Tales from the Hinterland: 2018/2019 edition

The picnic table is looking chuck full.  One six inch and you are full on pow fest.  NY.

raisingarizona wrote

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.

Think he means to paddle on.  But I'm pretty sure there is a good amount of paddling in AZ, if you like the whitewater variety.


As far as that concrete - I'd ski it.  Probably put on some long, fast skinny metal edge skis and tear around.

Cunningstunts wrote

raisingarizona wrote

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.

Think he means to paddle on.  But I'm pretty sure there is a good amount of paddling in AZ, if you like the whitewater variety.


As far as that concrete - I'd ski it.  Probably put on some long, fast skinny metal edge skis and tear around.

Yup.  I can certainly spend a couple weeks without paddling, especially given my love of AZ MTBing.   My 89 yo dad spends his winters in the outskirts of Mesa (Apache Junction) - he has a nice house he bought back in the late 90’s.  I’ve spent many weeks there.. but no way I’d consider moving to a place with out lakes or an Ocean.

Many companies have Christmas parties, but ours has shifted gears in the last two years and hosted a "staff appreciation day" at Sir Sam's ski area. Being in the outdoor retail business, it can't hurt to get your staff outdoors recreating. We close all the stores, hire a bus, and ship everybody down to the hill with opportunities for skiing, snowboarding, fat biking, XC, plus a free lunch and complimentary beverage. It is much more fun than sitting in a stuffy room eating pre-Christmas mashed potatoes and roast beef, I can assure you.

Veteran readers of this tale may remember Sir Sam's from the very first season of TFTH, and a few other visits that we have reported on.

I skipped the bus ride and drove down, thereby getting a bunch of runs before the crew showed up. Conditions were interesting, with 3 inches of dense windblown new snow on top of a very firm but well groomed base. Quite fast and fun. After that, it was entertaining to ride with co-workers that you don't normally socialize with, or don't even know that well. All in all a fine day.

My apologies for the over-exposed image, I have no idea what the camera was doing, but the view is worth sharing:



I saved my free beer and enjoyed it when I got home. The Boshkung Brewery is not far from the hill. Yummy stout.

I find this post refreshing! The overexposure and the beverage!

awesome. I wish my company did parties like that. Like the stout as well

I enjoyed a nice oatmeal stout the other day.  I wouldn't call it refreshing, but it was tasty even though it was about two years old (kept refrigerated though).

It made me really want a porter though.  Similar in a lot of ways, but more my style.

Looks like skiing is going to be on for the weekend, so I might have to procure one or six and have one at the trail head.

Got my porter.



Now I'm ready for the storm

That view is beautiful, sort of subtle and comforting.

Nickle

Chuuurles wrote

Nickle

Lovely. Look forward to a fuller report.

Very nice Sick!

Image of the Wolf Moon chair tonight at -25 C (-13 F). Overnight forecast has it down to -44 C with wind chill, at which you don't care whose degrees they are. Fucking pipes are frozen already, might as well take pictures and post them on the Internet:

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Image of the Wolf Moon chair tonight at -25 C (-13 F). Overnight forecast has it down to -44 C with wind chill, at which you don't care whose degrees they are. Fucking pipes are frozen already, might as well take pictures and post them on the Internet:

That’s pretty cold. Even down here in the tropics we’re dripping our faucet today

Well, got the pipes sorted out but it took some sleuthing. What a week of weather: frigid on Sunday and Monday, a little milder with some snow on Tuesday, then snow followed by rain on Wednesday. Not sure what happened on Thursday since I had to go south to the city all day. Today, we're back to cold with about 4" of new snow on top of the funky crusty base. It is all about base building this winter, some day we'll get to ski it.

Not skiing much these days due to left shoulder issues (tendinitis), which pole use seems to aggravate. But I can still take pictures of the chair for you all, this is today:

That's insane.

SBR what is the elevation of the chair, in feet please?  :)

Harvey wrote

That's insane.

SBR what is the elevation of the chair, in feet please?  :)

Had to consult Google Earth for that one: 375 metres, so about 1230 feet above sea level. It is like Tug Hill here, all about lake effect.

The chair and the picnic table may exaggerate a little, to be honest. There is some swirling effect and the deck is sheltered from the sun for most of the day.

Things are happening in the Hinterlands but since I am on the injury list, I can only report. This is Jeff LeChef today, photo by Nate the snowboarder:

Last weekend was our annual Twig Fest, put on by LeCheff, who humped in a hot tent to a local hill we call Nickle Peak.  Good thing, as it was -30c on Saturday morning when we got to the trailhead.

The snow was not too bad considering the amount of freeze-thaw-freezes weve had this year..  sure, there was a crust, but it was a nice crust..  

No one was in any hurry to start skiing..

Someone was heating up their breakfast brew on the wood stove.. thats how frosty it was!

Stephanie had some skin issues, but true to the name of the event, twigs solved the problem!

Yours truly in the red jacket is looking a bit beat down..  I picked a fight with a hemlock..  it lost some bark.
All in all a great day!

That looks GREAT.

SBR what has you on the DL?