Collines Bleues

Boston has the best snow in the country right now. Yes, you read that right. Stoked by the seemingly endless snowfall, Les Freres Huff et moi did some sliding in what is essentiall our backyard. Some summer scouting in a locale we frequent for hiking led us into the woods on an early morn. Despite the serious lack of vertical footage, we were able to snag some pow turns and get a nice tour in, at least, until the statie ticketed our car for "impeding snow removal". C'est la vie?

Brian

Matt

Wa-Tastic

Excited by the fresh white stuff that fell locally (but curiously, not up North), we decided to make a quick hit of a local lost ski area we'd been eyeing in the offseason. A reasonable sub-alpine start had the our typical crew (and some recently made four legged friends) climbing shortly after morning's light.

Local = casual start.

Frenemies.

Though it appeared someone beat us to the punch the day before, it still looked as if there were goods to be had. Plus, said someone was nice enough to break trail.

Beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Decent coverage and open glades brought about a few whoops from the crew, as we ran a few laps. Despite the lack of coverage and somewhat bony conditions, we came away unscathed, in need of nothing more than a drop or two of ptex to mend the wounds. Well worth it in my book!

Cotton challenged Ginger to a race.

Getting a few laps of the surprisingly light and fluffy pow has our stoke replenished, just in time for what might be the biggest snow in recent history.

Stay tuned...

Thunderbolt

Given the recent fortune of fresh snow falling throughout Massachusetts, the usual suspects made a game-time decision to head out to the Berkshires and sample what Mt. Greylock had to offer. The recent storm left the Boston area shut down, with some suburbs getting over 2 feet of light-weight fluff. Native Vermonter Huffman commented on the ridiculousness of the city's shutdown, but I didn't hear him complaining about his "forced" day off.

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.

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.

Nice panorama by Cotton

Thunderbolt will certainly require another (or multiple) visits this season, especially if we are graced with a bit more snow.  Thankfully, Pearl has extended an invitation for us to return, so hopefully we can realize this goal.  Thanks again to our hosts for a great time and some needed coffee for the ride home.  Unfortunately, as I write this we're staring in the face of another January thaw.  Only in New England can we have subzero temps followed by a 50 degree weekend.  Keep your fingers crossed it doesn't last too long.