Tales from the Hinterland: 2016/2017 edition

Yes, TD is alive and well and went on a big adventure today. Chuuurles was there too:



Though he did seem to lose a hand in the panoramic photo process. Stop moving!

PS: the dog is fine too, and Blue Toes is in Cuba. All good.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Blue Toes is in Cuba.

Any snow in Cuba?

PeeTex wrote

Any snow in Cuba?

As far as I know, no. Though I'm told it has happened. Too bad, because there are some lovely hills there.

Well gawd dang you boys have some snow!

i would say the snowpack was approaching 1.5 meters yesterday :) mashed potatoes today :(

TwigFest Redux: a great day in the woods with a bunch of fine fellows.

Even though the first annual TwigFest was officially last weekend, the stars aligned a little better this Friday. As a result, there ended up being seven skiers going up and down Nickle Peak yesterday. Jeff LeChef had no trouble convincing Chuuurles and Fat Dave to drive all the way up from the Big Smoke; TD recruited his old tele pal Dave M (henceforth known as Blue Dave) and set him up with some gear, Jeff the Man showed up, and of course there was me. In the end, there were three Daves and two Jeffs in our group, which made things a bit confusing at times.

Two Daves, Jeff the Man and I waited for the others in the village of Kearney. We spent our time wisely and quizzed local outfitter Chris for some beta relevant to Jeff's upcoming ski tour. I am sporting the tele hat my late mother knitted for me back in the 80s:



Eventually, the others caught up.



LeChef's shot of the group at the top of Turning Japanese. The snow was perfect:



Jeff the Man got a nice shot (on an iPhone!) of TD schussing on TJ:



Blue Dave had to ski back to the cars, turned out he left one skin in TD's back seat. Ooops. We carried on, he found us eventually. LeChef nearing the top:



Effin' holiday weekend traffic really fills up the skin track (LeChef photo):



A few of the crew took the plunge on some steeper stuff. Chuuurles exits The Minefield at mach looney:



Jeff the Man skied the same line on BC 125s and tele boots, and earned "amazing recovery of the day" award. He was pleased:



Blue Dave took some video from the top, then decided to try a sneak traverse of The Minefield, with skins on for speed control. Then he dropped the four foot rock and discovered the stopping power of having skins on:



For our third run, we went west, to Big Cedar. Fat Dave cruised it:



Chuuurles levitates to the left:



LeChef was the only "over 50" to ski Big Cedar that day. I think he blew his own mind, as he didn't seem quite the same for the rest of the day. Here he is, just given'er, eh:



TD, Blue Dave and I skied the mellower pitch of Lebowski:



Then it was time for lunch and other refreshments. As oldest member of the group, I decided that it was OK to sit down (TD photo):



After one more skin up and a last run on Turning Japanese, even the young fellers admitted that they were a bit tired. Thank God. We skied out and debriefed in the parking spot. Note that Blue Dave even brought a glass for his post-ski beer. We are nothing if not civilized here in the Hinterlands (TD photo):



It was a great day. Chuuurles pronounced it his best ski day in Ontario this year. Blue Dave, who had never done anything like like this before, asked TD... When are we going again?

Fine report and one huge propensity for nicknames, pure Hinterlandian SBR !

Nice TR, SBR.  
Oh, I guess you didn't notice, Blue Dave had the glass on the hill during our lunch libations.  And Jeff the Mann pronounced it the best day of skiing he's ever had in Onterrible!
And Chuuurles, well, hes got the post best day ever blues..
It was a good day, eh.  

Very nice. You guys always look like you're having a greattime. It's easy to see you've got a tight crew there

Eh! The pics and prose are full of colour and we all learnt something.

Brownski wrote

Very nice. You guys always look like you're having a greattime. It's easy to see you've got a tight crew there

Thanks, Brownski. Funnily enough, there were several of us who were meeting each other for the first time that day. Shared stoke, mutual respect and enjoying the backcountry brings disparate people together and makes them tight. Some beer at lunch doesn't hurt either.

It's true, I wasn't the same after I dropped in...that line I caught, alllllll the way to bottom, totally blew my mind (and body huff, huff, huff).

Jeff LeChef wrote

It's true, I wasn't the same after I dropped in...that line I caught, alllllll the way to bottom, totally blew my mind (and body huff, huff, huff).

Glad you're ok now Jeff!  We don't need you turning into a chouca just yet..  BTW, you hadn't been partaking in the burnt offerings, had you?  I don't know how anyone can ski afterwards.  I have enough issues after a few sips of medicinal Jaegermeister !

For those reading these posts and curious about it, here is the scale we use to measure twig factor:

LeChef's Universal Scale of Twigginess (known in the USA as Baker's* Dozen scale of stand density)

*Dr. Baker will be submitting a paper in Nature Magazine this spring for peer review, after reviewing our data.

ATS: average tree spacing

0. Completely open run
1. Open run with only minor trees or shrubs, very well spaced
2. Open glade with very minor twigginess. ATS:  5 metres
3. Open forest with some obstructions. Large radius turns possible. ATS: 4 metres
4.  Well gladed trees, medium radius turns possible.  ATS: 3.5 metres
5. Ideal balance of twigginess and turns ATS: 3 metres
6. Fairly open glade, linked turns possible in most places. ATS: 2.5 metres
7. Overgrowth where linked turns may be possible: ATS 2 metres
8. High density overgrowth with some turns possible: ATS: 1 metre
9. High density overgrowth, barely skiable: ATS: 0.5 metre
10. Absolute upward level of skiable twigginess with no turns possible: ATS: 30 cm
11. Impenetrable forest. eg...alder regrowth or jack pine fire re-gen, ATS: <15 cm

Live Hinterland snow report.

We have to resort to some desperate measures lately. The roofalanche at my provided an excellent lne:



(thanks to my friend Doug for the photo work)

Seriously though, conditions solidified this weekend and a little fresh snow and sunshine made touring conditions pretty nice. One can walk on the crust but skiing through the woods is better.



I celebrated World Telemark Day (who knew?) by heading out in my 35 year old Merrell Ultras, connected to Trak Couloirs with Rottefella Super Telemark 3-pin bindings. Vintage shwack gear for following the wascally wabbit twacks.

Getting down Secret Hill was interesting, nothing like negotiating dust on crust with floppy leather boots to create some survival turns:



Then there were the water crossings. Hmmm, where to go?



Fortunately, I found a snow bridge downstream.



Further hazards awaited, like this tree well zone:



Followed by the wolf highway crossing:



And traversing a rather large pond.



The next pond is home to a heron rookery, which is a pretty bizarre collection of massive nests:



If you look closely, the moon is visible between the trees.



The third pond had a long beaver dam at the far end.



And more wolf action:



After that, I headed inland and followed old bush roads, which were a bit challenging after the massive runoff and freeze-up. There was lot of this:



But the moral is, if you can't go to Europe and eat goulash, bacon dumplings and lemon tarts, make the most of what you have at home.

A most excellent yarn O Great One. You tele a good story.

Was wondering, what is the Twiggyness rating of this massiff you slew so bravely ?

Sick Bird Rider wrote

some survival turns:

Snowballs wrote

Was wondering, what is the Twiggyness rating of this massiff you slew so bravely ?

Consider this a twig test: what is your rating of this glade, Snowballs? (see scale at top of the page)

"But the moral is, if you can't go to Europe and eat goulash, bacon dumplings and lemon tarts, make the most of what you have at home."
Good moral for all  east coast skiers

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Snowballs wrote

Was wondering, what is the Twiggyness rating of this massiff you slew so bravely ?

Consider this a twig test: what is your rating of this glade, Snowballs? (see scale at top of the page)

Marching Band.