Tag Archives: Vermont

Marking One Off The List

My sister and I had been wanting to hike Mt. Mansfield ever since she started going to school in Burlington. Last year we considered it but hiked Camel’s Hump instead. Last winter I thought about laying down some turns off the mountain, but we never caught the snow right, or went to Mt. Washington instead.

Finally, we can mark this off the list, but the mountain wasn’t going to give in so easily. The day started off right–calm weather near Stowe and hearty breakfast sandwiches. However, that was the last time we were dry during the hike. The ascent brought rain, then wind. Above treeline the gusts must have been upwards of 50-60 mph.

However, we weren’t going to let a bit of rain keep us from having fun. We hiking along the ridge after ascending via the Long Trail, from the Chin to the road near the Nose

Lots of fog and pelting rain were waiting for us above treeline.

Yes. Hiking the ridge was more interesting than re-routing on the bad weather routes.

We did eventually leave the ridge.

We left the ride on the Amherst trail to the toll road, and then descended on the Hazelton trail which ran through part of Stowe resort.

Looking through the fog at Stowe.

Foliage galore!

Lots of stream crossings.

No snow here...yet.

We missed the first real snow on Mansfield by two days! The photos on the FIS website show a little different look at the Stowe gondalas just a few days later.

Done! Time to walk out.

Rt. 108 showing its colors.

Back at the trail head the weather was much calmer, though still rainy. After bad weather that greeted us on top, we appreciated the calmer rainfall at the base.

Trip data:

[map style=”width: 400px; height:300px; margin:20px 20px 20px 20px; border: 1px solid black;” z=”14″ gpx=”http://www.ignorethecautionsign.com/wp-content/uploads/mansfield.gpx”]

Camel’s Hump

The weekend following the Bigelows I was planning to visit my sister up in Burlington. Originally I’d wanted to do a brief overnight, but due to the weather and a slight lack of time, we turned it into a nice day hike.

Camel’s Hump is Vermont’s third highest peak, but it seems there might be a bit of debate over that. I didn’t get a good look at the distinct shape until I was heading back to Boston, when it was clearer, but it stands clearly above the surrounding mountains. Unfortunately I failed to get a good photo of it before it was out of sight.

The previous evening it rained pretty heavily, but luckily we only caught wind and fog. We started on the western side, on the Burrows trail, with a link up to the Long trail. I’d read that the eastern Camel’s hump road was still closed after damage by hurricane Irene. The western side ascends a little more steeply, but it made for a great hike, and despite the fog we caught a few good views. The peak had a stiff wind, but as we descended, the sun came out and it turned into a beautiful fall day.

One of the few breaks in the clouds.

Not much to look at behind me.

My sister next to the survey marker on the peak.

In the end the hike was the perfect length. We got to stretch our legs and still have time to head in to Burlington for an afternoon lunch.

Bolton Valley Sidecountry and treeskiing

Rob and Christine hunting
for some sidecountry
powder skiing

Over a month overdue, here’s my report from the Bolton Valley sidecountry. We’d heard a number of things about this place, aside from the fact that it’s flat and full of kids and old people. Those things are true, but what many do not know is that not many people go there looking for tree skiing or sidecountry, so when it snows (which is pretty much all it did this winter) Bolton holds onto it for a long time. We headed up there on January 29th, did some digging around and found a few cool places to ski.

There are three real areas of interest at Bolton Valley. The main area of interest is the region to skiers right of the actual ski area. The x-country network comes close enough to the alpine area that you can follow it out of bounds and along the ridge. Once on the ridge, the idea is simply to find a clearing in the woods with enough of a pitch to make some good turns. The pitch eventually mellows out and runs into a brook which leads you back to the ski area. We blew it and dropped in too soon and missed a portion of the run, but an inspection of the topo maps shows that some decent turns are to be had in this area. We managed to find fresh tracks for a good part of the way down.

View Bolton Sidecountry in a larger map

The second area of interest is a face above the top of the ski area and just below the actual summit of the mountain. It’s supposed to be steep and tight, requiring a skin or hike from the top of the lift to the summit. Unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to check it out.

Me coming off a cool little drop deep in the woods.
Photo credit: Rob

The final area worth mention is the lengthy tree run all the way to skier’s right. It seems to follow a long drainage down the side of the mountain. It’s not super steep and it’s more open than say, Hatchet at Wildcat, or Beaver Pond at Jay, but I found the terrain interesting. There are plenty of small drops, large rocks, rolls and fall aways in the chute. We were nearly a week (I thing) after the most recent snow and there was still plenty of soft snow to go around.

View Bolton Sidecountry in a larger map

Head Monsters, Marker Dukes, Mad River Glen, Jay Peak and La Niña…

…Are all my new favorite things.

Northern Vermont got blasted with snow last week and over the weekend. Mad River Glen and Jay were both 100% open so we packed the car and headed north. MRG had been mostly closed during the week, so we figured we’d hit MRG on Saturday for some fresh tracks, and then migrate up to Jay on Sunday to take advantage of the overnight snowfall they were expecting.

I’d never been to MRG before, but I’d heard the stories: they have a single (chair lift), don’t do much in the way of snow-making or grooming, and they still don’t allow boarders. Additionally, from a brief chat with a patroller, Rob discovered that ropes and closed signs at MRG are kind of like stop signs in Italy: more of a friendly suggestion. This all made for some exceptional tree skiing: scratchy in places, but mostly knee deep powder with deeper drifts. The woods there are both tight and steep. We spun around 8 laps in the woods before we ran out of gas around 2 pm.

Jay got nearly a foot over Saturday night, and fortunately for us (but not so fortunately for every behind us) we managed to get the first chair up. We were among the first people to hit the woods to far skiers left (Beaver Pond and Andre’s). Again, there were a few bares spots, but mostly it was knee deep powder, with thigh deep drifts no uncommon. It snowed all day, and we continued to find fresh tracks until our last run of the day, just past 3. Behold:

Be envious!

Plenty of snow left by the afternoon…

Of course, in order to best enjoy these epic January conditions, a sweet pair of powder boards are necessary. Thanks to Quiver Killers, I was able to pull my Dukes off of my BD Havocs and plop them onto my Head Monsters with relative ease the night before. At 193 cm long and 95 mm under foot, the Monsters are, well just that: monsters. When I first pulled them out of the box like two years I began question my judgment in buying such a pair of skis on the East Coast. And then they sat in the corner of my room while I decided what to do with them. The excellent snow conditions over the weekend prompted me to pull ’em out and take ’em for a spin. It took me a run or two to figure out how to handle them in the woods, however due to a variety of factors, I found them to handle nearly as well as a significantly smaller ski. The Monsters are exceptionally light, even for their size (in fact they are the lightest of all of my skis). Coupled with the snub-nosed form factor of the Dukes, the whole setup keeps a very low moment of inertia. I found that this really lets me throw them around quickly. The Dukes are mounted well aft of center which allows me to pivot on my heels quickly and easily, and the added length up front lets you keep an aggressive forward stance. All in all, they could hardly have worked out better. I can’t wait to take these beasts out west…

The Vermont sunset on the way home from Jay.