Leather ski boots, blackflies, and an umbrella

[bristlecone]

Since some people were curious about how my quest to reach a patch of snow would turn out, I thought I'd post. Although the TR features skiing, 95% of the time and physical effort was spent hiking! And I love hiking. (Or I wouldn't have skied this weekend).

The drive up Saturday followed a familiar arc.
0dark:30 I'm up early! I'm going to the mountains, and skiing even!
Somewhere in southern NH I've been driving for a while. It's still dark. It's still a long way. What am I doing?
See mountains rising above valley fog I'm in the mountains! Going skiing even!

Met up with Tua Guy and Teledancer; absence of blackflies immediately noted and appreciated. Love those early starts.

Other hikers wondered why we were carrying skis. I don't know what they were confused about.

A day of contrasts.

Fishscale-track stoke

We kept close watch on the clouds, but vertical development was limited. No T-storms anywhere around; no all-day rain, no fog. No other skiers, maybe the gloomy weather report took a toll there.

 

[bristlecone]

continued...

Soft, beautiful corn - Tua Guy approves

Teledancer concurs

They call him Teledancer...

Tua Guy and Teledancer have great camaraderie. It was only when looking back at this photo that I realized that they also have great choreography.

Teledancer had to get back; R had been busy that morning and was arriving late. By chance they traded off at exactly the same moment, maintaining the apparent stash carrying capacity of 3 skiers. R somehow avoided photography.

Tua Guy dwarfed by the surroundings.

It was a great group and a lot of fun! Very enjoyable.

After enjoying a tasty brew that R had brought and chatting through a gathering cloud of blackflies, my next choice presented itself: 3+ hours drive back through the rain, or pass the night listening to silence complemented only by the sound of rain on the tent fly. Since the latter is up there on my list of Things I Enjoy, it was arranged.

My rain-on-tent reverie was broken in the morning by the disembodied weather radio voice, telling me about rain all day and a chance of T-storms in the afternoon. Ridge walking to diminutive ski objectives was out. I could do something other than skiing, but I'll have all summer and fall for that.

Up to Tuckerman Ravine. Raining all day. Would the snow soften enough for me to ski it in leather boots? Probably not. I wouldn't have driven up there for it, but I was already up there. Besides, I had skis with me in the car - I would need to take them for a walk anyway.

Skis on back, umbrella deployed, I arrived in My Own Private Tux. Not another soul. Way cool.

 

[bristlecone]

and the end...

Skiing leather boots was a dream in the soft corn snow on Saturday. On today's edgeable but firmer snow, I would have had fun with my plastic boots and heavier skis, but the leather boots on my feet meant that it was survival skiing. I'm sure some skiers could have shredded it on that gear, but not me.

Plan B, drop the gear, head around and up to see if I could spot more alpine flowers than I had seen yesterday. On the way up, I remembered how I liked hiking in the rain - with green squishy moss and rivulets flowing, it's a nice part of the northeast being the northeast. The umbrella is the ultimate waterproof/breatheable system to deal with it - it only went inside out a few times, and those were user error.

Clouds rolling in and out, dramatic and changing views.

June, and a thin one at that.

Not much for flowers. This is all I got.

Multiple skiing attempts, some fruitful, others less so. Mountain walking. Rain. All good fun.

 

[AMF]

Nice! There is still what looks to be a sizable patch on Marcy, if you need to get another run in for the year...

 

[skiguy]

Well done Dr. Quackenbush. Looks like fun. Does look like it could be a bit close on July and August runs this year.

 

[David Metsky]

Was this Saturday at the Beach? If so, I have photos of you guys from Adams.

 

[bristlecone]

Was this Saturday at the Beach? If so, I have photos of you guys from Adams.

Yes indeed! That would be neat to see - little patch of white, three little ants. We talked to some hikers later in the day that had spotted us from a distance as well.