Thanks to the Southern Man

Pretty much everything was telling me not to go out after work. It was 16 degrees, overcast, very windy and we haven't had appreciable snow in a week. I went anyway.

Trails are hard, but the ski track is good and especially fast. People have been staying out of the ski tracks and using a parallel set for snowshoeing. No harm to anyone and it works.

I skied in on D-spur and continued right out of Rockwood and down to the powerlines that cross Old State Rd. I wanted to see how far I could go before really getting into someone's backyard or being accosted by dogs or something. Nothing to report, except it looks like I could have kept going right across Old State and beyond.

Next I went to Big Bowl and did some turns in the glades there. Just some fun.  I skied back to my jeep and found both locks on the hatch and driver-side door frozen up. Could not open the Jeep, so 20 minutes later in the dark I waved down a passerby who made a point of saying I was lucky he was from the South for his kindness. I called my team and they scrambled, but I finally got the hatch open ten minutes later.  I never lock the Jeep except I had another set of skis in there.

Plenty of snow around and flurries are helping. Skied my old Karhu XCD-GT's and leathers. 4;30 to 6:00pm.

With a Twist

 I like to be creative when I ski, I get a better kick out of it. It doesn’t take much effort, much less than the physical effort of skiing, so I try to inject some creativity into my days out.

 The first thing that comes to mind is mixing up your tour or in other words devising a tour that has a lot of changes and surprises, and demands on your skills. Let’s not forget about trying to make the tour aesthetically pleasing too, in other words, get up close to nature and learn and enjoy. I try not to ski with my head down just running hard, but to take in things as I run. Think of it as experiencing all you can on your tour. There will be times when you are running and stomping hard up a hill, then mad shooshing with your telemark through a dropping bend, and later skirting an old fieldstone wall with thoughts of bloodied knuckles on farmers hands. Or the way a squirrel stored a hickory nut in the chinks of that wall 75 years ago, where now the wall is busted by a big old tree.

 No tour is good without plenty of diversity. I want to know I have some noble hills to climb, and I want to know I have a long lake crossing with the potential for a tailwind or a headwind. Nice stuff.  I want to change up a tour also. How about sneaking in two reps of the same little loop with a decent downhill rip, before continuing  through. This is something akin to how whitewater boaters will play several times in a particular eddy with a chute nearby. Not sure it they call it a chute, but they’re taking time to play some within the scope of their days run.

 You have to be imaginative. One little twist on a tour leads to another. I’ve stopped during tours and done a little mindfulness of dried leaves rustling curled up, crispy, and yellow like old newspaper on beech trees from last summer. Next thing, I'm commited to the best of my abilities to climbing off-trail to sew together two lakes I’ve never skied together in the same day, that I’ve discovered I can sew into a new loop.

 It’s easy to go to the guidebooks and run a classic tour start to finish and get a kick out of it. I think it’s better to add the smallest degree of nuance to it, to make it new like Ezra Pound said about good writing, to make it a new tour, the first time anyone has done it just so, ever.

 I try to spend a little time creating good tours like this, and most of the time it starts to flow just after my first attempts to be creative on my skis. Maybe it’s getting creative like this that people need to get something more from ski touring. Nature alone may not present enough feedback. By applying yourself to the terrain and surroundings, you are certain to trigger imaginative ways to make each tour something a little more special than just a day of kick and glide.

Some days I'm dull and couldn't be imaginative to save my ass. I think for most of us those kinds of days are few. In the end, as I once heard said, there will be more good days than bad in the end.

The Trickster

Wow, Spring is a month away! Not long at all before the lakes reopen, says Coyote. But it's just a trick, all that warmth this past weekend. We'll be skiing and snowshoe hiking for another month at least. Nothing wrong with that.

Good Luck-Spectacle Lake-Third lake

This loop proved to be fun, and it would really be a blast if you could catch it with new snow on the snowmobile trails. We saw some rain Thursday which put a crust on the snow cover, but on top of it there was a little new snow for a total of probably 20".

I skied in to Good Luck down some easy drops, then crossed the lake on beautiful firm snow. The trail to Spectacle Lake starts in the far southwest corner and it's marked with this tiny little sign. The footpath leading up to the snowmobile trail has a few good climbs, but I did a lot of traversing to ease the ascent.

It was good to see someone had snowshoed to Spectacle Lake. It's a marked snowmobile trail, but the groomers don't touch it, so no snowmobiles use it either. Not too much up and down on this one, just good skiing.

Got on Spectacle Lake and the wind kicked up. I only found some slush near the shorelines. I had the lake to myself and it felt great skiing on firm snow. Once across, I skied into the marshy area where the snowmobile trail swings next to the lake. Once on the snowmobile trail I made great time to Third Lake.

The wind was behind me on Third, but the slush was more prevalent. I stuck to the shoreline and actually had a nice shoosh all the way to the eastern end. Next, there's an easy but long climb over the shoulder of West Lake Mountain and a nice descent to an intersection where I headed north back to Good Luck. On this stretch are a few good climbs that required a herringbone. I traversed down to Good Luck and skied across, got up on the footpath and skied out. The hardest part of this trip is this last 15 minutes to the road, as I was tired and it's all short little uphills. More traversing did it. Slow and steady wins the race.

Nice day, 35 degrees or so, but the clouds were there for most of it until I was crossing Good Luck on the way out, then I had blue skis and whispy clouds cruising over with the wind. 10:30 til 3:30 for the loop, with two short stops. I skied my widest skis thinking I'd run into soft snow, but between the packed snowmobile trails and the snowshoers who broke out the Spectacle Lake trail I had no trouble. The crust and snow on top of it on the lakes saved me some serious work, since my skis were on top of it except for a few soft spots.

Fast Evening with Snow Showers

I met a nice couple in the parking lot and later in Big Bowl, and we talked about the Adirondacks and the new section of the NPT in Benson among other things. I mentioned they should come to an ADK Foothills meeting, second Wednesday of the month at the Gloversville SC, and I hope they do. We both enjoyed the skiing. I came out of Big Bowl and did two loops of the C-Connector Valley trail with all those neat downhill runs. I did a face plant on one of them due to the depth of the snow. Later I got on a trail I've never been on before, and I thought I had seen them all at Rockwood. You can just see it at bottom center on the Trail Register Map. I climbed slowly and then dropped down the craziest steepest hill I know in Rockwood and it put me right at the Barrier Sign in my header picture above. It was dusk and getting dark and I skied out from there via D South Rd, Camp Road past the old chimney and down the Chimney Loop trail which is a nice run out after an evening of skiing, and then out to my Jeep.

I was listening to this song before skiing, and thanks to the kindred spirit who turned me onto it...It's groovy! Highlighting the http and a right-click will take you there.

 Richochei, Perfect Like You
https://www.deejay.de/__140670

As I was packing up it started dumping snow, like lake effect, and I had a pretty intense drive home in it. Temps were just right at 30 for just a light shirt. I skied my old Karhu XCD GT's that are 62/55/60 and I nearly covered them in red kick wax as the snow is pretty wet from the warmth today. Lots of red seemed to do the trick and I had plenty of kick. The trails are in great shape, even the main one's. Had fun on the Karhu's with three pins and my Asolo Snowfield boots. 4:30 til 6pm.

....Shoosh It Real Good!

We should have plenty of fresh snow for the weekend to play in, and the temps look nice. I'll be out of town, but some after-work skiing next week looks promising.

We should have 16" with a good base under it when this storm passes through. The southern Adirondacks have about 2' today. Heading up to Lake Placid for Friday thru Monday, but looking forward to great conditions for the remainder of the week.

Now's the Time to Play

Fulton County -- Precipitation Reports
Town	Amount	Type	Since	On
Broadalbin	11.50"	Snow	7:00:00 AM	2/6/2014
Greene County -- Precipitation Reports
Town	Amount	Type	Since	On
Ashland	8.00"	Snow	2:00:00 AM	2/5/2014
Halcott Center	10.00"	Snow	2/5/2014	2/5/2014
Purling	9.00"	Snow	5:00:00 AM	2/6/2014
Halcott	8.00"	Snow	2/5/2014	2/5/2014
Hamilton County -- Precipitation Reports
Town	Amount	Type	Since	On
Wells	12.75"	Snow	2/5/2014	2/5/2014
Hoffmeister	13.00"	Snow	6:00:00 AM	2/6/2014
Piseco	12.50"	Snow	2/5/2014	2/5/2014

I'm Waxing in my Mind