Tales from the Hinterland: 2012/13 edition

Forgive me if these reports start to look kind of the same. We keep getting more snow, we keep skiing in the same places and I stop to take pictures in the same spots. If you are going to be in a rut, this is not a bad rut to be in. Some of our plans for "new and different" have not quite materialized, since that would require not sleeping in on a day off. That and self-employed TD actually had some work to do this morning!

The snow-depth-o-meter has almost recovered from the tracks of the interloper:


Damn deer are postholing our trail. The pole is set at 145 cm, for the record.


Here I stand in the LZ taking another pic of TD skiing untracked snow 10 minutes from my house. At least he has a new (and very red) jacket. As Skimore pointed out in his NVT post, the snow has definitely stiffened up. Temps were right around the freezing mark today.


A victim of the dreaded "tip dive," TD composes himself below a rather large bomb hole. I made one of my own on the next run.


We trekked up for another lap on Bonk Hill. It was a great day for the waxless bases. Big question: if you aren't using skins, is it still a skin track?


Since Bonk was now poached, we headed up and over to Secret Hill. I had camera issues, so no good pics from there. I also had skiing issues, so just as well there are no pics. In order to make the full tour, we skied over to the more mellow slopes of Telemark Hill, where I made a grisly discovery in the middle of a turn:


Nature is always at work. A little lower down, the tracks tell the tale - check out the wing prints and the fur/feather explosion:


TD gets his Nord on across the bog. It was actually pretty tricky skiing in the consolidated snow, there was a lot of air below those little bushes and you could easily snag a tip:


Across the bog, over the meadows and up the logging road we went. We are about 500 yards from my house here. They may be repetitive, but our ski journeys are never boring.

Looks like grouse wing prints, but I can't tell what got it

skimore wrote

Looks like grouse wing prints, but I can't tell what got it

Interesting, I was thinking the opposite. As in owl or hawk picking off a rabbit. There were no direct tracks from the wing print scene to the blood scene, which, IMO, points to death from above. But the feathers scattered around do suggest bird death. Maybe it was bird on bird?

Owls are very hungry in our region, apparently the early spring and warm summer resulted in a bit of a population explosion in owlville.

Just so everyone doesn't think SBR doesn't earn any turns, here's evidence that he does occasionally set the skin track.  Or is it a waxless pattern track?




Ok it's sideways... Turn your head for full effect.  

Sick Bird Rider wrote

skimore wrote

Looks like grouse wing prints, but I can't tell what got it

Interesting, I was thinking the opposite. As in owl or hawk picking off a rabbit. There were no direct tracks from the wing print scene to the blood scene, which, IMO, points to death from above. But the feathers scattered around do suggest bird death. Maybe it was bird on bird?

Owls are very hungry in our region, apparently the early spring and warm summer resulted in a bit of a population explosion in owlville.

Gotcha. I could only really make out the wing prints and no tracks so I was bit confused

Fixed it for you:

Actually you fixed it for yourself....

Just to show that you're not lying down on the job!
(Kind of a double entendre eh?)

Thanks, this seems to happen when attaching a pic directly from my i-phone...


TD

Got on top of  grouse 2 different times last weekend skinning. No matter how times it stills scares the piss out of ya when they take off.

Ran into lots of  moose sign too. Up high we got into ones bedroom. Then as we went higher and the tracks didn't we started joking about the moose not wanting to head up any higher. It turned into a bushwhack from hell upon which I snapped one of my bindings at the toe mount.

skimore wrote

Got on top of  grouse 2 different times last weekend skinning. No matter how times it stills scares the piss out of ya when they take off.

Ran into lots of  moose sign too. Up high we got into ones bedroom. Then as we went higher and the tracks didn't we started joking about the moose not wanting to head up any higher. It turned into a bushwhack from hell upon which I snapped one of my bindings at the toe mount.

There is a grouse that hangs out in the same place along our "dog walk trail." Scares the crap out of me every time, even though I could set my watch by it.

Gotta love the moose. What a creature. Saw one in the winter walking around with one antler. That has to be awkward, those things are HEAVY.

The Hinterlands picked up a good dose of new snow from the recent storm and some lake effect. Not quite the two feet that VT got but we are not complaining. Or, at least, a few of us are not complaining. Most people 'round these parts are ready for the snow to go away. They need to get some skis!

Going down the logging road seemed like a good idea at the time.


We headed for the usual zones out the back door, starting off with a trip down the rarely skiable logging road. "Waste of gravity," opined TD, after a slow, straight run. I rationalized it by leading him up a balsam-infested hill towards Bonk Hill, claiming that we "exploring new terrain" by taking this route. I don't think he was convinced.

The snow on Bonk Hill was slow and surfy:


Where did that skier go?


From the base of Bonk Hill, we traversed (read: bushwhacked) uphill and over to Secret Hill. The dog got some face shots in the flats, which is not hard when you are a foot tall.


We took two runs on Secret Hill, where, as usual, the conditions were a bit different: faster snow and scrapey underneath.


Too bad this run wasn't three or four times longer.


We did the reverse traverse, back to Bonk Hill for another run, then up the logging road back to SBRHQ. Busy afternoon - enough to make an old guy dog-tired!

Actually it was a waste of Potential Energy.  Mass x gravity x height.

I hate when that happens.  



TD

I like the pics of your powder hound....

This AM's ski was the best March 22 since at least a couple March's ago.  Maybe more.  

Full TR to follow, as soon as SBR gets his Cuba bikes boxed.  Or at least that's what he told me....

TD

Duuude...

I is workin' on it, mon.

YOWZA!

I can't wait to find out what happened...!!!

Maaaaaybe some............

SKIING!!!!

Td

This morning we went to The Pipeline, our favorite local stash. The guy who plows the road put in a new gate this year. We appreciate the fact that he purchased the model friendly to those in ski boots.


If we could open the gate, we could drive in. But instead we ski. It is better this way.


The bottom half of the pitch. A blank canvas, though a little gloomy-looking.


All traces of the previous skin track was gone. The guy with the fattest skis must go first.


First tracks and second tracks.


TD has the slarve-slalom going on, while I am more of the big GS turn school of thought.


There is a lot of room for expression here.


Another? Of course! TD sporting the hand-me-down shades (from his son), completing the matching goggle/jacket/hat steeze.


And another. Up.


Well, it is looking a bit tracked out. Time for lunch. What a fantastic morning!

By the miracle of air travel, I was swimming in the Caribbean Sea on Thursday and skiing in the Hinterlandian forest today. It's going to be a late spring up here. Lakes are still locked up tight with ice, snow is persisting in the shaded areas and winter is only barely loosening its grip. For some of us, this is good. Hidden Bump has been closed for two weeks and still has full coverage, so some after hours earned turns will be next on the agenda.

After work today, I went for the "three hills tour" of our little paradise. On skis, I climbed up Secret Hill, which seemed like a better idea than skiing down. I didn't take any pictures of Bonk Hill but did manage a few hop turns down there. Telemark Hill was a bit vegetated.


There were lots of wolf tracks, many fresher than than this. I kept a close eye on the dog.


I am glad to see the beavers are back. Hopefully they will stick around this time.