Tales from the Hinterland: 2014/2015 edition

Just got back from a schwack up to Buffalo Ridge here in Port Sydney. 1/2 k boot down my road, skis on, left at the old 'biler trail to the main trail.. Turn up hill at Buffalo Soldier (mtb singletrack..) and up to the top of the ridge. The snow was very firm and crusty, so the skiing back down was old skewl every turn in the book type skiing.. All good. Took a shortcut back, thicketeering at its best. Not everyone would appreciate the stoopidness of it all...

Telemark Dave wrote

 thicketeering at its best. Not everyone would appreciate the stoopidness of it all...

but some of us can

freeheeln wrote

Telemark Dave wrote

 thicketeering at its best. Not everyone would appreciate the stoopidness of it all...

but some of us can

Thanks freeheeln...

TD

That looks so cool. Aren't we due for another ice age soon?

ml242 wrote

That looks so cool. Aren't we due for another ice age soon?

You should come and visit. Been feeling a bit ice agey up here lately.

Nice pics TD. Just back from from the Banff Film Fest. We need to make a movie.

Yesterday's ski pushed the limit as far as temperature is concerned.  -24c, but with an evil North wind it was more like -zillion. I even changed into my ski boots inside my car - cold yoga instead of hot yoga... (Hyundai Accent). Jeff and I only paused for a brief second to take a pic at the top, so no pics of skis leaning against something...

...but today's ski was actually fun.  SBR joined me after spending a few days in the city at a trade show, so it wasn't difficult to persuade him out into the cold but fresh air.  I managed a pic of his usual Tele-Stylie self.

Late January is always a busy time in SBR-world. In addition to the trade show over the last few days,  I also visited the city with Blue Toes a week earlier. On that trip we narrowly escaped being abducted by the aliens in the polka-dot space ship, but we returned home unscathed.



Needless to say, I hadn't done much skiing in the last while, so was happy to meet TD at "the local" this afternoon. Much to our dismay, the road in had been plowed:



There was not much Charger Love going on here:



After a combination of skiing, skating, cursing and sudden gravel-induced stops, we made it to the base of Pipeline. The trip down was much more fun:



Things are looking tracked up:


This little ski area has some interesting hazards. In particular, holes caused by the heat generated from the natural gas pipeline underneath the snow on skier's left.



After a few runs, we called it and afternoon, electing to walk out and save our ski bases:



For my reward, I enjoyed an appropriate refreshment by the fire:

Pretty sure that dude on your beer label is who was living down in that hole in the snow...

Just a thought...

Just got home from an out-the-backdoor woods ski.   I put my boots on in the comfort of my house, and headed out the door...down the drive, turn left and hiked 1/2k down my road.


I put on my trusty Voile Charger BC's (shameless pimping yet again...), and skied along a local connector snowmobile trail.  
After a km it intersects one of the areas main trails - it's like a highway, groomed regularily, - the sled necks ride it throttle-to- the-bar, ie: warp factor 7+.  I only had to ski about 100 yards on the highway to hell, then turned uphill and off trail onto an old skidder trail.


I skied up to the local MTB singletrack, which had been claimed and postholed by the abundant deer population.  I paralleled that trail along Buffalo ridge to a low angle natural glade... Which I call Natty Glade, naturally.

I skied many lines many times, until I was comfortably numb from grinning so much.  There's a foot or so of fresh on top of 2-3 feet of consolidated base, so any line was no worries..


With the light fading I turned and retraced my tracks back home.. So cool to be able to do this in my "backyard" - in a manner of speaking..

Ya, mon. Livin' life irie, no natty dread necessary.

Sorry I've been sorta MIA. I'm thinking we need a thread:

Out the Back Door

...or something.  Can't exactly call Harvey Woods backcountry.

I've been dreaming about pipeline again, or maybe someone was txting me pics, I forget.

Harvey Woods??? Yeah, that's the ticket.  Legacy name.  

Telemark Dave wrote

Harvey Woods??? Yeah, that's the ticket.  Legacy name.

Nice Hinterlandian inside joke (so to speak).

Both ski days this week were short and sweet. We are lucky to have these goods so close to home.



Yesterday was the best day ever.



Until today: we followed the forest creatures.



Go thattaway.



Ski here.



This little bit of stand improvement is really coming into its own.



Of course, the snow helps.



Until the next one, it was the best day ever.

Supah soft silky snow.  Not a sound from it.... THAT is worth the price of my "season pass" in itself...

Pretty good snow in Central NY!

This morning before work

My partner in crime

Nice snow, Mike!

Quite a powder hound, what kind of dog is that, he looks built for the cold?

PeeTex wrote

Quite a powder hound, what kind of dog is that, he looks built for the cold?

Indeed... Looks quite comfortable in the snow...