March Instagram Dump

I've been doing some stuff, I just haven't been posting. Here's an update:

I finished up the community college skiing class that I teach:

Then had a ski weekend at Gore:

Followed by a sweet trip to Mad River Glen for a 2-day PSIA clinic before my big exam. They had gotten 3-4" inches of snow when we arrived, and they had another 2-3" the next night. It made for awesome conditions for bumps and trees. I wish I had taken more pictures, but we skied pretty hard. Here's a couple of shots:

The following weekend was the PSIA exam at Killington. I was too busy being stressed, so not many pics from there either. We did have a phenomenal Norwegian tele feast at a backcountry hut on the Long Trail:

Then we had a beer in the umbrella bar while waiting for the results to be tabulated:

And a celebration beer after the success:

I am now an official member of the Eastern Division Telemark Development Team. I realize that doesn't mean anything to a lot of people. I'll probably write up a post later explaining everything about it, but for now, I guess you can just think about it as Level 3+, where level 3 is the highest certification most people get.

After that, we returned to Gore for a weekend, but went off piste and did the Rabbit Pond trail from the Wood Out entrance:

It was fun on Tele skis, but if I did it again, I'd use the fishscaled BC skis for it. Lots of up and down on the way down to the Ski Bowl.

It took us about 1.5-2 hours at a slow, relaxed pace, but it can probably be done faster. It was a great way to get away from the crowds at Gore and it was fun to do some exploring.

Speaking of exploring, the following week, We were at Jay Peak:

It was phenomenal. Pow, trees, chutes, and fun skiing (well, Ace snowboarded the first day):

There's a lot of pictures of Ace making left turns for ya (I have no idea why it worked out that way). We spent three days skiing Jay Peak Resort, then we did some backcountry across the street:

Really nice snow conditions, and a really fun, relaxed time.

After that, I understudied a Tele event at Whiteface, where 7 inches of wet snow made all the glades awesome:

Then I started riding my bike (I'm trying to do #30daysofbiking again this year):

But I haven't forgot about skiing. Great day last Sunday, and it looks like this coming weekend will be sweet, too.

And now you're all caught up.

Merck Forest Backcountry Skiing - 2/22/14

Usually, I try not to expose backcountry "stashes", but since the Merck Forest, outside of Manchester Vermont, is pretty well known, I figured I'd just say where we were. Since the recent rain/freeze, we figured we'd give the coral reef snow conditions a little time to warm up, so we flew sideways up the icy access road around 11:00. The parking lot and main road were completely iced over, making the walk to the visitor's center super treacherous. But we made it and, after a little planning session, we decided on a route up 2,600' Antone Mountain. We went back to the (actually pretty crowded) parking area and put on our skins, which made walking on the icy ground much more enjoyable.

We started hiking and tried to get off the main drag as soon as possible. We found ourselves on the empty McCormick Trail;

We got off the McCormick trail, took Antone Road to the "Ski Trail" (mellow, but a nice skin track in place), and got back on Antone road for the final push up. After about 2.5 hours, we made it to the summit. It was treed, but there was still a pretty good view.

The ski down was really tough. The snow never softened as much as we needed it to, so there was about 2" of crust that made everything really hard to turn through. We mostly had to stick with the tried and true backcountry technique of skiing our skin track, going too fast, panicking, leaving the track, and trying not to fall in the weird crusty snow.

Eventually, the trail widened and softened enough that we could make turns:

And we came out of the woods into full view of the farm:

There were some really fun horses:

This guy was just running around under this windmill, playing around in the snow - just like we were!

It was a great day to get away from the crowds of President's Week. Around this time of year, I always get burnt out on teaching and resort skiing. Days like this remind me why I love just being outside in the winter time.

Adirondack Backcountry Skiing - 1/4/14

After the most recent snowstorm, Ace and I had been itching to get out into the backcountry. We started the day at Gore, sat in a gondola full of a-holes, and met a -20 degree windchill at the top of Bear Mountain. After one run down Twister, we had had enough. The day that followed was way better.

We dropped a car at the Ski Bowl and headed to the Garnet Hill Lodge. Some friends of ours rented some tele equipment, and we were on our way. Originally, we were just going to take the Raymond Brook Ski Trail from Barton Mines road, but we decided to lengthen the trip. Here's a good description of the trails around the area. And here's a map (available at Garnet Hill, or in town at the Hudson River Trading Company):

We started out in high spirits on the Halfway Brook Trail towards William Blake Pond and The Vly:

After a few rolling hills, we reached William Blake Pond (remember, you can click on the pictures to enbiggen them):

There was a little bit of uphill to get to the next wetland:

We kept hiking for a while, a gradual up, then a gradual down towards the Vly:

Fishscaled, metal edged backcountry skis are the tool of choice. The tele setup does take a little getting used to, though, for the uninitiated (look out below!):

After climbing up from the Vly, crossing Barton Mines Road, and climbing up about 200 vertical feet from the start of the Raymond Brook Trail, we finally got some legitimate downhills in:

There was some history:

And a pretty nice downhill/traversing exit (with a couple of small uphills, too):

We started at Garnet Hill around 12:15 or so and came out at the Ski Bowl at 4:15. It took a little longer than anticipated (lots of photo breaks and a relaxed pace), but we still had a good amount of daylight to work with. This picture was taken as we left to begin the drive back up to Garnet Hill:

So, it was a pretty great day. Definitely a lot better than braving the crowds at the mountain. These are the kind of days that make me want to break out of the ski instructing grind and recapture winter weekends for myself - Good friends, great snow, empty trails, and freedom. Recipe for fun.