Ski season is here

Wait, What?! January 19th and I’m only declaring a start to the ski season…. Been that kind of a year. Still, better late than never. We finally got a good storm to track over Ottawa and drop a few decent inches of snow. Before that there was some snow which was pretty thin but skiable. Beggars can’t be choosers though so I got quite a few k’s on the Parkway flats and occasionally ventured off the beaten path – only to find an odd rock or tree still exposed and looking to eat my skis.
Even the base of the feeder hadn't been buried in snow

After last week’s storm the inevitable High pressure cell came in and dropped the temperature 20 degrees in a matter of moments. Cold was the order of last weekend’s skis and lots of layers were a necessity. Still it was great to be out in the snow and skiing some actual trails. Topped it off on Monday with the long loop near Wakefield which cuts across a wide variety of trail types. While I saw very few skiers (not surprising on a cold Monday) Those I did pass had wide grins (possibly frozen) on their faces as the new snow had been freshly groomed just for us. Hard to beat hard packed (yet still snowy) bomber tracks. A few pictures to demonstrate my point.
Easy skiing along the Kennedy road
Skirting the shores of Lac Phillippe
Perhaps a little time for an evening slide in the Meech Creek valley

A New Year - forward to spring

Decided to kick off the New Year on Sunday with a hike in the Adirondacks. The Christmas break had been filled with some marginal skiing on a pretty thin base. Glad to have the snow for sure as, just before the break, there was almost none to speak of. Time though for a little change so I loaded up the winter gear and- very early in the morning (4am!) drove down to the high peaks. The drive down was mostly ordinary. I always seem to pass the Malone prisons during a shift change so at 6am there is suddenly traffic everywhere for a moment or two and then it’s back to empty roads.

Not exactly "A1" winter hiking trails
The weather forecasts were very clear stating overcast skies with rain after lunchtime. I had planned a slightly scenic walk out of the AMR but that forecast made me change my mind. I decided to head for the Loj with Street and Nye in mind. A shorter hike with middling views (which you wouldn’t feel too bad about if you missed out on) seemed a better choice given the day. I parked at the Loj and immediately started unloading my gear. No snow to be seen – so the snowshoes stay in the car. Warm at +5C… so the winter layers can stay behind. Overcast conditions meant I’d be in the clouds… no point carrying the big camera. Five hour hike, probably don’t need a full lunch. Pretty soon my big “winter” pack was all but empty… so I loaded it back up with some gear just for the chance to get used to the big bag.

Another tricky water crossing... and the water here looks waist deep!
Set off for the short, level walk to the Indian pass brook. This would be the only real obstacle of the day. Warm weather meant the ice would be thin and it might be difficult to cross. As it was I found a decent line and a few hops had me across. The climb itself was pretty straight forward. There was no need for spikes until I got to about 3700ft and even then it was of marginal value. For the most part I put them on rather than carry them in my pack the whole day. Nye being only 3800 ft meant I probably could have suffered the last little climb with bare boots. The climb up to Street (+400feet) was a little more wintry but even then it felt more like spring than anything.

Sun through the trees? Could this be true?
The big bonus came as I neared the ridgeline and blue skies greeted me?! So much for the predicted clouds and rain! In fact the peaks all around me were bathed in blue skies by the time I topped out and I had some good photo ops of the nearby MacIntyres and the more distant Santas. Further still Nye clearly has had some of its forested top knocked down (perhaps from Irene?) since I was here last and there are much better views from this formerly forested summit. I enjoyed a little summit time, snacked and took some pics before turning tail and heading down. An excellent day after all considering I was expecting clouded summits and a quick u-turn at each peak.

Poking my head above the clouds

A sunny day afterall!!
The descent was pretty speedy and I met a few groups heading up. Returning to the Indian pass brook I was met with more of an obstacle as the days warm weather had done some damage to the ice bridges. It took me two goes to get across. The first was met with rapidly collapsing slabs of ice and a quick u-turn to safety. The second attempt worked better with a lot of scrambling and a mad dive for the far shore line. Both attempts felt a little like those Japanese game shows where the contestants sprint across the giant dominos… all the while they are collapsing beneath them. In my case it was slabs of ice falling into the brook rather than domino's but “light feet” seemed to be the right solution. In any event I successfully moved on to the “scorpion round”… err, not in the game show I guess so just a dry walk home. Safe on the bank I then spotted a still very solid looking path of ice further upstream so the lesson is don’t always go for the first option. To be honest, the brook is only thigh deep at worst so even if I’d fallen in I would have just had a wet 20-25 minute walk back to the car (and the lovely parting gifts!)… so no big tragedy unless it was -25C (and then the ice would likely be thicker...).

Choose your path wisely grasshopper...
The return drive proved the weather people know their stuff as a warm front chased me most of the way home before catching and unloading rain from Cornwall to my driveway. So, well timed trip, a good hike and an excellent welcome to 2012. Winter returned on Monday with an excellent ski (that could still use some more snow!).

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