Skiing the East

You may have seen my thread on T4T, but if you haven't, here's more or less what it says. I'm trying to ski all the 4000 footers in NH this year. The hardest part so far has been trying to find people to go with. Even if you don't ski, but you want to go for a hike, there are plenty of 4kers that are really bad for skiing, and you would be more than welcome to come along. Here's my facebook page for the whole thing, please "like" it if you have a facebook. If you don't, that's okay.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ski-the-4kers/127188167314536

Moderator Note - edited to remove fund raising details. Sorry Ben, but we don't allow fund raising here on VftT.

Thanks a whole bunch guys! you can PM me (not a great response time on those) or email me at [email protected] I'm always on my email, so you'll probably get a response within 3 hours of your emailing me. Thanks again.

What is your criteria when you say "SKI all the 4000 footers"? to actually say you have skied?

skiguy said:

What is your criteria when you say "SKI all the 4000 footers"? to actually say you have skied?

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That was my question when I first saw it. There is a little on the Facebook page under Discussion with "rules" but it has no conclusion.

He posted this on the T4T forum:

"Yeah, I have kind of set this up as bag all the peaks in a year, by way of skinning/ hiking up, and then skiing down to the natural snow line. I won't cheat and do Washington in june, because that's dumb. I do plan on doing the prezzies way late, like late april, because they hold snow until then."

He also wrote this for his Adam's trip:

"After summiting Adams, we put our skis on and began the descent. It was not fun. All the snow on the Valley Way trail was completely boot-packed, and it was very narrow. After a few minutes of hop turns and some sliding and using trees to stop, we decided to take off the skis and hike back down."

Sounds like a good quest. I hiked all the 4000'ers in 2009, and about a quarter of them in the winter. I try to take my backcountry skis whenever I can. I succesfully skinned up the backside of Cannon (Lonesome Lake Trail to the sag between Cannon & the Northeast Cannonball, up the ridge to the NE Cannonball, backtracked down then up to the summit of cannon. I only had to take my skis off twice b/c it was just too steep. The wet December snow offered incredible traction for my skins. Good luck to you--Garfield must have been a great ski down w/ all the nice switchbacks on the Garfield Trail. Plan to tackle Mansfield on Friday (see Trips & Events), if you are interested!

Due to what the time line is looking like, I've decided that a peak is skied if I put skis on while on it and do some sort of movement down hill. According to wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn, the definition of skiing is "a sport in which participants must travel on skis"

benwhiteskis said:

...I've decided that a peak is skied if I put skis on while on it and do some sort of movement down hill...

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Well, that settles that. Your game, your rules.

And I've decided that I spent the night with Grace Park if I think about spending the night with Grace Park.

Ben, I've been following your quest since you launched the concept last summer. I'm a fan of what your doing because I have skinned up and found a few turns on many of the 48. It may be that only BC skier's finds an all day excursion for a few turns worthwhile enough to fit the definition of skiing.
What Peak(s)do you have planned for this weekend?

Billy said:

And I've decided that I spent the night with Grace Park if I think about spending the night with Grace Park.

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What's the point of the negativity ? I've hiked several peaks with AT skis and mountaineering boots for the simple chance of a great few minutes on the way down. Some were worth while, some were just a good hike. The extra workout he'll get carrying the gear is worth a tip-of-the-hat, regardless.

Chip said:

What's the point of the negativity ?...

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You're right, that was a wise-ass comment. Sorry Ben.

Billy said:

You're right, that was a wise-ass comment. Sorry Ben.

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Fair enough, and if you get the chance to carry Grace Park on any night hikes, I'd allow your assertion.

Thanks guys! Especially Chip. And thank you Billy for apologizing. I'm going up Moosilauke on Sunday. I've already got one guy, but they more the merrier! feel free to join me. Just email me at [email protected] You don't even have to ski. Some, if not most don't even have good skiing on them.

Grace Park doesn't really do it for me. Ellen Page from Inception does though. And she skis too!

Ben, you picked a great time to do Moosilauke! Enjoy!

Ben, is there a reason why you're calling your project "Skiing the East" instead of "Skiing the Whites" or "Skiing New Hampshire?" You do know that there are mountains outside of New Hampshire and, believe it or not, New England, yes?

Really TEO, I had no idea. I thought that NH was the only state to have mountains in it. What are mountains anyways?

benwhiteskis said:

Really TEO, I had no idea. I thought that NH was the only state to have mountains in it. What are mountains anyways?

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There are other mountains in the East but most of the xxxxxxxxxx scumbags go to the Whites...

El-Bagr did some ski-the-48 thing a few years back, might want to look there: http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=6216

-Dr. Wu

benwhiteskis said:

Really TEO, I had no idea. I thought that NH was the only state to have mountains in it. What are mountains anyways?

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snicker.


Alas, the pics from T4T are no longer up.

Take pictures!

the moose was epic. I haven't had so much fun on skis in a while

benwhiteskis said:

Really TEO, I had no idea. I thought that NH was the only state to have mountains in it. What are mountains anyways?

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Cute. At least the title of this thread isn't as preposterous as the title of your T4T thread, but still, it would be no more or less accurate for me title a project of skiing Mansfield (Chin & Nose), Camel's Hump, Ellen, Abe, & Killington in a single season "Skiing the East." Or, to ski only the 14ers in Summit County and call it skiing the Colorado 14ers.

Your project has the potential to be interesting, if you try to ski an interesting line on each of the 48 summits, whether it is a chute, a slide, or a glade. I would urge you to use hiking trails as little as possible on the descent, both for the safety of hikers and to make your experience more imaginative.

TEO said:

Cute. At least the title of this thread isn't as preposterous as the title of your T4T thread, but still, it would be no more or less accurate for me title a project of skiing Mansfield (Chin & Nose), Camel's Hump, Ellen, Abe, & Killington in a single season "Skiing the East." Or, to ski only the 14ers in Summit County and call it skiing the Colorado 14ers.

Your project has the potential to be interesting, if you try to ski an interesting line on each of the 48 summits, whether it is a chute, a slide, or a glade. I would urge you to use hiking trails as little as possible on the descent, both for the safety of hikers and to make your experience more imaginative.

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Ok lets not nit pic here. I'll be glad to take some of the responsibilty for setting off this tone with the secound post in this thread although that was not my intent. My post was out of interest only because I could give a rat's arse how Ben executes this Quest because it is his Quest only. The important thing is that he has fun doing it because that's what skiing is FUN! So I say go for it Ben any which way you want! Glad you enjoyed the Moose...