| Summary | |
| Owner | MITOC Gallery Administrator |
| Creation Date | 2006-02-06 09:49:38 UTC-0500 |
| Description |
Kick and glide in the backcountry Date: February 4th, 2006 Location: Mt. Moosilauke. Leaders: Chris Glazner, Natalia Hernandez-Gardiol, Greg Wallace, Cyndi Li Participants: Andy Stachyra, Kat Lenoir, Martin Jaspan, Debbie Flusberg, Deb Swarts, Dan Schott Trip Report Conditions This has been the worst season on record so far for backcountry skiing, but we were temporarily blessed with decent enough conditions to head out for a little kick and glide. During the week, Moosilauke received a few inches of snow, but it rained for a good part on Friday. We arrived at the gate of the Moosilauke Ravine road to find barely enough cover to ski up to the lodge. The snow off the road was skiable, but very, very wet and dense, with a heavily slush layer on top. The trip Greg came up with Deb and Debbie Saturday morning after finishing his Quals written exams Friday afternoon. He said he thought his brain was totally fried when he got calls from a Deb AND a Debbie. He didn't know what to do! The rest of us headed up to Camelot on Friday night for fun around the stove and bit of tablering. Kat won the grand prize! We all met at the gate at Moosilauke Ravine Road around 9. We were the second people there, after a car of snowshoers (I didn't have the heart to tell them to not bother with the snowshoes!) After getting ready, we started the ski up the road to the lodge. The snow was sketchy, with a few bare spots and many icy spots. It looked like a vehicle had traveled in in the last week, packing things down. As we neared the turn around, we found the snow became deeper, although it was very slushy. We decided to head first to a practice hill to work on downhill technique before launching into the Al Merrill ski loop, our original objective. So, we headed down a little trail to get to the hill below the lodge. We discovered that the snow made for challenging (and slow) skiing. Turning, especially on the rain crusty/cruddy layer, was very hard to pull off. Once at the hill, we working on our downhill technique with wipeouts by almost everybody (I left quite the crater--skiing a crust with a heavy pack is hard!) We had fun here, so we took our time. After assessing the conditions and our ability in them, we re-assessed our goals for less-steep touring. We headed out and did a part of the Ridge Trail, crossing over the headwaters of the Baker River and then skiing the Hurricane Trail. There were MANY sketchy water crossings, as the snow was rotten and collapsed under pressure. All of the snow bridges were gone, and there were a few precarious crossings over single snow-covered logs. Everyone did great, although there were a couple time were skis just had to be taken off to safely cross. We finished the day with more practice at the hill (can you tell we really enjoyed that?) Several people worked on a telemark turn, and a few folks got it looking pretty respectable. As the day wore on, we could see the snow disappearing. We headed out around three to find that conditions had rapidly deteriorated, and the road became a truly sketchy ski. Fortunately, all the bases I saw looked like they survived relatively intact! Cyndi and Natalia headed off for a Randonee race in Vermont, but the rest of us headed for the Common Man in Lincoln and had dinner off the bar menu in front of the big fire. Great idea! Pray for more snow! |