Unfortunately, the western part of the state didn't luck out quite as much, recording approximately 8 inches of good stuff. With the recent fluctuations in weather, we weren't exactly sure what to expect as far as snow cover was concerned. Nevertheless, with Cotton's newlywed bride Pearl offering us a place to stay at her family's house, it was hard to pass up on the adventure. Better yet, we were graced with a fantastic dinner and some fine local ales to fuel our legs the night before our first official tour of the season. Proximity to mountains and delicious food - can one ask for better hospitality?
The pre-dawn departure was met with brutal cold. I think we recorded a -17F while driving up to N. Adams from Canaan. Otherwise the weather couldn't have been better (I say this only partly tongue-in-cheek), the sky was clear and the sun was shining. I sniped a quick shot through the car window of the sunrise, which never ceases to impress me.
While I've backpacked around Greylock a few times, I've never visited it in the winter, and was excited to revisit one of my first explorations into outdoor adventure. Additionally, the history of the trail and it's ski culture speaks for itself. The Thunderbolt Ski Runners maintain the trail and host an annual race, which involves both a hike to the summit and a timed race downhill. From what I read, the course record of just over 2 minutes was set in the first half of the 20th century, and stands to this day.
By the time we parked and geared up, the weather had warmed up to a balmy -6F, and we were off. Our early morning departure may have been cold, but the lack of skintrack in front of us was a worthy reward. Some remnants of a visitor from the true powder day one day earlier were enough to guide us up the trail, along with some questionable map reading by yours truly.
The trip up is rather pleasant. The start of a trail is just that, a trail about one person wide, and follows along the bank of Hoxie Brook before ascending the eastern face of the mountain. Once the vertical starts to kick in, the trail opens up to a comfortable 20ish feet of skiable width. Thinking back to my first trip out to Cannon last year, my legs and lungs were in much better shape for this season. Turns out experience matters. Nevertheless, we didn't meet the 2 hour ascension time that "someone in shape" can accomplish this tour.
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| Brrrrr |
We enjoyed a beer and the classic mountain meal of hard meats and cheeses in the warming hut up top. This is a nice feature, espcially on a cold and windy day. There are even two wood stoves with which to make a cozy atmosphere, if one was so inclined. A DCR worker stopped in to drop off some trash bags and we chatted with him for a bit, then deskinned and headed down the way we came.
As far as the down goes, Thunderbolt has a lot to offer. Wide enough to string together turns, with many changing pitches and bends. It's a lot of fun, even if you're competing with the limited snowpack and numerous hidden obstacles as we were. We were graced with some powder turns met with the occasional scrape of a rock underfoot. At least two of us lost a ski to a root at some point on the way down, but it's a small trade-off for the fresh snow. During the descent, we passed at least 15 (or 57, if Huff is counting) people who were on their way uphill. Guess we picked the right time to hit the trailhead.
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| Nice panorama by Cotton |
