Tales from the Hinterland: 2013/2014 edition

To make all of these...



TD

Nice to see the depth-o-meter buried.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

How do the nordo-skiers feel about those bikes farking up the cord?

Harvey wrote

How do the nordo-skiers feel about those bikes farking up the cord?

Since this was a special event, they had no complaint. In real life, it seems to depend where you go. Some nordic areas have opened up trails for fatbikes, others haven't. My experience on Saturday was that the bike makes less of a dent than a skate ski on a firm trail. Once things soften up, well, that is a different story.

Though I did get a few funny looks when I turned downhill and started doing big, slow-motion GS urns. I think they were all waiting for me to wipe out.

Pipeline FTW!

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Harvey wrote

How do the nordo-skiers feel about those bikes farking up the cord?

Since this was a special event, they had no complaint. In real life, it seems to depend where you go. Some nordic areas have opened up trails for fatbikes, others haven't. My experience on Saturday was that the bike makes less of a dent than a skate ski on a firm trail. Once things soften up, well, that is a different story.

Though I did get a few funny looks when I turned downhill and started doing big, slow-motion GS urns. I think they were all waiting for me to wipe out.

Pipeline FTW!

Win indeed.   12 x ups and 12 x downs.   Farmed, mined, plundered, pillaged...........

Heard this on the radio on the way to work today.....

"Time it was and what a time it was, it was
 A time of innocence, a time of confidences
 Long ago, it must be, I have a photograph
 Preserve your memories, they're all that's left you"

 - Simon And Garfunkel

TD

TD and I went for a mega-tour today. Out to Bonk Hill, up and over to Secret Hill, down and up to Telemark Hill, across the pond, up the logging road, down the other logging road into Wolfland, and finally back up and down a few more un-named hills and home again. Whew.

It was a good day to compare skis. The Chargers won on all counts: climb, glide, turn - all better in the strange dense supportable yet breakable snow. I shouldn't complain, it is an embarrassment of riches we have up here.


While I found the Fischers would accelerate in the fall-line but then sink mid-turn, Mr Charger just floated along.


Most of the time.


TD running gates on Telemark Hill:


Too many Warren Miller movies in our youth forces us to make powder 8s:


Out on the pond, we found some track set trail. TD attempt to ski the tracks with the fatties. Didn't last long:


Much of the best parts are unrecorded. Epic herringboning in powder; schwacking uphill after losing the trail; finding the motherlode of porcupine poo, the final ski through the hillbilly auto graveyard and so much more. Ah well, next time!

Here's the cave with the porky-poo pellet floor.



It's not a good schwack unless you find an animal den!
(Even a sideways one ...iPhone+Nabble=sideways porky poop!)

TD

JAPA-SKOKA!!!

Another 4-5" overnight.  Please make it stop....



TD

Well SBR and I ganged up on the nasty snow today and taught it some respect.....(ok that's just me talking trash trying to save face after the documented spaz-out yesterday...)

Full report with pics as soon as SBR gets the gumption to pen another good post.  

TD

It took me 45 minutes to create an 8 second movie, upload it to Facebook, then to YouTube. Think I will stick to pics.

So here it is, the world premiere of SBR's first ski movie! TD, starring in The Pipeline:

TD you need to smooth out your style ...

More like someone else needs to figure out video!

Now that you have absorbed that AWESOME video teaser, here are some pictures and words:

Today was TD's 300th visit to Pipeline this season and SBR's first. In honour of this momentous occasion, I got to try out the Chargers. Mind = blown. Fat & rockered FTW! Though I did have to use my own skins, thereby proving that you can fit an 80 mm skin on a 115 waisted ski:  


And, of course, there is always the up:


Followed by the down:


All good runs must come to an end:


Yes, I was here! Can you count the product placements?

That "vid" was ....ahhhhh.... Well... Hmmmmm...
.....Ok it looked like "claymation".

Thanks, I think.  

 TD

Telemark Dave wrote

That "vid" was ....ahhhhh.... Well... Hmmmmm...
.....Ok it looked like "claymation".

Thanks, I think.  

 TD

Funny you should say that. Actually, I used the Claymation setting in iMovie to create the aforementioned segment of awesomeness. Next week, I shall try Pixalation.

Skied lots this w-end.  In fact, this whole winter seems like its been going on for ever.  My S.O. Has been on a self funded leave from her teaching job, and has lost count of her ski daze....she stopped counting at around 60... And today after skiing (of course) decided our driveway was a good place to catch up on some reading.  Who needs a beach.



Nice snow banks!!!

Usually I'm pretty anti-grooming.  But this AM at the local Nordic center I actually enjoyed some VERY recently groomed conditions.  Sometimes ya just gotta cave and go with the flow.



First tracks of a different kind.  

TD

Excellent reports TD. I am pleased to say that I spent my weekend working, facilitating the fun of many newbies and citiots.

Did manage to get a lot on pencil lines marked on the Chargers but have not drilled any holes yet.

After a morning of skinny skiing the groomed, I headed out after lunch to our favorite stash.  Pipeline.  
We haven't had any fresh snow for a few days, and it was still tracked out from last Thursdays session.  
But what was more troubling was that my fastidious skin track had been post holed!

By Bambi.


Other than that, it was another ho-hum day of skiing.  


TD

I forgot to take a picture of the chair today, so this muffin-top stump will have to do:


Today, I finally got to ski on my shiny new Charger BCs. After assessing the snow conditions today, TD and I decided that discretion was the better part of valour and opted for touring rather than turning. Despite the mass quantities of snow, the recent thaw has left a weird breakable crust that seemed primed to tear an ACL, even with the fat rockered Chargers.

Team Charger is ready to ski:


Followed some fisher tracks for a bit, and learned that even wild carnivores get the runs:


We wandered down the pond and headed for the trackset maintained by a local outdoor education center. As you can see by the angle of TD's feet, a 114-waisted ski does not do well in tracks:


In an attempt to add some excitement to our low-angle schwacking, TD attempt some real tree skiing:


My awesome dead-reckoning navigation led us straight to the Split Rock, where we dared the narrow couloir:


And that's it for me for a week - off to sunny Cuba on Wednesday. I am confident there will be lots of snow when I get back.

Yours truly on SBR's back deck.... Note that my ski tips are a touch higher than the door handle.... We're going to be skiing here in the hinterlands for a few more weeks... TD