Category: Earned Turns

2010-2011 Season, Earned Turns, Killington, October, Powder Day

Never Cut Your Loses: Killington

Steve on Royal Flush

The thought had been nagging me for the past few weeks: I was decidedly not ready for the season to start from a gear perspective. Nothing had been pulled out of the closet. An inventory had not yet been taken. New jackets still retained their store tags. My recently mounted new Dynafits had not been inspected for DIN setting accuracy nor tested so I could learn the features. Ready or not, the season starts now. Ready? Set. GO!

Killington or Mansfield? Reports had confirmed a foot of snow near the summit of Killington but I repeated my mantra not to bet against Mansfield. Besides, I hate the drive from Ashland to Killington even though it is twenty minutes shorter than Ashland to Stowe.

While I should usually not bet against Mansfield, I should also know by now that one in the hand is better than two in the bush. That you never get greedy when you know of a sure thing. You keep hammering the known quantity as long as it remains good because you might get skunked when you go in search of something better.

Sheets of rain blowing sideways greeted me at the Mansfield Gondola. The snow barely started near the base of the slopes and was very thin and spotty for a few hundred feet. The Front Four did not look in play from the parking lot. I suspected skiing was likely good up high but I resolved that I was not skinning in a drenching rain.

Rather than wait for the rain to stop, I opted to drive to Killington where I suspected they had top to bottom skiing, more snow, and no rain. I guess I never learn… But this was rather defaulting back to the known quantity when the greed did not pan out. Sure enough, I made the wrong decision when I left home but made the right decision in revising plans.

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2009-2010 Season, April, Cannon Mountain, Earned Turns, Powder Day

The Powder Days Started Here, The Powder Days Finish Here: Over Two Feet of Fresh at Cannon

The Powder Days Started Here. The Powder Days Finish Here. This is Cannon. This is my home.

Just when you thought it was safe to put away the powder skis and take off the snow tires, old man winter says he ain’t finished quite yet. An impressive storm system dropped copious amounts of snow from Northern Vermont clear across the White Mountains pushing the Avalanche Advisory for Tuckerman Ravine to a rare Extreme rating.

Two feet seems to be the average for terrain above two thousand feet in favored aspects. Cannon got two feet and them some with drifts of three to four feet in places. Cannon historically delivers early season and late season. So it comes as no surprise that my first and last powder days book end the season at Cannon.

With early morning meetings at work and a physical therapy session for my knee (LOL) just after noon, my turn earning was delayed until later in the day. Driving north on I-93, I saw nothing but bare ground and rain which might have tested a less knowledgeable die hard’s resolve. But I know Cannon. And I know what these types of storms do in the Notch.

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2009-2010 Season, Ammonoosuc Ravine, April, Earned Turns, East Snowfields, Mount Washington

Mount Washington with Descents of Ammonoosuc Ravine & the East Snowfields

Mount Washington Summit

Ammonoosuc Ravine

Follow your dreams and don’t ever look back.

Ten years ago during August 2000, after the conclusion of my last two undergraduate classes and prior to beginning my first full time job, I decided to take up hiking. Inspired by reading Waterfalls of the White Mountains by Bolnick, I began planning various Waterfall hikes. I bought an AMC White Mountain Guide. And for my first peak bagging experience, I targeted none other than New England’s highest peak, Mount Washington. Why start small, right?

This ill fated first attempt at hiking involved limping up the summit cone via the Tuckerman Ravine Trail due to a sore and fatigued leg muscle. Despite a severe blow to my ego, at the summit I opted to take a stage coach down the Auto Road to avoid further injuring my leg. My first hiking experience ended in failure. But it was the first step down a road leading to many adventures.

Since that first hiking experience, I have always held a grudge against Mount Washington. While I have hiked and skied the Rock Pile frequently during the past ten years, I have never summited and returned to the base using my own leg power. Skiing off the summit has been an elusive goal since I first started earning turns in 2005. Ten years after my first major hiking experience and five years after beginning to earn turns, I have finally skied off the summit of Big George.

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2009-2010 Season, Earned Turns, January, Mount Washington

Washington Earned Turns via the Cog

With most of New England seeing above freezing temperatures yesterday into a freeze last night as we enter a long holiday weekend, I decided that earning turns would be the best option. I suspected snow at lower elevations might be manky so I ruled out explorations of local backcountry glades. I turned my attention to the west side of Mount Washington as a quick and easy option to get out and make some turns today.

I was not the only one with this type of plan as the parking lot at Marshfield Station had about twenty cars parked when I arrived. I quickly booted up and started my ascent looker’s right of the train tracks on a well established skin track.

This was only my third day earning turns this year and I felt winded and out of shape before even reaching the Waumbek  Tank. Snow depth was significant and I measured over 70cm in places using my pole. Coverage was exceptional with essentially edge to edge coverage minus elevated portions of the train tracks. Plenty of untracked snow remained. While it skied great, the consistency and depth of the snow was not good enough to merit a Powder Day designation.

After a short break at the Tank, I ventured on until reaching Jacob’s Ladder where I decided snow conditions did not merit further climbing above the tree line where weather exposure and visibility would be worse. Several other skiers were also there, some continuing on with plans for Ammo but most turned around at that point.

Skiing was not fun in the narrow pipeline right below Jacob’s Ladder but became increasingly more interesting below as things widened out. I opted to take skier’s left of the tracks which were not buried enough to allow easy crossing on skis once the decision had been made.  Untracked lines were plentiful but conditions made for interesting turns and had me wanting for fatter boards.

2009-2010 Season, Cannon Mountain, Earned Turns, November, Powder Day

Over a Foot of Fresh at Cannon!

Zoomer Triple Chair
Zoomer Triple Chair

This past week has been nerve wracking. Where to go when it snows? The storm was complicated and many forecasters discussed the difficulties of pinning it down. Doubt was prevalent about the storm right up until the storm commenced. Prognosticators suggested Northern Vermont would get the jackpot with heavy up slope. But I have seen this pattern before. Watching the radar loop last night, I observed a huge gash on moisture attacking south western Maine before slamming into northern New Hampshire and changing over to snow. I had good vibes about Cannon. And those vibes were accurate.

As we drove north on I-93, I was stunned regarding the lack of snow along the highway. Thonton, Lincoln, Woodstock, entering the Notch, into the Notch. There was nothing on the ground at all. Not even a trace amount of washed away snow. Just as we passed the Flume, Ma Nature threw a switch and suddenly two inches appeared. Gradually increasing all the way to Cannon where we stepped out of the car to find a foot of snow at the base.

A skin track was set up the Banshee Slope and we hooked up with another skin track to ascend to the top of Avalanche and then onto Spookie and Upper Ravine. Snow on the mountain was more than a foot but less than two. Generally, most parts of the mountain had around 16″ with some drifts as deep as three feet. The Upper Mountain faired worse than the Lower Mountain due to high winds. The snow was severely wind buffed with half the trail deeply drifted and half the trail bare rock.

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