fat skis. It really wasn't ideal conditions so I won't post a full review but I was plesantly surprised at their versatility.

And as an added bonus to an already great day the Cowboys got spanked at home. Take that Parcells!

How core are you? A Killington TR

Friday AM: After reading the grim reports coming out of Killington the past week I log on to find that they had suspended operations for Friday and Saturday, bummed but still determined to make something of the weekend I cobble together a group of determined and slightly demented souls who agree to a hike to patch session.

Friday PM: Lying in bed I listen to the rain POUND down upon my house in Troy as the wind howls and the thermometer reads temperatures that are more fitting for May then December.

Saturday Early AM: The temperature still reads a balmy 41 degrees at 6:15 when I point the car north towards Killington, hoping that there will at least be patches left after the deluge.

Saturday 8:30 AM: I roll into the K-1 parking lot and the scene can only be described as eerie, there are ambassadors, lift attendants, mountain ops, and parking crews, but there are NO cars, no skiers, and very little in the way of snow.

I park the car and begin to scout the scene. There appears to be very little left in terms of snowpack, and what is left has turned to the worst coral reef I’ve ever seen, the best patches appear to be beyond bulletproof ice, and where it isn’t pockmarked by frozen death cookies mountain ops has run grooming machines up and down in an attempt to save the snowpack by compressing it. Despite the grim reports there are sounds of snow guns firing and my spirits are lifted by the arrival of Tyrolean, Helmet Cam and knuckledragger. Tree Rat and Mtn Man apparently had a fantastic night on the access road and were running late, so our party began its ascent up to the glades area, contemplating our sanity the whole way.

However, despite the lack of snow, we did remember our Avalanche bacon which would be crucial if a wet slab came down.

After about an hour of hiking we arrived at the base of the glades triple to find a glorious banquet of wet snow guns, exposed rocks, bumps, snowcat tank tread ruts, mud, and death cookies, all in various states of freezing.

I gamely push on towards what must be better snow up top, but my accent is slowed by the incessant blasting of semi frozen water droplets, I make it half way up and I’m frozen solid so I decide to attack the recently cut power line trail figuring that way I’ll be out of the guns for a bit. That was a poor choice as well as the rain has created pits of mud where I sink up to my knees. My F1’s change from a bright neon green to a muddy shade of brown and I begin to question whether I am in fact going mad from the lack of snow. A brief respite is offered by a concrete platform and I stop to remove my soft-shell, which has now gained at least 4 pounds of water weight and it was at this point that a frozen Clif bar and a bottle of orange Gatorade become a welcome diversion from the misery and suffering that this excursion has become. I’m alone, the wind is howling, and despite my down pullover I’m beginning to get cold as everything I’m wearing is CAKED in ice, and the only sane route down is back through the gauntlet of snow guns. I pick up my now frozen shell, throw it back on and cut through the trees towards the snow where I am met by the rest of the party who had climbed through the guns. Our sprits are surprisingly high, until I discover that somehow my leashes have snapped, which makes getting into my dynafits somewhat of a chore, given the fact that there is NOTHING that’s going to stop my ski from rocketing all the way down to the glades chairlift almost 600 feet below me. All that living room practice with the dynafits is no match for actually trying to put them on while on an icy incline and the first few tries are unsuccessful, but I finally manage to step into both skis. The turns down aren’t much to write home about but I couldn’t get over just how much edge control I had with the dynafits and F1’s, it’s a really cool combination and wasn’t nearly the underpowered slipper I thought it would be, there was plenty enough power to drive my TM:X’s though some of the worst conditions I’ve ever had the pleasure of skiing. As the crew made its way down to the chair Mtn Man, Treerat and Indy the wonder dog made their appearance on the scene. Everyone else had had enough of the conditions but I figured one more lap wouldn’t kill me(must’ve been the dynafits talking). So up we went again. Second lap was a great improvement in the downhill department, I figure it was the combination of having more confidence in the setup and having a better idea of where the “mildly ski-able” sections were. We found a nice 50’ patch of wet glop at the very bottom of Rime and decided to lap it a couple of times seeing as how it about the only spot where you could link continuous turns all the way from top to bottom.

By that point we were soaked, and whatever wasn’t soaked was encased in 2” of ice. I was really dreading the hike back down but we were in luck. While we were playing, the guns on lower great northern had been piling up the snow, so while it was only truly sketchy in a couple of spots, we managed to make a full on ski descent from the Glades Chair to the parking lot.

I graciously accepted the offer of the use of the Basher house to get cleaned up before heading to the Long Trail Brewery for well deserved beers.

Sunday AM: After getting a late(8:15 is late for me) start due to the fabulous K-Zone wine party the previous evening, I arrive at the Gondi to find things back to normal, cars in the lot, people everywhere and guns firing all day long. Big props to the Mtn Ops crew, I couldn’t believe the turn around in just 24 hours. Anyway, a great day skiing with the rest of the crew, nothing really special, just your average early season lift serve day at Killington, but given the recent conditions its nice to just have one of those. Hopefully we’ve got this weather thing turned around and it’s gonna be face shots all year long.

Stowe 10/28-10/29

Saturday 10/28

Alarm clock doesn't even go off and I'm up at 3 am and racing towards an already packed car. It’s been raining since one; I know this because I couldn't sleep. The weather forecasts race in my mind, will it stay cold enough to hold the snowpack, and am I driving 4 hours in the dark to meet a hill covered in mud. Through the early morning I race, all the time splitting my attention between the road and my dashboard, where the external temperature is displayed. I watch as it slowly creeps downward, 47 degrees in Troy, 44 in Bennington at 4 am, dropping to 42 while passing Manchester at 4:30. I hit 40 in Rutland, still not cold enough for snow. The time of day further complicates matters as I’d decided to skip the winding of route 100 in favor of route 7 however I’m having difficulty remembering the directions (which are sitting on my printer at home). I finally spot my turn and proceed east towards Mad River Glen when I hit an unexpected snag; Lincoln Gap road which would connect me from 7 to 100 is closed, leaving me with Route 17 which winds over the mountains from Starksboro to Irasville. I’ve driven that route before in dry conditions but never in a pounding rainstorm, with gusts of wind that are driving my car from yellow paint to shoulder. I grit my teeth and gun the accelerator towards my destiny. As I reach the gap, I notice with trepidation the temperature dropping and the rain changing over to snow; branches litter the road which has been draped with a thin sheen of ice that glares back at my headlights. I ascend through the maze of hairpin turns without incident and begin my decent towards the base of Mad River Glen. Feeling a sense of relief and wonderment at the snow, I let my guard down to peak out at the winter wonderland, the car gets away from me on a downhill turn and slides towards the guardrail, I quickly regain control and avert a disaster. Cursing my carelessness and stupidity I continue the crawl to the base of MRG. Even in the predawn light I can see that the trails are swathed in white. But enough about the drive, on to Stowe and Mansfield!

I arrive in Stowe at dawn, or what would be dawn if it wasn’t raining so hard. Pulling into the parking lot I’m greeted by a mix of sleet and rain, but there is SNOW!!!!

I grab the coveted parking spot next to the Midmountain lodge, gear up and begin my slog up Liftline. By now the sleet has turned to rain, and the wind has kicked up to a steady 20 mph, if you want to simulate hiking up Mansfield, put your ski gear on jump in your shower turn the cold water on high, and have a powerful fan blow the water into your face. But despite the conditions I’m in great sprits the snow is deep, the coverage is fabulous and I’m going to get to ski.


As I get higher and higher up it begins getting colder, and the rain is turning to ice pellets that are stinging any skin they can find. Even more bothersome is the wind. I begin to find myself wallowing up to my knees in snow drifts and decide to switch from bootpacking to skinning. During the switchover I begin to notice that after an hour of ascending in a downpour the rain has finally beaten back the defenses of my Gore-Tex shells. Even the “dry” layers I’d had in my pack are soaked with rain. I’m making better time with skins on and feel I must be nearing the summit so I push gamely on but it’s a fool’s errand, after another hour of climbing and only a few hundred vertical feet before the summit, I succumb to the elements and my general misery, and realize that tomorrow is another day. At the top of Liftline and National, I strip my skins and my wet layers, buckle the boots, step into my skis and drop in. I really wasn’t hoping for much, it was after all October, and the rain and wind had taken their toll on my moral. My expectation was to make it to the bottom without injuring myself; instead I was treated to some sublimely good turns.

The rain and wind had buffed the snow from a maze of uneven refrozen junk, into smooth creamy goodness. I was amazed at the quality of the snow which just gave way to my every sweeping turn. Despite the heaviness in my legs; I was able to link turns pretty much at will, only stopping to rest or to negotiate a water bar or other obstacle. But all good things must come to an end, and unfortunately I ran out of vertical. Too tired and soaked to hike back for seconds I savor the turns for a moment, then, wanting to get warm and dry, I walk the 500 feet back to the car, strip my clothes and begin to see my plan of skiing tomorrow go up in smoke, or more to the point, be soaked.

I had planned on spending the night in our new Freestyle (huge upgrade from the Escape in terms of living space for car camping), I’d brought a warm sleeping bag and a crash pad to sleep on, and there was plenty of space, but I’d come to the realization that there was no way I was going to get anything dry in the car. Looking out the window at the rain pouring down, I glumly decide to drive around town and head home. While on the road however, an inspiration strikes me, if I could find somewhere with a dryer, I’d be all set. Lucky for me with the aid of my GPS’s points of interest function, a Laundromat was found. A mere 4 dryer cycles later and my gear is good to go (I even had to throw my pack in the dryer). Dinner is found and I retire to my lodging for the night and am lulled to sleep by the soft lullaby of 30 mph winds, the soothing sound of ice pellets being hammered into my windows, and the gentle rocking of my car in the 50 mph wind gusts.

Sunday 10/29/06

I awake to the sounds of, well nothing actually. I roll out of the car to a light snowfall which appears to be valiantly trying to stick to the ground. Temperatures, which had been dropping all night, appear to have finally leveled out at 30 degrees. I get dressed and head over to spruce peak where I found a vantage point to study my options. I feel that due to the wind and terrain, the lookers left of the mountain would seem to be the better spot. I should be able to find lower angle terrain which has the double bonus of being physically easier to skin and its more wind protected. So this time I take the longer walk in, and find a route to skin up, the skin is leisurely, I’m tired from yesterday and owing to the absence of rain I don’t feel the need to rush. The snow is starting to accumulate and there’s a lot of drifting snow if you find the right spots. I’m aware of the strong winds, but it seems a minor annoyance until I reach the ridge that leads to the summit. I am then treated to a blast of what must have been 50-60 mph; the wind is ripping along, picking up snow and hurling it at me and the gusts leave me no choice but to lean over my poles, set my edges and wait it out. My skinning strategy changes from holding the highest angle I possibly can to finding islands of safety where I could get out of the wind. I had been moving at a fairly good clip as well climbing @ 1100 feet o f elevation in a little over an hour, but once over that ridgeline my pace slowed to a crawl. Again I was determined to push on to the summit, but the mountain kept sending attacks of brutal wind to thwart my progress and I was beginning to see my rest times increase while my forward progress decreased.

So once again I quit on the summit push and clicked in to find some of the best turns I’ve had in a long time. The snow was nowhere near as consistent as the yesterday, hard scratchy crust from where the wind had scoured the snowpack, to soft silky graupel in the spots where the wind had deposited snow. This was the day to let the skis run, and run they did, drawing the lines in a giant game of connect the dots, moving from one dot of windblown to the next patch, all connecting to form a picture of a great run. Once again I found myself at the bottom too soon and out of turns and time, for it was time to head home to the land of jobs and responsibilities and all of the other crap that keeps us from days like these. October skiing like this is such a rarity on the east coast, and even tonight as I write this its hard for me to believe that the last two days were even possible, but, every once in a while, an experience like the last two days will make believers of us all, and maybe, that’s just enough.

KillingtonZone.com :: View topic - Super secret location TR

KillingtonZone.com :: View topic - Super secret location TR

always good to get that first sufferfest out of the way