Jan 26, 2018, Lichtentrees via Smithbrook
1/26/18
2691
4
Broke a trail up Smithbrook to Lichtenwasser Lake. It was deeeep! It was dry and cold snow. Snowed hard all day. That was wet on the clothing. The track is there if you want it....well it may be under 8" more of new now. Trailbreaking was very arduous with consistent penetration to the knee and up to top of thigh on upslope of steeper sidehill! Pole penetration was, at times, the length you had your poles set for....
Skiing was fun but somewhat of a balancing act on mid-fat tele gear. For safety sake and terrain opportunity we opted to lap our skin track in the trees and not venture above lake elevation. Met a few folks in the early afternoon.
Never saw this to such a widespread extent before but there were many little crowns 12 to 18" deep on steep convex rolls in the forest. Looks like a natural avy cycle took place on Wed perhaps?
Skiing was fun but somewhat of a balancing act on mid-fat tele gear. For safety sake and terrain opportunity we opted to lap our skin track in the trees and not venture above lake elevation. Met a few folks in the early afternoon.
Never saw this to such a widespread extent before but there were many little crowns 12 to 18" deep on steep convex rolls in the forest. Looks like a natural avy cycle took place on Wed perhaps?
Darn it. I knew you hippies looked familiar. It's them pants! I wish I came up and said hi. We where in the two blue vans just behind you.
Sounds like we had a simular day as far as trenching a skiing track, and getting wet gear.
My guess on the instability is that there was a brief clearing over night, in between storms. I saw stars and the moon on I think wednessday night? Probably a thin layer of hoar in between layers... super easy to get clean shears, but not much energy.
We only road south facing, seen the same crowns, and opted for lower angle, heavy trees as well. Still reactive in safe areas.
Was going to reuse our track today, but it just sounded not fun or safe. Yesterdays conditions with 8 more "s. .. went with the best option i had. Breakfast at the lodge.
Sounds like we had a simular day as far as trenching a skiing track, and getting wet gear.
My guess on the instability is that there was a brief clearing over night, in between storms. I saw stars and the moon on I think wednessday night? Probably a thin layer of hoar in between layers... super easy to get clean shears, but not much energy.
We only road south facing, seen the same crowns, and opted for lower angle, heavy trees as well. Still reactive in safe areas.
Was going to reuse our track today, but it just sounded not fun or safe. Yesterdays conditions with 8 more "s. .. went with the best option i had. Breakfast at the lodge.
Sounds like a trip my wife and our dogs and I did many moons ago. Dogs were good sports in retrospect. Especially getting up over the Lichtenstep for the bigger one, who I repeatedly helped boost up. It was a day like yesterday (at least where I was yesterday) where it was nuking all day. We appeared to be the only ones up the drainage that day so we had to break trail going back down the road. This was during the xmas holiday break - I suspect something like that never happens any more. Was still a great day out in the snowy forest and we managed to find some good turns for the hippy sticks.
I bet the dogs slept good that day Jim!
And you are correct. Not likely to travel smithbrook road solo on any snow day now. Still easy to spread out and find a nice spot to ski.
It might have been possible to ski with a dog, but I was happy not to have mine. Snow was too deep and unconsolidated. It would have been scary. Especially with moving snow. Had her out the day before and it was already an overhead struggle.
And you are correct. Not likely to travel smithbrook road solo on any snow day now. Still easy to spread out and find a nice spot to ski.
It might have been possible to ski with a dog, but I was happy not to have mine. Snow was too deep and unconsolidated. It would have been scary. Especially with moving snow. Had her out the day before and it was already an overhead struggle.
author=alecapone link=topic=39589.msg159495#msg159495 date=1517080115]
Darn it. I knew you hippies looked familiar. It's them pants! I wish I came up and said hi. We where in the two blue vans just behind you.
Sounds like we had a simular day as far as trenching a skiing track, and getting wet gear.
Heck, I thought about walking over and saying hello but we were anxious to get moving. Would have been fun to finally meet you, Scott. We kept thinking, "when are they gonna overtake us?" Makes sense now. I'll be sure to let Jake know that his pants have not lost their fame!
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