Finishing Winter on Allen

It’s been a long winter. Snow first arrived in the middle of November and I’ve been able to ski almost continuously since. At times it’s hard to smile around the water cooler at work as people moan about this endless winter… don’t want to develop too many enemies. Despite the current cold, windy day outside I know that spring is actually coming. That was obvious on my last hike to Algonquin where – in spite of cold temperatures at the start of the day - once the sun cleared the horizon, the temperature shot up quickly. Even when it is still cold outside now – the suns warmth can be felt and you know spring is coming (but not soon enough for the folks at work). It's actually almost time for the wide boards to cruise the spring corn snow and portage from one stretch of snow to the next… and then finally the bike will come out. Altocummulus clouds overhead - sunny or cloudy day ahead? While the folks at work continue to grumble about when IT will end, the 46r’s make the winter season easy to understand. They need to quantify winter in some consistent way from year to year so they can certify “winter 46r’s” (ie those that have hiked the 46 high peaks in winter). The turnover from fall to winter – and of course from winter to spring varies slightly as does our orbit around the sun. As such, spring’s official arrival moves around a bit from year to year. Equally difficult to define is the arrival (and departure) of snow. Sometimes it arrives early and sometimes (most times in the high peaks) it leaves quite late. All of this could be complicated when people are submitting their list of “winter” hikes so the 46’rs make it simple. "December 21 – March 21…. that is winter… period". That makes winter hiking season predictable in terms of the calendar. My hike last year to Giant – Mar 19th on a sunny 22°C day with almost no snow on the ground - was completed in winter, even if it felt far from it. And so, with the end of (certified) winter arriving, I decided to get one more winter hike in. This time it actually felt like winter as well which was a nice change from last year. Starting at the East River trailhead - a spot I know well I had several options on my plate but a recent dump of snow finally opened the backcountry ski season (even if it will only last a few weeks). With that in mind I decided to head to Allen Mountain. Allen has a nice, long and quite flat approach hike before you even get to start climbing. It is somewhat dreaded by hikers for that long approach as it generally means a long day on foot. In winter however you can (if you are so inclined) ski the approach. I am, of course, so inclined so at a not too early hour of 8am I started off on my skis from the Allen trail head. The ski is quite pleasant although skiing in a snowshoe trench is a little different than the groomed (or even backcountry) trails I’m used to in Gatineau park. For a start the snowshoe trench is just a little bit too narrow to comfortably use the ski poles. As a result the poles stab away at the unconsolidated snow about a foot higher than your skis and are of limited use. The skis however are in a nice compacted track and its easy to get some good speed up going down even the slightest of down grades. That means, if the snowshoers let their line drift back and forth as they walk (and they often do) then you have to do some fancy footwork to stay in the track. If you jump out of the trench then you are in deep, soft unconsolidated snow… and you stop quite abruptly. In spite of the challenge, I skied happily through the woods, across the Opalescent river and on to a gravel pit which marks the end of the flat terrain. Climbing the steep Allen slide - tough going up but a speedy descent From the pit I strapped on the snowshoes and started the uphill work. The initial climb is not too bad but soon enough you arrive at the Allen brook which marks the beginning of the Allen slide… which means its time to go up… rapidly! Added to the vertical challenge, this year there was a lot of blown down trees which had to be climbed over… or under. The extra effort to clamber over the trees wasn’t too high but it did seem to drain me mentally. Hurdle, after hurdle after hurdle, it never seemed to stop. Finally the steep open slide and then a short ridgeline walk to the summit proper. Beautiful sunshine and views greeted me but – with a long way back to the car – it was time to turn around and leave, too quickly to be sure. Marcy and Skylight through the treetops... so close yet so far.. A nice treat was the slide down the Allen slide. The steep pitch made for a perfect slide and I managed to drop about 1000ft in only a minute or two. Despite the rapid progress its actually quite safe as you are stuck in the snowshoe trench and its difficult to launch into uncharted terrain. The rapid descent and subsequent break on the body (knees particularly) meant the rest of the walk back to my skis went quickly. Also there was a significant mental lift at knowing I only had a short distance to the skis rather than a significant distance further to walk back to the car. Once on the skis the gliding was much easier on the body and the k’s clicked by. Add to that the warm sunshine which – while it played havoc with my wax choice by warming the snow surface to slush – was a still a treat to enjoy. The gravel pit -time to swap over from shoes to skis... but maybe enjoy the sun a little bit too In all I did the loop in 7.5 hours which is a fair bit faster than my summer time. Add the faster approach portion on skis and the speedy descent down the slide and I think it’s much easier to get to Allen in winter (assuming you don’t have to break trail all the way!). So that hike (ski/shoe if you will) closed off my “winter” hiking for the season. I posted a full set of pictures HERE. On to spring (looking very similar to winter out my window right now) which is about to change dramatically in a day or so. A fair bit of skiing ahead and maybe a hike or two as well as the snows slowly start to recede. I also have this race thingy coming up in a little while which has started to occupy my time a fair bit… and will do so a little more as the days and weeks move forward. Ski day done at the Hudson river crossing - on to spring...