February Fresh

 Here in the northeast, we've recently been rewarded with a long-awaited thing: winter. To the tune of 12-24 inches of the fresh, fluffy white stuff. Needless to say: we've all been pretty stoked. To celebrate the new arrival of the white stuff, we headed early morning on Sunday to do some dawn patrol at our local mountain. Typically we skin up one of the main trails before the lifts start running, but on this particular morning, the groomers were out in full force. We've had some run-ins with some of the groomers - they don't always like that we're there, and they certainly don't like that our dogs are there. And I can understand why, but on this particular day, we had to get to work by 9am (well, 9:30...more on that later) and we also had to get some of that fresh, fluffy white stuff. So, off we headed to our local ski hill...and there we found knee-deep powder.

Kip, Tristan, and I plowed into the parking lot early morning and met our friend Jase (he has a broken leg, but still joined for the camaraderie of dawn patrol, a ski which he normally would have joined us on). He set up a chair, played with the dogs, and laughed with us about everything. He's a good friend. And, finally, after much fiddling around with skis, boots, skins, and etc. we started our skin - and Jase his short shuffle, up to the start of the ski trail. Jase waved good bye - it was sad to leave him there as we trekked into the fresh powder. Next year, Jase! 

Now, I should have mentioned sooner that Jase agreed to take our dog Odin back to his house with him while we skied - we didn't want Odin to get in the way of the groomers. So, with dogs in the car, Jase headed back to the parking lot and we warily started off towards a couple of groomers. Not wanting to get in their way, we quickly ditched into the woods. And that's when we heard it: "OOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDIIIIIIINNNNNN!!!!!!" We looked back and what did we see? Odin, dragging his leash, running madly for the woods behind us. He was not going to be left behind on a powder day! (We learned later that Odin took a millisecond opportunity to clear the backseat and squeeze out the door as Jase opened the back hatch of his Suby.). In truth, I was so happy to see him. And I really admire his little doggy spirit: There was fresh snow, and he wasn't going to miss it. 

So up we skinned  through the deep fluff and trees. It was a great skin. We all agreed: the ups are just as good as the downs. We got out of the woods with the first light of day streaming through the spruce tops and naked birch limbs - that will never cease to be one of my favorite sights. We skinned up the rest of the way to the top on groomed trails. Once there, we ripped our skins off, set up for the descent, and headed down - the boys through the woods and me on the groomer. I wanted to practice my telemark turns.


We all met up again further down the mountain, after I had my first several glorious turns through knee-deep fluff. What a feeling! The sound of gliding through fresh snow reverberates through your whole body. And, at three years in to trying, my telemark turns are starting to form - I made some really silky turns down the upper portion of the trail. I stopped to take it all in. And after a little while, Kip joined me and we waited for Tristan. And waited. And waited. "He was right behind me," Kip said. We could barely make out a figure through the trees, further up the trail, moving around eratically. Was he hurt? Kip started the climb back up and, after a few minutes, I followed. It was the camera; Tristan had demoed from ORS a helmet cam to video-tape our descent and, upon face planting into the snow, lost it in feet of powder! Kip and Tristan looked frantically and, eventually, Kip found it. After a little celebration, we all headed down to make turns together.







The camera search had set us back time-wise, so no second lap for us. But it was all so worth it. And I'm so glad to have shared a great day on skis with friends and my dog.

Back at it again.

I'm very excited to be guest blogging again for S and T and getting the chance to share my outdoor experiences with you guys.

I recently started a new career that has me working strange hours with days off at random intervals. There was a wonderful period when I would get the opportunity to join these guys on the majority of their outdoor adventures. Unfortunately, it’s been a while since I’ve gotten out at all, plus the lack of snow in the northeast hasn’t helped.

One of the nice things about working midnights for the last couple months is watching the snow come down, providing me with a handful of beautiful sunrises over freshly fallen powder. I've been too beat post shift to find the motivation to get out without good snow beckoning to me, and it's finally arrived.

Last Friday morning, after a pretty significant nighttime snowfall, I found myself dropping my fiancée off at work. On my way back out of town, I happened to look up and see gleaming trails intertwined among the trees on some of the hillsides above me. I recalled that I had my Karhu 10^th Mountains in the back of my Subaru and was suddenly struck with the desire to get out on the newly fallen snow. Despite having been up all night, I wheeled up an access road to the base of the mountain, strapped in and started climbing.


I had a great time up there, even though the conditions could always be better. I was just so glad to be out, enjoying myself once again in the cold.

I’d hardly been on skis all season so just getting out on the snow, especially after a long overnight shift, was a great way to start (or end) my day. I’m glad I took advantage of the opportunity to get in some turns and am pretty motivated to get out as much as I can the rest of the season. Moving off of midnights in a couple weeks should help…

So, I shared my experience on these trails with my hosts on this blog and, of course, we had to make a special trip back out there together this Monday. Again, I was just getting off shift and might have preferred to go to bed, but my excitement from getting out before, plus having my best friends with me, made it easy for me to forgo my bed.

This time, we all brought heavy gear instead of touring. I was on an AT setup, with S & T dropping a knee (telemark) as usual. We slapped our skins on and began the trek up with my friends' Chocolate Lab, Odin, urging us on. The trails had been tracked out a bit, but it was another beautiful day to be on a mountainside, so we didn't mind.

As we reached the top, we were teased by some skin tracks that seemed to continue up even further, but decided to head back down. We peeled our skins and armored up for the descent with outer layers and helmets. I clicked in the heels of my Fritsche Freeride AT bindings and waited impatiently for T to tighten up his tele bindings.

We'd noticed a pretty nice chute off to one side of the trail we were climbing and decided to take it on the way down. It was relatively open but steep, and was well covered by snow. We could see only a handful of tracks making their way down the mountain, so there was plenty of fresh snow to be had.

I won't do a play by play of our descent, but we all agreed that it was some of the best downhill we've done all season and would have lapped it a couple times if we'd had time.

Unfortunately, later that same day, as well as the next, we received 50 degree temps and rain. I'm hoping not to lose my motivation with the influx of crappy weather. There are whispers of colder temps and more snow later this week. Should be enough to keep the fire burning about getting out.

Thanks again to my hosts for letting me share. Looking forward to the next time and the next line...

Our good friend Mike lives in Montpelier with his lady love Sofia and shares and enjoys the finer things in life like skiing, mountain biking, good food, and good friends.  Here he shares one of his many adventures with us.

Night shadows in the Stranahan.

 As some of you know Sarah and I enjoy being outside, with good folks, dogs,  and food and beer afterwards.  So as the Solstice approaches and the temps cool and the night feels longer we surround ourselves with all of these good things.
       About a year ago we transplanted ourselves yet again , this time on the Marshfield/Plainfield town lines.  Our new home outside the city of Montpelier has changed things a bit and we find ourselves spending more time out our new backyard, sometimes missing our good friends who were always not too far away to meet for a late night ski or ride.  So every Sunday we invite anyone and everyone who cares to join us on a night run with headlamps.  We venture through our backyard and then enjoy good food, beer and cheer afterwards!  The last two runs have taken us up Hollister Hill Rd. past Bob and Lee Light's B&B and farm ( yes this is where the Beefalo reside) into the Stranahan town forest.   We usually run about 4-5 miles through old sugar bushes, foundations, orchards, deer stands and logging roads up and over the Moon Field and back where everyone warms their bones by the fire and enjoys hot soup and cold beer.  Might I add our runs are never in a rush as we stop and enjoy the forest and people as we run along through the night. The Moon Field is a must run as everyone in the group enjoys conversation and the stars before making our way home. Having moved from our wonderful neighborhood in Montpelier I think we succeeded in finding another wonderful place to sink our feet, tires and skis into.  So if anyone cares to join us this winter before the snow flies and we start skiing, you can find our dancing headlamps somewhere in the vicinity of our new home in between the Marshfield and Plainfield town lines, chasing the night away.

Now think snow!

and get out there anyway!

T.

It's that time of year

GMPG

Looking through the glass on Langdon st.

Walking around down town Montpelier is not like your average city or town.  It's funny when I refer to Montpelier as a city people laugh!  This is when I feel the need to inform them that we are indeed the smallest capital "city" in the United states!  I should like to think were quite fond of this idea as well.  Who really believes its all about size anyways theses days?  If there is one thing we do have in Montpelier that is a sense of who we are. We can walk the streets at any given point during the day and see the people we elect every year, the owner of our favorite local coffee shop, a friend or too, our mayor and any well known postal service people all who would gladly give you the time of day.  This is why Sarah, Odin and I live here.  Now those of you who know us well, know that we will soon be leaving and making an exciting change to country living!  But don't forget we love our community here and that's what we truly believe in.  If you don't have community then we all lose something that makes us human.  Were all here because we want to be.   I think its funny when we get seasonal birds in the area and they say "your mountains are so small and your all on big fat skis! Where do you think your skiing?"  This is where I turn inwards and remind my self and the bird and say "Big isn't always better you know!"  Then I say " Your right there isn't any good skiing in Vermont, you should fly back home where things are big my friend!"  Size and location are all a matter of perspective and we love it here because it's small and because it takes you years to find out where the best stashes are in the mountains as you explore them and make new friends. 

This is what makes Vermont, Vermont and we love it all the same.  So till next time, when the snow falls you'll probably know where to find us.

Oh and by the way I was lying, theres a little good skiing here in the Green mountains and I would encourage anyone with a little sense of adventure, local or seasonal bird to explore and find it for yourself~!

Cheers!  

Waxed skis..Mmmmmmmm....

Wax on, wax off!