Tales from the Hinterland: 2018/2019 edition

It sure was fun.. FYI, loyal thread followers, SBR, myself, and Karl E. seized the night and poached a miraculously ungroomed run at our local hill..  They plan on opening on Saturday, so it was a surprise to find the backside of one of the hills left au-natural!  We cranked out a few laps til the run was suitably plundered, then headed home.  I should add that I suffered a Charger Love (TM) attack brought on by not touching bottom once on any of my runs.. I'm still trying to wind down!

Sunday Morning...  Thanks Lou Reed. 😎
Anyways, heading out in an hour or so to the new gladed zones at Limberlost Forest,  first time skiing them! Should be ok, there's a good foot of solid glacified base with another foot or so of fresh on top.  The waters will be sharky, but I'm trusting my Chargers to float me above the nasties..  TR will follow later tonight, right here. Stay tuned.

In the mean time check out this Hinterlandian FB conversation I just had with SBR.  Camp, you'd be all over this 👍

Haha! Those BD tail clips are super whack!

Seems like you were talking to yourself, Dave. Funny nonetheless. :).

Looking forward to today's TR.

Marcski wrote

Seems like you were talking to yourself, Dave. Funny nonetheless. :)

Ha, yes a little bit of that happening, but it was SBR who started it!

Looking forward to today's TR.

I'm waiting on a ski buddy to send me a few pics.. I'll post ASAP.

1st session at a new backbush zone (old ski hill long since closed..) proved to be stooopid fun.  There was a foot of fresh on top of a hard consolidated base, so not too many sharks lurking below the surface.  
I was joined by my old buddy McV, and Jeff LeChef..

Low angle sun on a low angle skin track..

TD dropping in for first tracks on a safe and open slope..

Lots of casual and cautious skiing took place..  It's still only the first week of December..  

All in all, it was dumb fun..  😎

^ Excellent work. FYI this is the Limberlost are I mentioned earlier, and where the big pruning party happened.

On to today though. I can't believe that I forgot to take a picture of the chair! So, dear readers, I give you Mr. Spike instead. A nice little buck  that cleans up under our bird feeder. He chases away the two does but is very deferential to the 8-pointer that appears on rare occasions:



Following the deer trails, I headed out into the backbush this afternoon on a solo mission. Which way to go?



First stop was Secret Hill, where i dd a little hazard mitigation, set a fish-scalable uptrack and enjoyed two mellow runs:



Then off through the forest, up and over to Bonk Hill for a final run:



Since Telemark "never take your skis off" Dave wasn't there, I took my skis off and hiked back uphill.
 


Which of course means that you can admire your tracks again:

Sick Bird Rider wrote

 




Since Telemark "never take your skis off" Dave wasn't there, I took my skis off and hiked back uphill.
 

Un-fucking-believable...  <shakes head incredulously>

Telemark Dave wrote

Sick Bird Rider wrote

 




Since Telemark "never take your skis off" Dave wasn't there, I took my skis off and hiked back uphill.
 

Un-fucking-believable...  <shakes head incredulously>

Some people just need constant supervision

Brownski wrote

Telemark Dave wrote

Sick Bird Rider wrote

 




Since Telemark "never take your skis off" Dave wasn't there, I took my skis off and hiked back uphill.
 

Un-fucking-believable...  <shakes head incredulously>

Some people just need constant supervision

I actually feel somewhat responsible.. SBR texted me at work to say he was at the bottom of Secret Hill.   I didn't realize he was reaching out for guidance.  I think I actually responded with

 "Nice! Have fun, giv'er and be safe"

I guess he interpreted that as an ok to boot pack/post hole back up the hill!   😢

SBR wrote

Bonk Hill is certainly an integral part of The Legend.  Looks to be in fine shape.

You have to make sure you are still skiing when I retire and tour the Hinterlands. (Dave no moving to Florida)

What is the original of TD's policy?

Harvey wrote

SBR wrote

Bonk Hill is certainly an integral part of The Legend.  Looks to be in fine shape.

You have to make sure you are still skiing when I retire and tour the Hinterlands. (Dave no moving to Florida)

What is the original of TD's policy?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_4dFDBYWuTc

Telemark Dave wrote

Harvey wrote

SBR wrote

Bonk Hill is certainly an integral part of The Legend.  Looks to be in fine shape.

You have to make sure you are still skiing when I retire and tour the Hinterlands. (Dave no moving to Florida)

What is the original of TD's policy?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_4dFDBYWuTc

Absolutely goddamn right

One thing that I'm not a fan of in Winter is the minimalistic daylight hours..  Drive to work in the dark, and often drive home in the dark.
But given that I don't have much control over the whole solar system thingy, I make sure I have a good headlamp. A cheap season ski pass, if you will..

Anyways, Bonnie and I got a nice evening XC ski in tonight, right here in downtown Port Sydney (actually, the local golf course..).  If you ever have the gumption to get out into the woods (or your local golf course) for a night ski, just do it.  😎

I usually get a few night skis in a year.  Sometimes they are great, sometimes not.  Really depends on daytime temps and such.  Sometimes it's icy as a bitch.

Telemark Dave wrote

Harvey wrote

SBR wrote

Bonk Hill is certainly an integral part of The Legend.  Looks to be in fine shape.

You have to make sure you are still skiing when I retire and tour the Hinterlands. (Dave no moving to Florida)

What is the original of TD's policy?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_4dFDBYWuTc

Hey! Just noticed the "Florida" comment.  Not me. Never. Florida is a land of fat geriatrics..  
Now AZ..   Best mountain biking in the world.  But no water.  And too many guns.  
New Zealand is the place for me.. 😉

The chair is deceptive. Despite a recent snow event, much of that snow is of a concrete-like consistency, with only the last few inches being nice and pliable. Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.



Nursing a weird rotator cuff problem, I kept the New Year's Day ski to a low angle tour. It was just good to get to get outside. There was a lot of this.



Someone was breaking trail with a very long stride. Mr Moose, I reckon.



Making tracks across the bog,



Who is that shadowy skier wishing you all a Happy New Year!

Concrete consistency- we call that base snow in the lower 48

The no water thing is tough, especially during the hot and dry month of June but hey, no water = no gnats, mosquitoes, deer flies, or black flies. Most of our time in the outdoors can be high on the pleasure scale and those clear blue humidity free skies ain’t bad either.

PeeTex wrote

Concrete consistency- we call that base snow in the lower 48

Absolutely. That's what we keep telling ourselves when it rains on a fresh snowfall: more base building!

Another big dump with no rain and conditions will be primo.