Acadia National Park - July 3-6, 2014

Headed up to Acadia National Park Thursday evening, July 3rd and stayed through Sunday, July 6 (technically pulling into Boston at about 1:30 a.m. on Monday, July 7 in a successful effort to avoid post-holiday traffic).  It is a haul to get up there, but with the long weekend and a free place to stay (thanks Ryan and Jocelyn!) it did not take much convincing to head north and finally check the area out.  I had been to Acadia once before, but it was only a day trip and it was foggy and rainy, hardly ideal conditions to appreciate the place.

This trip was much more successful - great weather (other than one 12 hour window when the hurricane rolled through).  Took three different hikes, explored Bar Harbor, jumped off a rock in Long Pond, and spent lots of time just hanging out with great friends and their families.  And "camped" (albeit on a wind sheltered deck) through my first hurricane.  Stayed mostly dry, but not much sleep that night.  All that water made for some great hiking the next day though - the amount of flooding on the trails was pretty surprising!

Enjoy the pictures!

NE Snowfield, Great Gulf/Airplane Gully, & the Auto Road - May 25, 2014

Scott, Watson and I closed out the season with our first Slackfest outing on Sunday, May 25, 2014.  We pulled up to the Auto Road entrance at 8:15 a.m. in the #3 position.  Pretty quickly there was a line of at least 10 cars behind us.  We were excited to capitalize on a decent weather window Sunday morning and early afternoon in an otherwise poor forecast for the long weekend.

Auto Road is a bit pricey - $36 for two, but much better than a lift ticket I suppose.  And the price includes a free audio CD that might have been interesting if we weren't so terrified of careening off the narrow, guard-rail less road.  Definitely the scariest part of the day.

- Driving up the Auto road, looking across Huntington towards Dodge's Drop and Hillman's -

We parked near the NE snowfield after initially taking a look out into Great Gulf from the Air Force parking lot.  Well, after taking a look into the fog - we couldn't actually see the Great Gulf.  After talking to a few folks, we decided to take a few runs on the snowfield first in an effort to actually see Airplane Gully before skiing it.

- Map of Great Gulf - 

- Looking across Great Gulf to Airplane Gully after the fog lifted - 

GOS Sandbox, plus a little exploration - May 3, 2014

Scott and I headed up to Mt. Washington on Saturday, May 3.  Long week at work meant I couldn't leave Charlestown until Saturday morning.  Threat of rain/visibility issues on Saturday afternoon motivated me to set the alarm on the early side.  Left the house at 4:45 a.m., picked Scott up in Portsmouth at 5:40, and pulled into the visitor center parking lot at 7:35 a.m.  Figured the late season trip coupled with a threat of rain would mean a guaranteed spot in the main lot.  I lost that wager and owe Scott a beer, we were the 2nd car parked in the first auxiliary lot. 

We headed up Hillman hoping to ski Dutchess, but it became apparent the line would require some careful turns and side-stepping through the choke in the middle - just not enough snow to get after it for the whole run.

Happo One Video and Misc. Japan Pictures

Kelly and I were fortunate to travel to Japan from April 17, 2014 to April 26, 2014 for the second leg of our honeymoon (we are trying to start a new thing by taking two honeymoons).  I managed to make my way to Hakuba via Nagano for some skiing at Happo One on April 21st.  It was a cool solo adventure in the far east for me, and I could see the potential of the ski area on a mid-winter powder day, but unfortunately it more or less poured the whole day which certainly put a damper on the skiing.   The snow was actually pretty fun - serious mashed potatos - and it was cool to see and ski the '98 Men's downhill run as well as explore a bit off piste (to the extent possible given the late spring conditions).  Here are some pictures and video:

- Some Japanese Information in the lift line - 

 



 

- Noodles for lunch -

 

Mt. Flume Slide - April 6, 2014

Scott, Mike, Ed and I headed up to Mt. Flume on Sunday April 6, 2014.  Weather was favorable most of the week leading up to the weekend, but some mixed precipitations and droping temperatures locked things up on Saturday.  Sunday promised to be sunny (and windy), with temps hovering in the mid-30s.  We thought if we could find something south of Mt. Washington, and also south-facing, we would have our best shot of finding some soft snow.

It was actually quite cold when we arrived at the trail head.  We started skiinning at 10 a.m. knowing that things wouldn't warm up, if at all, until much later in the day.  But temperatures rose quickly and it was over 40 by noon.  The snow pack was changing before our eyes - much to our excitement.  Coverage on the flume slide looked good, and it is a long slide, so we were hoping for a great run.

Cannon/Tuckerbrook Backcountry - March 15, 2014

Scott, Josh, Jon and I met in Concord at 7 a.m. this past Saturday morning and then headed north to the Tuckerbrook trail head.  As usual, we debated our destination over the course of the preceding week.  Scott and I have been chomping at the bit to explore the west side of Mt. Washington, including Monroe Brook.  We also would love to take some turns in the east snow fields or in Oakes Gulf.  But temperatures looked to be pretty cold above treeline and the winds were forecasted at 60+ mph, so we elected to try to find some snow in the trees. 

It was tempting to make a return trip to Big Jay, which pulled down 40+ inches mid-week, but we settled for a shorter drive to the Cannon/Tuckerbrook backcountry (25+ inches mid-week) in hopes of finding the Big Jay of NH. 

After Jon finished messing around with his K2 AT boots (those liners had no interest in going into the shell), we started our ascent.  Scott and I have skied some of the 13 turns before and some of the steeper trees to the skier's right before, but we always cut back towards Mittersill.  The trees along the lower part of the Tuckerbrook trail that we hadn't seen before turned out to be a revelation.  First the steeper chutes on hiker's right and then the lower angled hardwoods to the hiker's left offered much promise (and unfortunately, many tracks from folks who headed north on Thursday and Friday). 

Big Jay/Jay Peak - March 8 & 9, 2014

Thanks to Ryan and Jocelyn for putting together an awesome trip to North Troy the weekend of March 8 and 9.  They picked up Scott and we met at the blessed Concord Trailways on Friday night like usual.  It was a tight squeeze with groceries, ski stuff, and their dog.  But we all piled in and then headed up to Jay.  Fun trip up, for sure.

On Saturday morning we dropped the dog off at doggy day care and then headed to the mountain.  The place we rented offered discounted lift tickets which was awesome.  So we all skied together the first half of the day before Scott and I ventured off to Big Jay by traversing the ridge from the summit of Jay.  Conditions at the resort were good.  Plenty of coverage for the most part, but the snow was not all that fresh. 

The traverse over to Big Jay was pretty simple, especially because there hadn't been any fresh snow in a week or so.  The path was easy to follow.  We went buy the first to areas where you can drop down the side of Big Jay and went all the way to the jail bird chute - the illegally cut glade that more or less comes down off the summit of Big Jay.   Obviously, we don't condone illegal cutting.  But man was that glade sweet.  Lots of untracked deep snow.  Quite a contrast to the resort.  Some sections were tight, others opened up and allowed you to string several turns together.  And endless opportunities to jump off of rocks, stumps, etc.  It is hard to believe what it would have been like over there this weekend after Jay picked up 40 inches a few days after we left.

03/09/2014, Mt Washington Cog Railway

On Sunday, my buddy Mike and I decided to give the Cog a shot.  After hearing about a spacious, wide trail, and nearly direct route to the summit, this adventure was high on my list.

We hit the parking lot around 8:30am.  I have no idea why they plow the road and parking lot, but am really glad they do.  It allows for a really good starting point.  It was about 10 degrees to start, and despite some seriously high temps last week, even the snow at the parking lot was light and powdery.  We instantly knew that we were in for something good.

We headed up, me skinning and Mike on foot in ski boots.  He sometimes would sink knee or hip deep in the snow, but he was generally good if he stayed on the boot pack.  As we started to ascend, I could not believe how wide the trail was next to the rail.  In the lower part of it, the trail was even on both sides.  I'm guessing the trail serves as an access road in the warmer months.  Most of the time it's right beside the rail, sometimes there is a line of trees separating the two.  In any case, it's about 20' wide most of the time.  It was however, truly disappointing to see the pipes for snow making along the lower portions of the trail.  I had no idea that this existed.  It kind of took away from the BC feeling but whatever.  I assume they don't use them until the Cog opens.  

We made really good time for the first half of the climb.  Mike struggled a bit on one portion where the boot pack overlapped on the rails.  The snow kept  giving away underfoot, and his leg would plunge down between the railroad tides.  We realized that snow shoes really would have made a big improvement for him.  Mike threw in his crampons, cut over to the trail and we were off again.

As the sun got high enough to hit us, we were down to t-shirts.  It was amazing weather.  However, as we left tree line, we were cooling down quickly.  Eventually, it gets too steep for skinning, and we were both using crampons.  You could do it without, but they were really nice to have.  Now, moving more slowly, and feeling the wind, I was fully layered up.

Although the appeal of skiing was diminishing with elevation, we decided to summit because the weather was acceptable.  The temp at the top was about 0 degrees and I the winds were forecasted to be in the 30's with higher gusts.  It was pretty intense for the final 1/10th mile to the summit as expected but it was well worth it.  We moved slowly and carefully without issue.  We snapped a few photos and headed down immediately.

On the way down, we put on our skis less than a quarter mile from the top.  The skiing wasn't amazing at first but we could make much faster progress than on foot and it was nice being on our edges.  I could easily see the potential up there after a big snow storm, but most of it was blown off (blowing in the direction on Tuck's!).  The Cog itself always retained a snow drift along side it which was great.  There were a few short sections that we had to take off skis for, but as we descended, the conditions quickly turned from packed powder to powder with plenty of room for turns.  We enjoyed the long ski down the to the lot and loved the fact that we could ski right to the car.  The trail wasn't all bumped up and had tons of snow.  Epic day.  Sorry no pictures this time.

Mt. Hancock, NH (Arrow Slide) - March 1, 2014

Osgood and I headed up to Mt. Hancock/Arrow Slide for some exploring this past Saturday.  NH received lots of snow over Valentine's Day weekend and the following week, but some rain on February 21 and 22 coupled with truly freezing temperatures the week of February 24 locked everything down pretty solid. 

We discussed a few options - Mt. Washington received lots of snow the week of Feb. 24 with strong west winds, setting up some potentially great conditions on the east snow fields.  But sub zero temperatures and 50-60 mph winds on Saturday scared us away.  We talked about a repeat trip to Tripyramid (North facing slide) and checking out Mt. Hancock for the first time (south facing slide).  Both received minimal snow fall during the week, and their respective aspects made it unlikely any significant loading occured on top of the boiler plate.  We chose Mt. Hancock because it was new, and because it was south facing, and we hoped that might help it soften up a bit.  

Mt. Ascutney - February 9, 2014

After most of New England received close to a foot of snow on Wednesday, February 5, there was little question we would head out this weekend.  The question was - where?  Given the lack of snow so far this year, most of my outings have been confined to resorts or the mellow slopes of Mt. Cardigan.  I was eager to climb something a bit bigger and actually find some fresh snow.

Chad and I gave serious consideration to a few options, including laps in the woods off the Tuckerbrook trail now that Mittersill was (questionably) open or exploring some of the woods off of Lincoln Gap road.  Ultimately, we lacked confidence that there was enough of a base under the trees, however.  We also were surprised there was not more intel on the T4T forums about the quality of snow in the GOS following the mid-week storm.  The combination of moderate avalanche concerns following high winds on Saturday and lack of excitement over that option on the world wide web had me questioning the merits of a 6 hour round trip drive just to ski the GOST without getting up high.

So we settled on Mt. Ascutney, an abandoned ski area just west of Claremont, NH.  Although there is a cool network of mountain biking trails on a different face of the mountain that may have offered some more technical skiing, we stuck to the abandoned ski slopes figuring they had the best chance to have enough snow to allow for some pow turns. 

 

As the pictures and video below attest - we were mostly right.  The sapling growth after three years was impressive though, and definitely a deterent on the more sun-exposed slopes.  At this rate, these slopes will be tough to navigate in another year or two, which is definitely too bad because it makes for a nice little tour when the conditions are not epic.