Tales from the Hinterland: 2015/2016 edition

Today I went S-Bounding. Lighter and faster than Chargering. Rumour has it that the "r" word is in the forecast for tomorrow, so today was the day.

Sorry to disturb The Force but I took an alternate snow depth picture of our deck, with the snow chair just out of the shot. Apparently we have some accumulation:



With some new to me boots to try out (thanks TD), the Fischers were the ski of choice. Along with my favourite poles, the venerable Trylis. Poles don't get enough love:



The combo of lighter leather boots and Spike three-pins worked really well:



Conditions were really nice, with about six inches of dense but skiable snow atop a firm base. I went down the logging road, across the upper pond, down to the lower pond, then further down to the big bog. This is not a straight line. Thought about skiing across the bog but the wind was fierce so I turned the other way, followed a drifted-in snowmobile track, then veered off into the woods onto an old logging road. Thinking I would hook up with another old road that would take me back towards home, I went left and contoured up an unknown ridge, parallel to a known ridge. This was new territory, and the ridges went farther north than I thought they would. Ski, ski, ski and head farther and farther off line. Hmmm. I was dressed and equipped for a short tour, with no pack, no food, no water, no phone (wouldn't have worked down there anyway) and only a whistle and a pocket knife for some sort of safety equipment. This was turning into a longer tour in "don't hurt yourself" territory, especially since the only route info I gave to Blue Toes was "I'm going for a ski." After following some moose tracks for while, I finally skied down into the gully, crossed a frozen stream and zig-zagged up a pretty steep hill back into known territory. As I posted on Facebook today: "In the unlikely event that you find my ski tracks from today, don't follow them."

The upper pond:



Across the beaver meadow:



Closing the loop after some serious thicketeering:



Happy to be back on track:

Weigh your gear sometime.  I was surprised when I did!

E89 @ 205
NNN-BC Manual
Alpina Alaska

9.38 lb

S Bound 78 @199
NNN-BC Mag
Alpina Alaska

10.25 lbs

S Bound 98 @ 189
Voile HD Mountaineer 3 pin
Crispi Svartisen

10 lb

My new secret skis are a tad lighter as are my new boots.  I'm happy to be in the 10lb range.   Although I'll say if I'm pushing through thick ass pow on the flats or uphill, it feels like 100lbs.

And hey, if you get some of those red/orange Alaska boots, S&R will be able to find you easier:

SBR:  getting just slightly stoopidly effed-up is always the best way to explore.. Nice TR.
Mike:  cool boots. Are they pins or NTN?

The big storm was not so big but did bring us snow instead of rain (close call, though). The forecast was predicting 25 cm but we ended with something in the 10 to 15 cm range. That is six or seven inches for you non-metric folks. Very dense, should hide some of the nastiness underneath. TD is skiing today, perhaps he will report back later.

No skiing today, got waylaid by a uppity snowlerblower..  I managed to break both shear bolts, so lots of fiddling, and wasting time that I'd rather have to ski.  No biggie.  Not much of a race here for first trax if they're earned.  Too many lazy gentrified types in these parts.

I'll try and go git some tomorrow after work.  

Wouldn't you rather be in Telluride for a rope drop? :)



I like the way you guys role! It sounds nice up there.

Thanks RA.  Actually if I was in Telluride, I'd more likely be heading a touch south to Ophir for some earning. Then hey, might as well head over the pass to Silverton.  It's all good. Spendy, but good.

Well, no skiing today but Blue Toes, Utah the Wonderdog and I went slowshoeing in the back 40 before the freezing r*%n hits tomorrow. Excellent slowshoe conditions, might have been a bit funky on skis:

There is a lot of rocker on these shoes, excellent for trailbreaking:



We tried to encourage the dog to stay in the middle, he is a bit short:



But it is a dog law to be first on the trail:

Snow chair, March 2, 2016. Sometimes it really sucks to be a responsible adult. I was very tempted to call in sick today but my colleagues would have easily seen through that ruse:

Well I didn't have to chuck a sickie today.  12" or so of densely packed fresh, and a forecast of subtropical temps by thre w-end got me hurry-scurrying to blow the driveway and get hookups arranged on the book of faces.  Nate and LeCheffie confirmed for a 12:30 start. (We're very civilized here in the H-lands).  The trailhead parking had been plowed by this point, which is a good thing as past encounters with the town plow driver have been pretty hostile.

Nate slowshoed as he snowboards, and LeChef tried my Charger BC's... Which allowed him to Charge ahead.. . Jeff and I graciously allowed Nate to set the track up as he's younger, and was slightly hung over...

The top of Pipeline was wind blown over a firm crust covering two feet of consolidated snow.  It was not, however, firm enough for the postholer (only at the top of the hill to get to enough of a slope to be able to ride... ).

Nate was gracious in return, as he took the time to document a couple runs by Jeff LeCheff and I.  LeCheff had his mind blown by the Chargers... He'd never ridden rockered skis before.  Guess who wants in the club...


And that's about it for today folks.  See ya next time.

Nicely done. Great pics by Nate as well, sure is handy to have a slowboarder along. It is important to note that this was the first occasion of really good conditions at Pipeline this season.

No chair picture today, it really hasn't changed much since the last one. Though I sadly missed the Pipeline expedition the other day, I did manage to get out into the back 40 yesterday afternoon. The snow was very interesting: six to eight inches of dense, fine, almost sugary stuff on top of a firm base, with a very thin crust in some areas. The crust did not affect skiing but did make things sound crunchy.

The old track is barely visible:



Chargering through the light mist crust:



Secret Hill was in lovely condition:



So much so, I huffed and puffed up to the top and did a second run:



Then went over to Bonk Hill, via the Jackrabbit Trail. This pushed the limits of the fishscales, I should have put my skins. But I made it to the summit:



Took one run, and checked out one of our new exits:



The pond looked nice:



Some tall guy broke trail up the logging road:

S so o m much h s snow w       sigh

Crust skiing season has begun. The dog loves this time of year. I'll post some pics later but did manage to capture a little video moment this morning:

We have entered the Crustaceous Period. And yes, there really was a chair under all that snow. It was a nice morning to get out and scoot around on top of the crust. Timing is everything, too early and you are skittering around, too late and you are punching through. Hit it right and you enjoy a nice soft later on top.



The dog really likes this time of year, he doesn't sink in:



Hmmm. Which way to cross the crick?



When in doubt, send the dog first!



Seems OK if you weigh 30 pounds.



Seems OK if you weigh a little more:

Well last nights "winter storm" brought all of a couple three inches of sugary sheeeet... That, apparently, is all the fat lady has left in her voice.. So......

I think Bon and I are going to head to our local Nordic centre and eek out one last XC ski.. Maybe SBR will go for a tour of his local backbush... TR's to follow.. For better or worse.

Still nordicing, wow. Didn't lace them up once this year, prolly first time ever. Fixedheeln did get some t4's , calling them backcountry boots not tele, cause she is always saying that no one cares

Telemark Dave wrote

TR's to follow.. For better or worse.

I did not ski yesterday. The stuff that came out of the sky consolidated into a three inch sugar layer with a quarter-inch (or more) freezing rain crust on top. The dog could walk on the surface and I just broke through in boots. Despite the beautiful weather yesterday, the prospect of skiing was not that appealing. There was an hour-long window in the afternoon when the surface softened a bit but I missed it. Then it firmed up again. Gotta work today (damn tourists) but I am planning a tour on Monday. Stay tuned.

"Tour de Valley" season should be outstanding this year. (for those that don't know, this is when we slarve corn at the local bump after it closes for the season)

Bonnie and I got one last XC ski in at Arrowhead Provincial Park today.. Pretty thin cover in the open areas, basically the remnants of the track setting.  As such, we were able to abide by Rule #1: Never, ever, take off your skis until you're done.  .  En Francais:  Je suis fini.



One last herringbone slog up the next to last hill..

When I got home from work yesterday, I knew that I had better go for a ski before the forecasted deluge that is happening as I type this. We had a visitor for Easter weekend, so I enjoyed a social glass of wine, then quickly laced the old leather boots and headed out for some s-bounding in the back 40.

Yes, it is true. SBR skis in jeans. With deer:



Utah at the top of Bonk Hill. You can't see the patchy snow on the slope below, and the turns were not elegant:



The pond is settling into spring:



Big dog track, and not the domestic variety. Woof:



I skied over to the bottom of Secret Hill. It was looking even more patchy and I had to take a very roundabout route to stay on snow going up. I didn't ski down it:



I don't normally take pictures of food but this Easter Sunday dinner was pretty special. Some random dude gave me a bear shank roast a while back, and Blue Toes decided to prepare it for our guest. I had heard mixed reviews on bear meat but this version was pretty tasty: