Tales from the Hinterland - an ongoing saga

I knew you had them, just thought you might be interested!

Love the pix.

Always enjoy your reports SBR, but this one brought a tear to my eye when I saw the photo of those green 207 Karhu XCD Supremes.  I had the exact same pair back in the day.  Mine died in a collision with a tree at Whiteface and I dumpstered 'em years ago.  Every once in a while, on Wednesday tele night at West Mountain, someone will say "Hey, let's do a retro night where everybody skis their old skinny tele skis and leather boots!"  Which is immediately followed by "On second thought... Nah."

Like the pic of the thermometer.  Too bad I have no idea how cold -19c is.  Which is pretty funny because when I was in fourth grade they told me we'd all be on the metric system by the time I was in college.  And THAT was a long time ago.

Adk Jeff wrote

Always enjoy your reports SBR, but this one brought a tear to my eye when I saw the photo of those green 207 Karhu XCD Supremes.  I had the exact same pair back in the day.  Mine died in a collision with a tree at Whiteface and I dumpstered 'em years ago.  Every once in a while, on Wednesday tele night at West Mountain, someone will say "Hey, let's do a retro night where everybody skis their old skinny tele skis and leather boots!"  Which is immediately followed by "On second thought... Nah."

Thanks, I try to keep things light (but not fluffy). We entertain similar thoughts about the old-school tele experiment and may try using modern boots with the old skis. It is our theory that the boots back then were the weak link in the whole system. Though this could be a recipe for ripping out bindings...

Adk Jeff wrote

Like the pic of the thermometer.  Too bad I have no idea how cold -19c is.  Which is pretty funny because when I was in fourth grade they told me we'd all be on the metric system by the time I was in college.  And THAT was a long time ago.

Ha, after however many years of Metric, most Hinterlandians over 40 still work in both systems. I'm totally down with Metric speed, linear measurement and temperature but still think in acres and pounds for space and weight.

Here is a handy temp converter from your own NOAA (maybe I should put this in my signature!):
http://www.wbuf.noaa.gov/tempfc.htm

-19 C is -2 F. This morning it is -26 C or -15 F. Brrrr.

This could be my favorite pic of the entire Hinterland Series to date...

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Fresh snow and classic 70s wood skis!

Priceless...

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Race coaches prepare to suck the joy out of young skiers by setting gates on a rare Ontario powder day

Love the kid taking a nap... ah parenthood... "you vil ski and you vil LIKE IT!"

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Lessons have started, time for me to go home!

ROFLMAO...

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Hey, the base lodge is locked! Where am I going to get a latte?

We need to invent a prize for some category that this stuff fits into.

Maybe the Nobel Prize for Hinterlandian Excellence.

This kind of work must be rewarded.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

We entertain similar thoughts about the old-school tele experiment and may try using modern boots with the old skis. It is our theory that the boots back then were the weak link in the whole system. Though this could be a recipe for ripping out bindings...

Old skis, new boots... interesting concept.  If the bindings don't rip out you might just snap the ski in half.  Which actually might not be too great a loss.  Actually that could be a sacrifice to Ullr.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

-19 C is -2 F. This morning it is -26 C or -15 F. Brrrr.

You whimpy Canadians: -25F at my house this morning (Saratoga Springs).

Adk Jeff wrote

 Which actually might not be too great a loss.  Actually that could be a sacrifice to Ullr.

Maybe I'll rethink that plan, I would be devastated if I broke those skis. Check out this article from the old Karhu blog, now preserved on Facebook:
XCD History - The Beginning

I didn't really plan it but I now possess a skiable pair of every one of the XCD series designed by Antii Tiitola for Karhu: XCD GT, XCD Comp, XCD Supreme and XCD Extreme.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

I didn't really plan it but I now possess a skiable pair of every one of the XCD series designed by Antii Tiitola for Karhu: XCD GT, XCD Comp, XCD Supreme and XCD Extreme.

I still consider the GT my ski of choice for winter camping or touring the Siamese Ponds Wilderness.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

I didn't really plan it but I now possess a skiable pair of every one of the XCD series designed by Antii Tiitola for Karhu: XCD GT, XCD Comp, XCD Supreme and XCD Extreme.

I'm not sure whether to say that's awesome or that's terrible...
Cool link, will look at it more closely tomorrow...
Thx SBR.
:)

This week we examine the contrasts inherent in the Hinterlandian lifestyle. Those of you who live in the "country" but not that far from the "city" will be able to relate. My days off were a little disrupted due to a work-related trip to the Evil Empire (ie. the big city of Toronto). Before I left on Thursday morning, I did manage to get in a short snowshoe trek with the dog.

I've got these wacky snowshoes, made in Minnesota by Snocraft Inc. in 1953. They RULE for breaking trail in deep snow.


Utah gets first tracks to the outhouse. Fortunately we haven't needed it this winter!


Here's a profile shot of the snowshoes, demonstrating that extreme tip rocker is not so new an idea. I believe the style is  known as "Pickerel Nose." Dude, did you see my new pickerel nose pow skis?


So I'll spare you the pics of being stuck in city traffic, as I'm sure it doesn't look much different form city traffic anywhere. After returning late Friday from the urban sprawl, I needed some serious action to clear my head. On Saturday morning I left the slowshoes at home and headed over to Hidden Bump for some groomer slayage. Conditions were ripe. The snow was perfectly formed, untracked corduroy, the hill was uncrowded, those that were there were watching the kids race and I realized that while my Prophet 100s were not completely unsuitable for the day, perhaps this would be a good time to demo some skinny skis.

I am in love with the Head I-Speed World Cup GS. It was like riding the Bullet Train. Super-fast, stable and smoooooth.


I am not so enamoured with the Elan Waveflex 14. I really wanted to like these skis but they skied like they had no edges. I'll be generous and say that they must have needed a tune, real bad.



So there you have it: from classic woody snowshoes to the dirty city and back to the highest of high-tech alpine equipment in 48 hours. Ahhh, life in the woods.

Love the snowshoes!

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Agreed. Love it.

TR has kind of an anthro feel to it.

I'm starting to think I was taken at birth from the HL by some rogue flatlanders. It ain't right.

Couldn't take the day off to ski, so my colleague and I collaborated to score some nice powder 8s on the road in to work this morning. We are at the northern edge of the Groundhog Day Storm.

Those are some money powder 8s.

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Telemark Dave and I are very excited about ski plans for this week. On Thursday we will drive across Algonquin Park into a remote area of the Hinterland known as "The Ottawa Valley" or, if you are really hip, simply "the Valley." There we will ski at one of the most obscure areas in the eastern hemisphere, Mt. Madawaska.  There is a t-bar and they claim 450' of vertical. I can't remember the last time I was on a t-bar. Edit: actually I can, it was at Jay Peak in December. But I can't recall being at a hill where the ONLY lift was a t-bar.

We are REALLY looking forward to the culinary experience. The Valley has a unique culture all its own and there are some food items I am itching to try, such as the "Derailment Donut" highlighted below. As TD says, "one of us will have to man-up and step up to what possibly is a walking sugar bomb, or even a coronary on a plate!"

If all goes well, Friday will involve some skinning and powder turns at a top-secret destination. Stay tuned.

And if the Derailment Donut isn't enough, there is always "breakfast" for $5.

This week, as promised, Telemark Dave and I visited the Radcliffe Hills Ski Area, formerly known as Mt. Madawaska. This is a ski hill struggling to save itself from NELSAP fate, compounded by the fact that is in a rural area, relatively far from a major population centre, does not have any snowmaking and is and in a region that does not get reliable natural snow. Sound familiar?

In view of the fact that we had to drive almost two hours to get there, TD and I waited until conditions were right. After a big snowfall in the Ottawa Valley, we decided that it was to time to go.

I started the day with a hearty Hinterlandian breakfast: super-duper oatmeal, maple syrup, milk in a bag and coffee.


Our first delay (and second breakfast) of the day was due to the fact that Rotten Ronnie's was offering free Breakfast Bisquits. Here, TD tries to blend in with the hungry seniors.


With breakfast #2 and a third coffee safely stored in the Snowbaru, we roared off eastward.


Eventually, we arrived. The sign and lodge exude funky-ness.


Many more signs greeted us on arrival inside the lodge. Some of these were not your typical ski area warnings. At this point we knew we were on to something special.





The next sign made me wonder: am I not supposed to build jumps, or am I not supposed to jump buildings?


After booting up, we collected our skis from the crowded racks and surveyed the hill. The picture does not do it justice, there is quite a bit more hill over the horizon (they claim 450' of vertical). By this time, we had already met Fabian Yantha, the hill manager, ski area promoter, furniture store owner and local real estate agent. Once he found out that we were from Huntsville (home of the rich and famous, apparently), he let us know that the ski hill is for sale. I've got his card if you want to make an offer. Turns out Fabian also drives the groomer and is proud of it. We wished he had left a little more ungroomed but, oh well...



The t-bar was manned by a philosopher-liftie. Here he is warning local schoolchildren about the perils of not hanging on. When we approached, he checked out our skis and said: "What are those skis for? Powder or something?" Later we learned (in one of those strange on-going conversations you can have with a liftie) that Dave's neighbour was liftie's father-in-law's sister. Or something like that.



We took many runs. The skiing was a bit rough due to to the rustic grooming (no offense to Fabian but I think he is working with very old-school equipment. That, and he is not a skier.). The terrain was fun with a number of very pleasant intermediate runs punctuated by short, steep expert runs at the top. We actually hiked to the summit and skied an ungroomed steep pitch that was relatively gnarly. Got first tracks, and that was after lunch.



Speaking of lunch, I know you are all only reading this post for one reason: just what is a Derailment Donut? As speculated, it is a heart-attack sugar bomb and neither of us were man enough to try one. Use you imagination:  a large home-made donut log, rolled in sugar and cinnamon, served with whipped cream and pie filling on the side (choice of flavours).  We did, however, enjoy some local cuisine. I had the "chili cheese fries" and Dave sampled the traditional poutine. Yumm!



Staggering back to the t-bar, we undertook more slayage, actually finding a few powder pockets that Fabian had missed. We ended our day around 3 pm, and having had about 72 runs, combined with t-bar rides, the legs were a bit tired.

The lone snowboarder seemed to prefer the powder to the pipe.


Any Hinterlandians within driving distance should pay a visit to Radcliffe Hills. It is laid back, inexpensive (mid-week ticket: $25), has fun terrain and needs our support. If you win the lottery, buy the place and get Fabian a new groomer and some snowmaking. Even you never anticipate skiing there, please pay a visit to their <a href="http://">Facebook page and click "like" just to keep the stoke up.

Did you miss the post above? I hope not!

Do they have "Men's Day" at ski hills down in the Excited States? Maybe it is a Hinterlandian phenomenon, I don't know. Anyhow, on Friday it was Men's Day at our local ski hill, Hidden Valley. I did not get invited and honestly, am quite relieved. A couple of years ago I ended up at Ladies' Day, quite accidentally, and it was highly entertaining. Well, they do say that it is the most fun you can have with your boots on.

Men's Day events included things like this (pics stolen from Facebook):


This:


This?


And, oh, yes, a bit of this:


MEANWHILE, a 15 minute drive away....

Some of us are checking the Hinterlandian snow depth meters:


Getting first tracks down the driveway:


Reveling in tractor stoke combined with ski stoke:


Driving overloaded Japanese vehicles down snowy side roads:


Checking the snowpack at our private powder reserve:


Skinning in a short distance on an unmaintained road:


Observing Telemark Dave's tracks from last week:


Skinning up (puff, puff, puff...):


Resting on the skin up, with the excuse of taking pictures of the snow depth:


Skiing down in the POWDAH:
(Telemark Dave agrees that he needs to lose the Johnny Cash look and get a more colourful jacket)


Sooooo much better than a GT Sno-racer or bashing gates:


OK, so next summer we'll do a little forest management:


SBR is ready to walk, this skinning thing sucks on a flat road:


One last run back at Bonk Hill, at SBRHQ:
(no dog this time, the snow is over his head)


I took the untracked line to the left. Sweet, slow motion powder turns. Not many, due to the small hill, but sweet none the less. What will the thaw bring this week?

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Did you miss the post above? I hope not!

I did! weekends are BUSY!

Sick Bird Rider wrote

Do they have "Men's Day" at ski hills down in the Excited States?

In the Untied States we only have ladies night. We have more than enough men, we need more women.

This thing is v cool looking but maybe uncomfortable? Do you have to wear alpine boots with it?



This is Fantasy Photo material:



You are livin the life Mr Rider.

Harvey44 wrote

This thing is v cool looking but maybe uncomfortable? Do you have to wear alpine boots with it?

The GT Sno_Racer is a legendary snow sliding device. The one in the pic is the kid's version, the adult size is pricey and hard to find. Ski boots make it more challenging - they are slippery!

Harvey44 wrote

You are livin the life Mr Rider.

Well, we try to to make the best of what we have, which is pretty nice actually, even if the hills are small. That, and our spouses are very tolerant of our eccentric hobbies.

Sick Bird Rider wrote

... and our spouses are very tolerant of our eccentric hobbies...

THIS is the greatest luxury of all.