Skiing!....In Trees!

The stars are finally aligning for what looks like a pretty decent tail end to this winter season.  We've finally been able to string together some consistent precip with some consistent temps and this weekend marks the first time I've been able to really ski Cannon in probably a little over a year.

Saturday was a bit strange weather wise in the Notch.  Gorgeous at the base. Sun was out, temps were mild.  Climb 1000 vertical feet and you've got dense freezing fog, 20-30mph south wind...you know the usual.  The snow was still pretty good and holding up to the traffic well.  Jim and I got to some early recon seeing what wooded lines were in and what needed a bit more coverage.

Obvious wooded lines were already played out but the coverage was good enough to still ski them without much issue.  Other lines with a bit more junk could still use another shot of snow but a handful were riding just about as good as they usually do.  It was great to finally duck in and have at it.  I felt like my 'glade eyes' came back fast this year and I was linking things fine in the tight stuff before too long.

Mittersill was scraped pretty clean but I found a line or two that was still a bit fluffy.  I bet Sunday was pretty nice over there early but it doesn't last long with that chair running nowadays.  Luckily even the slackcountry has slackcountry up in the Notch and Shaun and I decided to try our luck Sunday finding the goods.

Goods = Found

Looking up at our prize

Find them we did and we found them first.  An easy 4-5in had fallen at elevation overnight (on top of everything else we got during the week) and it was still snowing at a good clip on the skin in and during most of the day.  No one had been in here since the latest round of precip so we were looking at at least a foot of untouched.

The initial skin in is nice and gentle, perfect to get warmed up.  Its followed by some sporty terrain for a bit that required us to boot up a pitch until we could contour around again to our target.  Skinning up the actual line was a bit tricky but we got a track set that was workable.  Its a fun little run; decent pitch, stuff to jib off of a bit.  It would be nicer if it was a bit longer but the top of the line gets pretty choked out as it heads up to the ridge so we actually didn't skin all the way to the top.  There is an obvious stop point for the best part of the line where we transitioned.  From there its probably a couple hundred yards of fun...rinse and repeat.

 Shaun dropping in on lap 3

We got 3 laps in before heading out.  We were starting to feel the up by then and had gotten the best of the snow on the line itself.  The out was surprisingly fun even though it is a bit more low angle.  All in all probably one of the most successful days I've had in the backcountry.  Simple plan, executed without issue in great conditions.  Forecast for the next few looks pretty decent, hopefully the temps stay where they need to up north...

Nemo!

I'm tired.

Luckily this storm wasn't all NWS hype and it did indeed deliver as advertised.  All said and done we probably got just under 2ft at the house.  I was staged and ready, took Friday off and was outside enjoying the actual arrival of winter from Friday morning straight through to Sunday afternoon.

Friday/Saturday at Cannon was interesting.  Storm skiing through and through.  Friday things were just getting going but it was already snowing and blowing real hard in the Notch.  Just about whiteout conditions and pretty damn cold.  It was blowing hard enough to keep the conditions on the variable side.  The snow was having a hard time accumulating on the trails with all the wind.  I had a sweet run in with a pre-teen who either had a seizure or just randomly decided to shoot erratically to his left just as I was coming by him on the dump out from Spooky creating a need for some evasive action.  Lucky for him I'm real good at evasive action so no collision but I did hit a junk bump right after that my weight was no longer properly distributed for and I had a pretty sweet little explosion.  All in a days work.

Got up real early Saturday to dig out to get to Cannon for first chair.  I lucked out and both Meredith and Sanbornton plowed right before I left and the drive was actually really easy considering this was one of the biggest storms of the last few years.  Oh, and snow tires are AWESOME.  I highly recommend Conti ExtremeWinterContacts.  There is no stopping the Fit.  Saturday was one of the deeper days I've had at Cannon over the last 5 years or so but good god did it hurt.  I don't think temps got over 15 up there and the wind was howling all day so wind chills were easily below 0.  We went to the top once and that was one time too many.  Immediately went deep freeze riding the cannonball and we all got frostbite on our noses and cheeks on the way down and had to stop in the Peabody for coffee to get everything warmed back up.  After that we stuck a bit lower and lapped the Front and some of the sheltered lines off the Peabody.  Unfortunately the woods are not in play up there yet.  There was enough snow from this dump but just no base and too many of the lines still had all kinds of garbage showing.  It was a good day but the temps and lack of wooded action made it hard to fully enjoy.

Sunday was the pick of the weekend IMO.  Snow was a bit more played out but the weather was perfect.  Shaun had been stuck in Boston for Saturday but was itching to get out on his new AT setup so we decided to check out Cardigan and Clint tacked on as well.  Lots of other people had the same idea.  Tons of cars in the parking lot.  We ended up seeing quite a few other people I knew.  Apparently I've been recreating in this area long enough to know about 30% of the people who would show up on a day like this.

AMC Lodge

We stuck to the plan of ascending Holt/Clark trails to PJ Ledge and then we decided to go a bit higher to see how the summit looked.

 Shaun sweating to the oldies

view from PJ Ledge

Shaun got a pretty sweet trial by fire as there are a few tricky spots and some technical skinning as you get higher.  He got all the good stuff; cross fall line, steep switchbacks, thin cover on slab, the WORKS.  The summit was pretty wind scoured but it looked at least marginally workable so we continued up a bit to a little sheltered spot about 1/4 of the way past tree line to transition and get some calories.

Summit conditions

You definitely had to 'think light' on the way down and we probably all did at least a little bit of damage to edges and bases but nothing catastrophic and I would say worth it overall for the views, etc.  I made it down to slab on one turn and slid out and basically elbow dropped granite which was awesome.  Once we got down to the Alexandria ski trail the fun really began.  It really is a classic CCC ski trail. Really fun terrain, good pitch and the snow had held up great from Saturday's traffic.

After Alexandria we made the short skin over to Kimball's to take that back down to the base.  It was strangely very wind affected even though it is lower down and very sheltered and wooded.  Its a fun lower angle run.  About half way down I tried to plow through a wind drift that turned out to be a bit deeper and more dense than I thought it would be leading to full on somersault antics.  Great way to end the day.

I really hope we can end this winter with a bit more legit winter weather and lots more recreation opportunities like this weekend.

Race Plans for 2013

I've gotten into the habit of doing a 'road map' post for the coming race season and its about that time of year.  Our winter has unfortunately stalled again this season and I find myself thinking a bit more about what I want to try and get done on the bike this year.  Training is getting a bit more structured / painful so here we gooooo.

I had a great season last year and I am very keen to continue to build on that trend.  I am training more efficiently with the time I have now but so far I am probably a bit behind where I was at this time last year.  No matter how motivated you are its just so much easier to train hard when you have someone organizing everything and telling you 10 more or 30 more seconds when you think you are cooked.

The last few years I have tried to add something new to me in some way each season to mix things up and push the boundaries a bit.  The EFTA series is great and there are a few that I will probably never miss, unless there is a tornado or flooding, but the amount of traveling required to get the entire series with the increased costs of travel nowadays makes some of the races hard to justify.  Lately I've been feeling that if I'm going to be traveling in the 2+hrs range then the race should probably be over 30mi.  That eliminates I believe 3 of the NECS races this year but luckily for me most are about 1.5hrs or less away (benefit of living in about the center of New England)

For 2013 I have decided I want to try and fill the gap those 3 races are leaving with some longer endurance stuff.  I tried this several years ago with lackluster results but that was several years ago and I am a much stronger rider now than I was then.  I think some of my best results from 2012 were in the NH100 and the Bradbury12 and I probably could have done even better in the 100 if I hadn't lost a cleat 3/4 of the way home.  I am beginning to feel like I am solidly in the 'law of diminishing returns' zone and nearing the ceiling of my VO2max genetic capacity when it comes to really sharp high end fitness.  I spend about as much time training as I am prepared to, I've been at this 'full time' for 6-7yrs now and I'm not sure how much faster I can get in a XC format race.  Its not that I think I can't get any faster in XC but I feel like I have more room to improve at the more slow burn / prolonged suffering events.

Over the last 4 years I have gone from 'I don't know if I can even do this' to being comfortable enough to really push and race these events and I feel like my results in these events are getting closer to folks who typically dust me at XC distances.  So now I want to see how far down this rabbit hole I can go.  Based on what I'm seeing now I don't think its outlandish to say I could be up with the geared expert riders in the 100K or 12hrs in a year or two or maybe completing a hundred miler if I do this right.  We'll see.

Tentative 2013 Schedule:

5/11 - Wildcat 100(km)
5/19 - Willowdale (? EFTA doesn't have this date in stone yet)
6/9 - American Cancer Society Charity Century (maybe)
6/16 - The Pinnacle
6/21 - NEMBAfest
7/7 - Moody Park
7/21 - Horror at Harding Hill
7/28 - Millstone 12
8/4 - VT Ski Museum Epic
8/18 - NH100(km)
9/? - Bradbury12
10/? - Gordon Barker No Brakes

No idea if I can make all that happen or even afford all that.  I've got 4 longer format races spread across the summer.  Need to decide how I will race the 12hr events (solo / team) but I think this is a pretty good mix.  Still maybe get in 5 EFTA races as well as some other events here and there.  Now that this is written down it seems a bit ambitious...I still need to build singletrack in Central NH, ride for fun, enjoy a cocktail or two, be a homeowner and all that other life stuff.  We'll see if I can get it all done.

Brickwarmer Red

New England is nestled in its obligatory January thaw currently.  I had been thinking about hitting Cannon anyway but remembered that I had a few things around the house that needed doing, the most important of which was getting a batch of beer going with the kit Gina got me for Christmas.

I'm fairly certain she went with the "Brickwarmer" as a subtle hint that I keep the thermostat set too low. #sweaters.

I'm pretty excited about this one.  Seems like a stronger amber ale, with just enough hops to balance it out and some citrusy action in there for good measure.  It uses some dark grains as well which should make things interesting, English Dark Crystal, Pale Chocolate as well as some Baird's Carastan.

dark grains steeping

Things got a tad interesting with the hops.  They forgot to pack the 1oz of Styrian Goldings when they shipped everything but as luck would have it I had accidentally got an extra ounce of Summit for a previous batch and was able to substitute.  And all is now right and balanced in the world.  I don't think it will effect the end product too much, the alphas are similar and both are on the earthy / citrus side of things.

There was also an addition of sweet orange peel at the end of the boil that should add a little extra citrus aroma and kick in the aftertaste.

mmmm dog puke

This will probably be ready around late Feb early March, should be fairly ideal for some apres ski enjoyment.

**UPDATE**

Thar she blows!  I tweeted last night that I was getting some really aggressive early fermentation and I was fairly certain I was going to need a blow off tube based on where things were heading early.  Its a good thing I checked it last night because not only did it need a blow off setup but the first one I set up wasn't big enough and I had to size up this morning.

Originally I just had the tube venting into a cup full of sanitizer, but that cup runneth over a bit by this morning.  Good thing I had an empty murder juice container handy!  I might actually save it now just for this purpose.  I need this type of setup few and far between but this is fairly ideal.

Its interesting, Gina had mentioned that most reviewers of this kit were mentioning and recommending blow off setups from the get go, with several reporting their buckets blowing their tops.  Must be something about the mix of fermentables and the yeast strain that really get things fired up.  I believe I reacted in time and I don't think there should be any negative effect from this.  I was able to keep things sealed and sanitized throughout.

Wind Farms, Stars & Bars, and oh so Sweet William

I wanted to get the most of my Sunday morning and wanted to be wrapped up around noon so I decided to save some gas and lift fees and earn a few turns instead.  I got a surgical strikes worth of gear primed Saturday night so I could just jet early Sunday.

very much digging the Flylow Oven Mitts so far

I hit the road early and then hit it again about 10 mins later after having to loop back because I forgot my boots.  TRAINED.  Not many people out and about early on a Sunday morning.  In fact it was just me and this guy driving a yellow truck flying a huge confederate flag, with a large Mike's Hard Lemonade decal on the tailgate.  It was amazing.

I'm sure he'd love to chat about how its all about State's Rights over an ice cold Mike's HARD

I wasn't really sure what to expect upon arrival.  This area isn't very far lost quite yet but as I drove up the access road things got pretty funny pretty fast.  Like Jersey barriers blocking the road funny.  Not really sure what the point is, you can just drive up the condo driveway and still get right to the top of that road and the base of the resort anyway.  I wasn't really sure what the safest place to park was going to be, luckily there were two cars who had beaten me there so I just lined up next to them.

I didn't waste much time in the parking lot.  I'm not really sure what the mentality is with this area...the bank has some pretty large signage on the old lodge that basically amounts to 'no recreation on the premises' but it was pretty apparent later in the day that it gets used in some way shape or form by many of the condo owners and other folks skinning up quite a bit and nobody seemed to be trying to be sneaky.  It kind of seems like nothing is really being enforced its more of a if something happens you were trespassing sooooo thanks for stopping by type policy.

There was a decent enough little skin track set and a dusting of new snow at the base (which turned into about 2in by the summit).  Early on I was feeling it but I just needed to get warmed up.  I got into a groove and was moving fairly well.  I layered ok, I was overheating just a bit but I was able to open up some vents and take my mitts off and found a good middle ground.  The skin up took about 45-50mins but I could probably do it faster.  I was taking a few pics and double checking the map to make sure I wasn't going a stupid way and making it longer than it needed to be.

 the little bit of fresh got deeper with more vert

skin track toward the top

The new Groton wind farm is on the ridge just off the back of the mountain and it was really cool to see the turbines so up close.  Several of them were turning and it was cool to hear what they sound like from that distance.  I would say it sounds like hearing a jet liner at cruising altitude from the ground.  Just a somewhat subtle whirring engine sound...kind of soothing in a way.  None of my pics really did it justice, they were much closer than the pics really show.

I made a pretty good transition at the top and kept my temps pretty well regulated.  I'm getting more and more efficient with changing over and its a bit easier when you don't have all that much gear.  It was weird to see how fast things deteriorate and how quickly nature takes things back once they aren't being maintained.  The patrol hut was pretty busted and the double looked pretty ragged.  It was cool seeing the old signs and remembering back to when we road here for a few years.

I had planned on 1.5 laps so first run I went over and got on the pitch just above the old triple.  There are some glades over there but I was a bit worried about coverage and being solo I didn't want to venture in there and get grabbed by something but they looked fairly decent looking in from the edge.  Another 8-12 and I'll be back for sure.  I decided to just hop on one of the trails over by the glades, no one had gone over that way and I was getting some fresh turns.  The puckerbrush has fairly well taken over many of the runs there now.  This trail wasn't too bad.  Just keep your speed and your hands up.  A bit more snow and many of the runs will be much more manageable.  It was a great run despite getting whipped a bit and I stopped at about even elevation with the top of the triple and transitioned to head back up to the summit.

At this point I had passed a group of 4 right before my first summit and I passed another group of 2 as they were about to summit on my first descent.  For my second full run to the bottom I decided I would head over to the trail we probably spent most of our time on when we rode here regularly.  I don't know where everyone else was riding but the traverse was untouched.  Apparently having a few years here and knowing the lay of the land is paying off.  The traverse was pretty annoying in untouched deep snow but I got over there without too much issue.

The top of this run were probably my best turns this year.  Almost knee deep, barely any puckerbrush and a nice pitch for about 200yds.  Unfortunately the last and steepest pitch of the first part of the run was really over grown with some serious over your head face whippers.  That part was a bit touch and go but I plowed through and things opened up once again for the last few pitches down.  There were a few other spots where it was a bit overgrown but if you stayed to the edges you could avoid most of it and the snow was deep and the pitch was good.  It was a great run all in all and with a bit of trimming it could be a classic 'must-get' when its deep.

I AM EXCITE for more days like this in the coming weeks...