Late Season Scores

The 2015-2016 will go down as the winter that wasn't. A serious lack of snow combined with increased family and school commitments had me left with only the occasional morning resort laps. While those certainly made the weekdays more tolerable, I was ready to get out into the backcountry. Fortunately, my schedule lined up with Huff's enough to get in a weekday trip up to Mt. Washington. Despite it being well into spring, winter had made a comeback in the Whites, and the weather forecast held a high of 30F and wind. Combined with a bit of recent snow and wind loading, we weren't exactly sure what we'd find, but decided to get out and take a look for ourselves.

Hillman's from a distance

We left home after sunrise, and were hiking in our trail runners by a leisurely 9AM. After ascending into the bowl, we were able to get a better sense of the snow conditions. There was some minor wind deposit in and around the established bumps on the trail, but navigating around it seemed reasonable. 

Huff

Since neither of us had sharps, we resolved to kicking steps into the frozen crust. We hiked up to about the choke point of the gully, and made a decision to quit while we were ahead. The ski down was more survival than anything, crust and stiff wind buff. Not exactly ideal skiing, but at least we were able to get out there and enjoy the remaining snow.

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A couple weeks later, I had another window open up in my schedule. This time around, the weather was forecast for a more spring-like 60s in the valley and 30s up high, much nicer than our previous wintery experience. Since my usual partners weren't available, I had planned to go up solo, but shot a last minute email to JShefftz to see if he'd be roaming around up there as he so often is. Sure enough, he had plans to lap the NE snowfield before heading to Tuck's to catch LG on the way down. We decided to try for a rendezvous on the mountain.

My day trip schedule had me rising at 0300 to get an early departure from the Pinkham lot. Since I had to be back for daycare pickup in the evening, I knew I had to move fast. Luckily, I was on trail by 0730 and chugged my way up the TRT and Lion Head. Aside from a few choice photo ops, I kept moving in order to get as much in and still make my strict deadline.

View from LH (NE snowfields on the far right)

LG

Hillman's

Just before the transition to skins, I caught up to JS (guess I was moving fast), and we skinned over to the NE snowfields together. The snowfields were in excellent condition, with almost the entire potential run still in. It had snowed a few days earlier, and with the solar gain and reasonable temps, we caught perfect corn laps. After a few laps, I let Jonathan spin one more as I set to repairing an unfortunate equipment malfunction - my CAMP pack had torn at the bottom and required some McGuiver-like tape mending.

JS

"One good run deserves another!"

We traversed on skis back over to the top of the bowl, then hike around to LG. Somehow we beat the numerous hikers coming from the bottom and scored first tracks down the gully. Jonathan of course knew a crew climbing the bowl, and we stopped to briefly chat before enjoying the soft bumps to the bottom. Reminded of my need to get home for daycare, I booked it downhill, leaving my partner for the day to enjoy a few more laps of corny goodness. Somehow I beat my cut-off time and got on the road with almost 30 minutes to spare. Unfortunately even the best laid plans can be completely derailed by I-95 traffic. Luckily, daycare was very understanding!

Ouch.

Ollie decided to help me with
my post-tour stretching.

Springtime on Monadnock

This past Saturday called for clear skies and warm weather. Combined with a free Saturday for the two of us, my father and I decided to shoot up to Mt. Monadnock for a casual hike up the hill. We took a different route than I have explored previously, starting up the southerly Parker trail, then heading along the Cliff walk toward the summit. This is a far cry from the busy frontside trails, that were no doubt littered with people that day. On whole, I think we encountered maybe a half dozen folks on the trail. One even commented that he frequently sees no one hiking up Parker, despite it commenting "it's hard to be alone in New Hampshire."  Mostly, it was just us and the reptiles. 

The trail starts out as a nice wind through the woods, with some more open pine groves as the elevation gains. Cliff walk slowly opens up toward the tree line, and the views are as expected, especially on a perfect day like we had. We stopped at Bald Rock for a snack and to enjoy the sunshine before making the final ascent toward Monadnock. As expected given it's proximity to civilization, and the relatively easy ascent, the summit was crowded with folks. Everyone from boy scouts and AMC groups, to college students, to several people I have no doubt were experiencing their first summits were out at the top. We found a lee area to hide from the cool prevailing wind and take a quick break and once again enjoy the great views on this almost cloudless day.

Monadnock from Bald Rock

Did I mention the views were good?

We opted for a quick-er descent down the White Cross trail, which, unlike our time on Parker, was most certainly not isolated. The front side trails are quite rocky, much to the chagrin of my dad, but nevertheless enjoyable. If you're looking for a quick ascent/descent, these are probably your bet. Be sure to stop and look at the quartz veins that somehow formed through the granite. I'm always amazed at the geological phenomena that developed over time in this rock. It's as if someone injected crystal into the granite all over Monadnock - fascinating stuff. At the bottom of the hill, we took a few minutes and poked around the base lodge looking at some Monadnock history and wildlife information, which was quite educational.

A perfect day with no agenda, no timeline, no goals - just a casual stroll up a hill. To top it off, Heather had prepped some delicious pork chops and yams for us to throw on the grill when we returned. Hard to complain with a full belly and tired legs. We'll count this as an early dad's day present for the father and father-to-be. 

Springtime Westside action

With things firming up nicely on all three important fronts: schedule, snowpack, and weather, Cotton and I headed up Mt. W a few weeks back to grab turns in some previously unexplored terrain (for us, anyway). Having gotten some recent beta from a few other folks who have the luxury of mid-week trips, we decided to skin up the Ammo Ravine trail. With the forecast calling for 55F temps at the summit, we hoped to be speedy enough to drop in to Oakes before the sun baked it to complete mush, then proceed from there as the day allowed.

Though the Cog Railway parking lot was crowded, we essentially had the ART to ourselves, save a pair of groups on microspikes looking to hike up to the summit. We started our ascent under bluebird skies and the shade of pines, accompanied by the sweet music of the Ammonoosuc River. I've spent little time exploring this side of the mountain, and can say I was pleasantly surprised with the amazing views one gets for the first third of the hike. I can't count how many times I'd stop to take a picture, only to do the same five steps later when an even better opportunity came about. We finally decided this was the spot and grabbed a few posed ones for the wall at home:

Look at those shiny new boots!

Around halfway up the Ammo trail we transitioned to booting (though perhaps skinning would have been more efficient, given the postholing that went on) until we hit treeline. From there it was a smooth skin to the Lake of the Clouds Hut, where we ran into a few groups coming up from various other ascents. From the hut we traversed along the Dry River Trail to the edge of Oakes. We found a decent path somewhere in the central Gulf and skied in. The snow was heavy, but not a complete mess, and fortunately without much sluffage. (In hindsight, I think it's a better idea to summit Monroe, then ski from the top into Oakes.)

On the way up.

Cotton getting after it in central Oakes

From the bottom of Oakes, we skinned back out and found a quite place to eat lunch among the rocks. Cotton had leftovers from a family dinner the night before, so we feasted on gourmet pasta and lamb, washing it down with a pleasant local microbrew.

Skinning out

On a lunch break

After refueling, we decided to head to the summit and ski down from there. We followed the Tuckerman Ravine Crossover trail to the southeastern snowfields, then zig-zagged our way up to the top. After an obligatory summit pic, we skied back down the southwestern summit cone then across to Lake of the Clouds, then traversing to Monroe Brook. We were blessed with perfect spring snow and some mini-moguls on the way down MB. As an added bonus, we kept skis on all the way to the trailhead with only a few lurking hazards to nick our bases.

I've been told summit pics are required by state law.

Coming down the southwestern side

It was nice to get out and explore a new area, enjoy the day, and get a few turns. I'm excited to use this as a springboard to get into even more terrain in the coming seasons. Unfortunately, this might be the last of 2015 for me. Hoping next season brings as much snow as this one did!

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...

Why I'm training for a race this year (and how I'm going about it)...

Since first donning AT gear a few seasons ago, I've been immersing myself in the numerous (and they are numerous) internet outlets of others who spend their days journeying in the backcountry. Needless to say, this community is enthusiastic and friendly, even if folks aren't always eager to reveal their secret pow stash or favorite hidden line. More than that, I've been repeatedly impressed by the accomplishments of many who seem to push the boundaries of what can be accomplished on skis, all the while maintaining a day job and family. It seems every week I come across someone going longer, faster, or father in a single push than I would have thought humanly possible when I first entered this game. I find myself inspired by these folks as I read the accounts of their adventures.

What seems to bring all of these people together is the ability to go uphill fast and for long periods of time without stopping. Which brings us to skimo racing. Without fail, each of these people spends a significant amount of time training and racing in their local randonee circuit. It's no surprise, really, the people who can take first in a skimo race are the same who are putting in long hours in the backcountry. Though I was (and maybe still am to some extent) reluctant to bring competition into the light-hearted world of backcountry skiing, it has become more and more apparent that racing might be the means to my desired end. In other words, to train for extended time in the bc, I'm going to train for a race.

To cut my teeth in this spandex-clad world, I have my sights set on a classic New England ski run turned skimo extravaganza - the Mt. Greylock race. Adding incentive, the Mt. Greylock randonee race will take the place of the annual Thunderbolt Ski Run, a historic and lively event that is run by the Ski Runners of the same trail. Greylock is the only entirely backcountry race in the New England Skimo Race Circuit (and maybe in the Northeast), making it a tour and competition in one. Additionally, I chose this race because it doesn't require and boot packing, something I'm not familiar nor entirely equipped for in racing format, and the distance and vertical seemed like a worthwhile goal. Finally, I know this race will bring out a good lot of bc'ers, with whom I hope to meet and someday be able to keep up with.

Coming from background of field sport, most of my training and conditioning has revolved around getting strong and quick, but never on going long. At one point, more than 100m was an endurance race for me. Needless to say, it's been a learning experience to dive into the go strong, go long world. While skimo specific information is somewhat lacking (though Skintrack.com recently released a pdf specific to this subject), there's no shortage of data for trail running and cycling, most of which seems to translate. From all of this I came up with a few overarching notions:

• One, most of your training should be in your competition modality. Rob Shaul of Mountain Athlete talks about this extensively - while having an aerobic base helps, fitness is very specific. Running on the street doesn't necessarily translate to better uphill skiing times. Most of my time would need to be on skis. In the strength and conditioning world, people often talk about "Time Under Tension", well, in this case, we're looking for "Time On Terrain"

• Two, and perhaps most important, most of the training should be "easy". Many sources indicate that the ideal training zone for almost all of your endurance work should be in the Zone 1 "comfortable" range. That means lots of skiing at conversational pace whenever possible, with a modicum of harder stuff thrown in there.

Before ski season started, I put in a solid 5 weeks of sport specific strength. This essentially boiled down to hammering my quads 2 days a week with heavy squats, lunges, and plyometrics. I dialed back on most of the upper body lifting I was doing and really focused on getting my legs and lungs ready for ski season. Once the snow hit, my plan was to loosely follow this training plan:


- Two days a week (typically T and Th) - skin at my local resort, 1-3 hours.
- One day a week (Wed or Sun) - intervals, either on skis or running if necessary
- One day a week - strength work, usually on the interval day, but can moved around.
- Weekends - go out and have fun, get some long tours or hikes in, enjoy the outdoors with friends.


We'll see how it goes in the end. There's a chance I'll try for a another race or two, depending on where my training takes me. Most importantly, I hope it will get me in shape for when conditions really ripen this spring.

Think snow!

Morning Commute