Winter Prep: Bring on the snow!

The ski box is on the car, the temps are finally getting low–all we need is a few good storms are we can officially say ski season has arrived. I got some turns in last Sunday with Sweeney and Rob up at Sunday River, but there’s still not much snow even that far north. The day held a few good bump runs for us with all the snow they were blowing. I felt pretty coordinated on the slopes for a first day, but my form was a bit sloppy after the 7 month break.

Recently I’ve been preparing to do some AT skiing this year in the backcountry. Last night Rob helped me get the new addition to my quiver set-up. I nabbed a pair of Atomic Heli-Daddys on the cheap, used but still in good shape. They have a bit of camber, but seem like they’ll be good in the woods, even though at 180 they’re a bit longer than what I usually ski.

We mounted Fritschi Freeride Plus’s on them, which look pretty solid. This is my first AT binding so I was trying to balance utility with cost. I was assured they were pretty bombproof, and lighter than Dukes. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to put them through the paces in some serious powder this season. I have been told that I’ll have Dynafit envy soon enough though. Some lighter boots would probably be a smart idea too….one thing at a time.

I plan to get some mileage on this setup over the holidays. Rob mentioned putting an early rise on the skis for better float and to decrease the camber. I want to test them out first but I’ll put up summary of the project if that seems like the way to go.

With the new gear comes the need to do some reading on backcountry safety and I see an avalanche course in my future. But first I still need all the associated accessories. I just need skins, a beacon, a probe, a shovel, ….a winter pack… There’s always a seemingly endless gear list for outdoor hobbies, however in this case the first few things really are essential, and I won’t be able really make use of my new skis without them.

Now, pray for snow!

Winter Readiness: Winterized Zipper Pulls!

On the surface, this post is almost silly. But I assure you, the only thing silly about it, is that the industry hasn’t gotten their act together and done this themselves. Alas, the industry is frequently swayed toward form before function. Anyhow…

…If you’re wearing your ski jacket, then you’re probably wearing your gloves and you probably have all you can do to access all of the zippered compartments of your jacket or day pack with your maimed manual dexterity. They give you about an inch of string or fabric to clutch onto with a finger with is like two and half inches thick. OK, I exaggerate slightly, but you get the idea.

There is a simple solution to this. Grab you’re favorite ski jacket, buy a few feet of p-cord from your local mountain shop and tie longer zipper pulls onto each of the zippers. If you plan to be outside for more than a few hours at a time, you’ll thank yourself that you have arranged your gear in such a way that you never have to remove your gloves.

Cut about 8 inches of p-cord off and loop it through the metal zipper tab.

Tie the biggest burliest knot you can so that you’re gloves or mittens have
more surface to grasp onto.

I’ve used an 8-knot because it’s easily tied, neat, and bulky. They tend not
to pull out too often either.

As a backup measure and to add extra surface area, I tied a second 8-knot
with the slack ends of the p-cord.

After you’ve cut the p-cord, you can fuse the frayed ends with a lighter to
prevent them from raveling.

Check ’em out in action. This can be done with back packs, and tents too.

These like the burliest gloves ever. And the pit zips are hard enough to get
to with no gloves at all…

And that’s it. Go play outdoors all day without getting cold fingers!

Gear List (click links for more product info):

Winter Readiness: Shakedown Cruise

With winter fast approaching, Ziehl and I figured it was about time for a pre-ski season shakedown cruise on Franconia Ridge. In light of our lofty backcountry skiing ambitions, we felt compelled to benchmark our conditioning on familiar grounds. I also was interested to see how my new shell pants and jacket would perform in alpine conditions. And, with little else to do besides take in the view one step at a time, mountains make the ideal place to get fired up for the upcoming ski season by endlessly speculating as to the snow conditions of various aspects, potential challenges on the approach, estimated ratio of fun to effort…you get the idea. Any way, here’s the map:

View Franconia Ridge November 2011 in a larger map

The forecast was for a high in the mid 40s, mostly sunny, and light breeze. When we rolled into the parking lot at 9:30, it was mostly cloudy and very windy. We threw on our shell jackets, packed our bags and hit the trail eagerly.

A few weeks ago we switched our work out from mostly simple lifts like flat bench and squats to a more dynamic workout with things like split leg squats and kettle swings and also to work more sprints and stairs. Our thought was that we’d get as strong as possible and then right before ski season we’d cut over to a high intensity workout to build endurance hopefully without loosing much strength.

We informally agreed to ‘just go as fast as possible’ on the way up Little Haystack to gauge whether or not our ski season conditioning scheme was coming together and if not, how much work might be remaining between now and Christmas. After a while of hiking, we stopped to take off our shell jackets and take a drink. After maybe another hour, we stopped for a breather-snack combo. We were slowed down by about a half mile of hard-pack and water ice. Shortly thereafter we broke treeline and hit the summit of Haystack at 11:30 AM. We speculated that the only adjustment to our conditioning scheme should be to go forward full steam ahead – it seemed to be paying off. We threw our jackets back on, had a Cliff bar and went after Lincoln.

Ziehl near the Haystack treeline.

Me at the summit of Little Haystack.
Photo Credit: Ziehl

We spent most of the walk from Haystack to Lincoln discussing our plans to try and ski every single chute slide and gully on either side of the ridge. Between the newly wintery conditions found above treeline, the outstanding offering of ski films this year, and encouraged by our sturdy pace, we could hardly contain our excitement for the ski season.

Ziehl, and the road ahead.

The ridge, and it’s numerous exciting-looking descents.
Photo Credit: Ziehl

Mt. Washington and the Presidentials. The Bonds are in the foreground.

Before we knew it, we’d cruised over Lincoln and made it to Lafayette. According to the tracklogs we summit-ted in just under 3 hours (including packing at the car). Mission success! We quickly scoped out the old hotel foundation at the summit (a potential ski-touring camp) and made our way down from the ridge toward Greenleaf.

On our way down from Lafayette.

Facing south on our way to Greenleaf.

As we made the dogleg toward the south back to the parking area we got plenty of great views of the Southern Whites, and the Ridge we’d just come down from. I think that one of the hallmarks of this hike are the opportunities to look back at the terrain you’ve just traveled from a new perspective.

Southern White Mountains.

Rays of light from Greenleaf.

Ziehl with Franconia Ridge in the background.

Nearly sunset.

Left gully: I have no clue; Right gully: Lincolns’ throat. If anyone knows
the name of the lines in the left gully, please comment!

More sunset.

Detail of Lincoln’s Throat. Gnarly.

In just under 5 hours we arrived back at the car. We changed and went straight for the Tilton Diner for a post hike feast.

Gear List (click links for more product info):

Winter has arrived

Yesterday Sweeney and I headed up to the Whites planning to get another look from atop Franconia Ridge. We’d both done the Lincoln – Lafayette loop a few times, via falling waters trial, but it’s a solid day hike with great views and a healthy portion of elevation change-perfect for conditioning for the back country. We got on the trail around 9:40, and made good time up to Little Haystack. Along the way we crossed some pretty serious ice, making me wish I owned some micro-spikes.

Edit: Sweeney put up his account and some extra photos with a gps route.

Sweeney on top of Little Haystack

The ridge was fairly clear, though there was heavy cloud cover above and a bit of a haze surrounding the nearby peaks. More than once the wind tried to blow us off the mountain, and it was constantly ripping at our clothes and tossing bits of snow around. We inspected some of the slides on either side as we passed them. Somewhere near Lincoln it hit me: I’m ready for ski season. Winter is coming, and it’s almost here. We couldn’t help but get psyched up for the coming season.

Looking at Lincoln from Little Haystack

The descent from Lafayette was a blast, but a little slow going because of the wind and slick footing, until we got down to Greenleaf Hut, now closed for the season. Even so we made record time on the hike, and headed out to get a well deserved dinner.

Ski Season prep

I’ve been watching a ton of ski films lately, getting ready for the season. I’ve still got to get my new setup squared away though. I picked up some used Heli Daddys and I plan to put some Fritsche bindings on them to do some touring this season. It should be sweet.

We’ll see what this season has in store for us. This year hopefully I’ll be doing less racing, but more skiing.

I’ll throw up a link to more photos from the hike when Sweeney posts them on his site.