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Yup, we found the blowdowns, dozens in one spot. The ski track went around them and took us back to Two Rod Rd. Seemed like they were just west of Two Rod Rd. and not on the road as we found them making our way from Estabrook Rd to Two Rod. Either that or the trail has been routed around the blowdowns.
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Originally Posted by SheFly
I ended up not skiing today. I was going to go to Great Brook, but it was freezing this morning and I just wasn't in the mood. Cold doesn't usually bother me. I did an hour on the trainer and then wished I had gone skiing. Maybe I can get up north this weekend, cause warmer weather is coming.
Went to Windblown again today! Conditions were not quite as awesome, as it was about 30 degrees, but still much better than I expected. We went with our friends and we skied in the AM, about 10K, then in the afternoon we snow shoed there for the first time. They do have dedicated snow shoe trails, which it appeared some had skied on, but for the most part, we felt like we were in the wilderness, except for when we had to cross the ski trails at several points. There were 2 very challenging climbs, one of which was quite long. We had thought we could climb to the top of Barret's Mountain, but it's 12 miles round trip and it was already 12:45 when we started.
What a fun day and yes, I will be sore tomorrow.
Some of the snowshoe trail at Windblown is part of the Wapack Trail, which goes from Pack Monadnock over Temple Mtn and Barrett Mtn. to Mt. Watatic in MA. I've backpacked that trail in 2 days and spent the night at one of the shelters at Windblown. You need to reserve the shelter ahead of time and pay a modest fee.
Sounds like a great day Crankin!! The temps were nice here, although the winds kept the snow just perfect... so we got in about 4-5 miles after running errands all morning and hopped on the trainer after we got home. Tonight is some much needed 'couch' time HA!
Have any of snow ever skiied in Jackson NH?
I have been to Jackson 3 times; only one of the times was there enough snow to (barely) do any skiing. It looks like the trail system would be great, but I guess I just haven't hit it at the right times. We ended up driving far to find snow, although we were lucky enough to stay at the Thorn Hill Inn.
Thinking of doing an impromptu trip either next weekend or the one after. We have theatre in Boston next Friday night, so I am not sure how getting up early on Saturday would be, but there's going to be more snow up there and I am in the ski mode.
Deb, I would not be doing any overnight camping in the winter, but I we did think we could make it to the top of the mountain and back if we started early in the AM. The trails don't seem to be as well marked as the ski trails. While I haven't done a snow shoe as long as 12 miles before, I am pretty sure I can handle it.
Our local cross country area opened 2 weeks ago. I've been out striding twice and skating twice. Ugh, skating. It really kicks my butt. If I can go 45 minutes, I'm a happy camper. My partner and I also took the dogs out to a local OHV trail on Christmas day. We had a freshly groomed trail and we were out early enough that the snowmobilers weren't out yet. What a blast! I hope the rest of the season stays this good.
Went cross-country skiing today for the first time in decades. That sure was a lot of fun! My dad is visiting and it was his dream to ski one more time. He can't do downhill anymore, so we decided on XC. It was a gorgeous day, and while the inversion-caused pollution was creeping up to this area a little bit, the air was much clearer than in the city. Here's my dad in the front, my son skating on the left, and DH in the back. We had such a blast, we'll have to do this more often!
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8092/8...cc2e244346.jpg
Fun day ski day. Go pap! by DutchRosie, on Flickr
Here's a pic from the beginning of our snow shoe. This is taken by a pond, just below the main trail hill that we often climb up to the view field where you can see Mt. Monadnock. It's pretty cool, given the fact that I have been skiing here since 1993 and I had never seen this spot.
It's always nice to see something NEW!!! It certainly leaves lasting impressions during the week when one can only dream of getting out on ski's! :)
Just got back from a ski myself, same course as yesterday although a bit warmer so snow was a bit softer. The kicker was that I didn't realize how hard I had skiied ( for me) yesterday until this morning HA! Needless to say, it was a much slower ski and one where I actually met others out as well. All in all, a great day...
It has been SO COLD here this week. The low yesterday was -13F and the high was about 18F. Today, since it was so pretty out, I decided to go skate ski for an hour. It was a balmy 8F when I got to the XC center. Ugh! So I had to layer up well beyond the usual for skating. Then, I had waxed my skis last week when it was a little warmer. The pink wax that was perfect last week just didn't cut it today. I had zero glide. It was so bad that I finally gave up trying to skate and got into the tracks and WALKED uphill on my skate skis. It was a tremendous amount of exercise but no fun at all.
So when I got done, I went and bought some blue wax and rewaxed my skis. Tomorrow is going to be better!
It's interesting to hear your weather report roadie girl, as here in Maine it is just the opposite! Last week was warm, with temps finally hitting 50 yesterday!! Most of the snow in nearby towns is gone, luckily we were in a belt with some of the most snow in the northeast... so we survived. I did get out yesteday for about an hour, and definietly planned to ski BEFORE the temps hit 50. At any rate, I was surprised at how good the snow actually was!!! I can't wait to get out again... perhaps Wednesday.
Booked a weekend in Franconia on the 25th-27th. Very excited. Since I've only skied twice this year, I am thinking it might not be such a good idea to do the ski from our inn to the Franconia Inn and back thing. Those trails were definitely the hardest I've done, more like back country, including one that is a black diamond downhill trial at Cannon. I went UP it. Probably the most falling i've ever done on the downhills, as the trails were tracked, but the area outside the tracks weren't groomed wide enough for me to snowplow down. Hopefully, we'll start at Bretton Woods and then see.
Sounds like a lot of fun Crankin! I hope that the weather changes here soon and gives us some more snow. It's a bit strange as a cyclist 'wanting' more snow, BUT the reality is that although some roads are rideable, most still have icey spots and TONS of sand. So, I say let's ski and truly be ready to ride outside. LOL
Let us know how your trip goes.... that's a beautiful area!
Well, the snow gods answered some prayers here in New England today... YIPEE!! Got in a short ski with about 3" of new snow and it's continuing to snow as I type this. Hopefully we'll receive about 6" or more.... here's hoping that all of you are able to get back on your skis as well!!
We had about 5 inches here in the NW burbs, but it looks kind of like wet snow. Both of my clients cancelled, bah, I could have at least gone skiing in the woods by my house this afternoon.
Ahhh that's too bad that you weren't able to get out! Like you, we received 5-6 inches of snow, but it's dry. Although underneath all of it it's a bit crunchy.... but at least we have more snow and we can get out. I'm hoping to spend some time on my ski's this weekend.. hope all of you are as well!
Not a ski, but a snow shoe. Went to Northfield Mountain in Northfield, MA, which is a great place to ski, when there is more than a 0-3 inch base! The thing about this place, is that you are either going up or down, unless you are on the true beginner trails. It is a "hill" after, all (1100 ft.). There are dedicated snow shoe trails and we went up the hardest one. 900 feet of elevation in about 2 miles. Quite a bit of suffering involved, but you are rewarded with a beautiful view of local mountains and the Green Mountains of Vermont (Sugarbush and Mount Snow). We went down a different way and ate our lunch at the hot chocolate hut (I didn't have any). On the way home, we stopped at this place I love, a funky antique store with a cafe, in Erving. DH and I shared a slice of apple pie and ice cream and I had coffee. We only saw 2 skiers near the top of the mountain, but there were a few near the base when we got back. Lots of rocks on the downhills, glad I didn't ski. We snow shoed about 4.2 miles.
Sounds like a beautiful day!! I hope that you receive snow soon so that you can get back out on your ski's.
Got out for a short ski today after running errands, but it was a great day and beautiful with snow still hanging on the trees.... not sure why I can't remember to bring my camera. LOL
Enjoy tomorrow everyone!!
Just back from 2 days of skiing in VT at Groton State Forest. Stayed at Seyon Lodge with a small group of women and had some excellent skiing. A bit of snow falling on Saturday with temps starting above freezing. Today was cold, 3F in the morning, maybe 17 by afternoon, so skied on green wax with a nice snow base and 3-4 inches of powder. Heavenly!
I'm just getting back into skiing after a 15 year absence from it. (Car accident knee injuries) So far it's just been a short 2.5k circuit on a golf course, when the wind chill isn't into the -30ºC and lower range. The brilliant sunshine makes up for the sketchy conditions that have resulted from wind drift and a brief thaw a few weeks back. Got a blister and a bruised toenail yesterday - my old boots didn't fit and the new ones don't fit as well as they seemed to when I was just walking around the house in them.
Hard to believe I used to go out to the mountains west of Calgary and do 20 to 30k skis, then go back the next day and do 10 to 15k the next day. My whole body is tired from 5k right now. At least I can ski in the city here. Calgary rarely had enough snow for that. Now that the sun sets later than 5:30, I'll be able to go right after work in the evenings.
Skied at Bretton Woods today, 15k. It was a balmy 9F when we started and about 12 when we finished. There was brilliant sunshine though. We were going to ski a loop right to the restaurant at the Mt. Washington Hotel, but we missed the trail and had to backtrack. By that time my friend was getting frostbite on her hands, so we headed back to the Nordic center and drove up the road to eat.
Conditions were good in the beginning, but the trail on the way back was more heavily used and had lots of twigs and grass on the tracks. Then, the wind picked up in the open field and that was not fun. Tomorrow we are going to ski at Waterville Valley Nordic on the way home. They all want to take a skate ski lesson and I do not. It looks way too hard and I generally hate trying new things that may make me look like an azzhole.
Well, our trip to Waterville Valley was interesting. We decided against the skate ski lesson, due to the temperature, although it turned out to be quite a bit warmer (+10 degrees) than yesterday. So, there's 2 very separate areas for skiing and out friends had been to one of them a few times, but not in a couple of years. We went to the center and asked if a route we had planned to do a short ski before lunch, was OK. They told us a couple of the trails were closed, but we were able to plan a 5k route. OK, the trails started out fine, although it definitely was not what our friends described, which was wide and rated easier than most places we ski. We climbed up, up, and up, conditions getting worse by the second. Icy, with twigs and rocks sticking out. We went down a twisty downhill, which under good conditions would have been great, but it was scary. I managed to stay up, though. Then we climbed even more; my edge on my left ski skid out on the ice, and I did go down in what I call a "stupid fall." We got to the trail we were supposed to take to get back and it was closed. Our only other option was to ski down a black trail with the word "chute" in the name. Given the conditions, that was not something any of us wanted to do, so we took our skis off and walked down the closed trail, about 1.5 km or a little more. There were bare rocks where water bars had formed, and lots of twigs, and ice. Thankfully, it was not too hard and we got to the trail to get back to the nordic center. On a small downhill, our friend, who is a really excellent skier (the one who broke his hip cycling a couple of years ago) fell, which scared us, but he was OK. There was a pile of snow in the middle of the trail, with ice on the side. When we were almost back, there was (no kidding) a guy with his shirt off :eek:, standing on the side of the trail, getting some sun. His hands were raised to the sky and it was very weird. I averted my eyes, so as not to make any contact. Not sure what the deal was, but it was a good laugh after a hard ski.
After lunch, we drove to the other (which were the trails our friends described) side, but by this time it was 2:00 and I was getting chilled for some reason. We skied just about 2K, around a loop, the conditions were great, but we had lost our mojo. Since we had a 2 hour drive home, we called it quits.
I will go back here, but under better snow conditions next time. Overall, a great weekend, especially the eating.
Glad to hear you had a great weekend Crankin! I would dare say that there's a good chance that manya reas have such conditions.... the week of warm temps simply killed us and then the cold this past week. It sounds as though we could get a bit of snow over the next couple of days, but again, the temps are going to warm this week ARGH!!! Hopefully we'll receive a good snow fall here at some point.
I got out yesterday(and will go today as well) and like you, there were lots of pine cones/needles on the trail, although I was happy not to see bare ground anywhere... although it was pretty hard. But here's to hoping that the snow gods look down on us again here soon!
We haven't had any snow for weeks. The conditions are going to start to get sketchy soon.
I went for a skate ski today. I concentrated on technique and going slow with a good glide. I tend to just blow up skating, but this worked well. I was able to go for over an hour and made it up a long, not too steep hill without stopping. Yay.
Well, we survived all the rain and wind, and although the trails are scratchy...we still have snow. I did get out today, although probably the worse conditions I have seen in quite some time... even beats last year! Although there was still snow coverage on the trails, they were 'boiler plate' and covered with branches, pine cones and twigs. Although the conditions beat me twice today by throwing me to the ground a couple of times, it was a beautiful day and interesting to see all the huge ice chunks that got washed downstream. I'm thankful that we still have coverage, but truly hope that the snow gods will bless us with some more of the white stuff.
Got out at dawn this morning. The trails were drifted over, but another skier had been out even earlier, so it was possible to follow those tracks at least. The colour of the snow changed from peach to pale gold as the sun got higher, with violet-grey shadow. Will definitely go out at this time of day next week.
Tomorrow I'm volunteering for the local loppet. It will be interesting to see if they can set the tracks close enough to start time to overcome the wind drift - it's amazing how fast the tracks get buried in this gusty place.
Praying it snows in the Northeast Kingdom, before we leave on 2/14.
I hope so .... I know right now that most of their trails are either closed or VERY scratchy!! Although, I don't believe that we have seen the last of the snow. Perhaps we should all get out on our road bikes for a couple of rides, that's a sure way of getting more snow LOL!!
Sigh, the Kingdom Trails are closed. There's predicted highs of 35 down here next weekend, so I probably will be out on my bike. Maybe that will work. Not much else to do up there, maybe hike, as I doubt there's enough snow even for snow shoeing. None of us are downhillers, so that's out. We are bringing our passports, so perhaps there's snow north of there?? Somehow, I doubt it.
There seems to be some sort of pocket that has some snow, while others have very little. In my area, I know that Bethel is very scarce, and so is the area near Twin Mtn, Gorham NH etc... It seems so strange this year, as these areas generally have lots of snow and have the ability to recover when warm weather makes an appearance. I keep telling myself that we aren't out of the woods yet with snow, so hopefully it's in the near future!!
Have fun on your bike today!! The roads here are pretty dry here as well, although a bit of ice on the edges. I've been saying all winter that I need to put the studded tires on my mtn bike, and it's time that I did! It would be tremendous riding today :)
So little snow here this winter we finally made the trip north into Canada. Four days of outstanding skiing and a bit of snowshoe time as well. Trails at Stokely Creek are outstanding.
Fresh fluffy snow falling today but we're going to need it to keep this up for a day or two to make a base. For now, it's back to gravel road running and the trainer.
Snow and lots of it, coming Friday. It will be great skiing around here. Can't wait.
Of course, I am going to Vermont next Thursday, and they are getting like 3 inches.
Ok, totally missed skiing in the perfect powder last Sunday, and I've been sick all week, but heading off to the Northeast Kingdom tomorrow. Hoping for some new adventures and decent snow. Will hopefully post with pictures.
Sounds like a great trip Crankin... definitely let us know how it is!
We didn't receive as much snow as you, but what we did receive was extremely dry... so absolutely no glide at all. But I'm excited that we did get some to cover of the spots that were very thin. Got out Sunday, Monday and today.. todays conditionds were better. The temps have been a bit warmer, so the melting/freezing action is helping to put moisture back in the snow.
Hope you have a great trip and are feeling better:)
We've had such little snow here in the Twin Cities this winter and what little we've had always seems to be preceded or followed by freezing rain and/or sleet. Bleck. Up north is a different story though and we are headed up to the North Shore of Lake Superior for what should be a glorious extended weekend of nordic skiing! :)
We arrived in the NEK yesterday around 2. Everyone was in agreement there would be nothing more strenuous than drinking wine and dinner, which is what we did. Of course, I come to the coldest place in VT and today was about 40 degrees. Since the snow was thin and mushy, we snowshoed about 10k on the Darling Hill Trails. It was awesome, did mostly black trails that are really hiking, winter and summer mtb trails. Since it's my first exercise in almost 2 wks., I think it was a better idea. Lots of climbing and saw several fat tire tracks on these very narrow single track trails. We saw a large sugaring operation in the woods and also saw the sugar shack.
Later, after lunch we went to E. Burke Sports Shop and they had Vayas with huge fat tires. I bought a top and hat on sale and chatted with the sales guy who was very happy that we had flattened the trails with our snow shoes, for his bike. He was also mildly impressed 4 old people had gone that far on that terrain.
Tomorrow we will ski on the groomed and tracked trails at Dashney Farm, which in 1992 is where I took my first x country ski lesson, while the rest of my family was alpine skiing at Burke.
Skied about 11k at the Dashney Trails Nordic center, part of the Kingdom Trails network. Conditions were on the edge of being horrible, but we planned a route with the help of the staff, where we would be going up in the spots that were exposed.
This is a gorgeous place. I have to come back here when there is powder. It was fast and slick today, but no falling, just some very spazzy moments in the beginning.
We were done around 12:30. Went into town and had lunch at the Country Store and then went to the home of the man who runs the sugaring operation we saw on the trails yesterday. We bought some syrup from him, it was cool to just knock on his door, as our innkeeper told us to.
Isn't it wonderful when people are so friendly that you can knock on their door for something? I have not skiied in the NEK, however I know the terrain fairly well,a dn always smile when I think of the first time riding there and coming up on the sugar house... great memories! I've also enjoyed eating several lunches at the general store, love the atmosphere!!
I have to admit that losing the snow that we just received is a bummer; I'm hoping that the weather will change here again adn give us some more snow. I see the snow changing here each day and I'll admit that it does make me sad... probably not something that I should admit since I own a bike shop LOL!!
Here's to hoping that your day of skiing is good today and that the snow gods will come back and make another visit.
We didn't ski yesterday, as it was about 9 degrees with a 20 mph wind, gusts up to 40. If the snow had been powder, yes, but as it was, my lungs were starting to act up again. So, we drove to Montpelier, where we spent quite a bit of time in a bike/ski shop and I bought a Marmot jacket for 30% off and DH bought some new ski pants and then had a late lunch. I was seriously looking at real estate ads in the NEK at breakfast!
I am hoping the snow Gods pay another visit, too. Next weekend may be a possibility, but tomorrow is going to be 47 here in the Boston area, which is bad enough, but it's supposed to rain, too. Maybe that rain will be snow up at Windblown :rolleyes:.