Finally some snow

Skier Days: Sara(5), Caroline(2), Susan(0), Charles(0)

We packed up and cleaned up again, bidding farewell to the family unit and drove up in both cars this morning. It pored rain the entire drive up and it was only when we got close to the condo itself that it started to look like a sleety, slushy mix. Susan and Sara had arrived before us, speeding ticket last week apparently having not really had too much impact on the weight of her foot. The girls are getting much better at helping to unload the cars and it was only about 3 trips up to the third floor for each of us. It amazes me just how much stuff we can fit into the small space that we have here. Despite all of the stuff that we have brought up here I managed to neglect to bring my ski pants. I scoured the condo for 30 minutes before it dawned on me that I had left them in my pack in the basement.

At the end of the season last year the plan was to hike up Tuckerman's Ravine on Mt. Washington and I had brought a bunch of stuff home and packed it in preparation. It only finally dawned on me that this was something I had told myself I was going to bring up, and then promptly forgotten. The first reaction was to try to solicit Grammy Ellie to swing by the house on her way back home, she had stayed down in Halifax to visit with Jenny and to shuttle Jon and Marybeth back from the Vineyard. In the end it seemed like a lot more effort than it was actually worth. It looks like I am going to have to be a really Mainer for this week and ski in my Carhartt working pants.

With everything unpacked I walked over to Barker Lodge as tonight was the lottery for the number for the new Mug Club. $45 gets you a collectible 20 oz. Mug with a picture a of a Viking on it and a cool retro hoody. There were a ton of regulars there from Black Diamond club,  including Alicia who has somehow managed to get in 9 days already,  and quite a few from GACP. It was a great time and I ended up with lucky number "7" on my mug. Not a bad deal at all.  Susan and the girls made it over after a while.  Caroline hung out with her pal Maddox and they managed to mostly stay of out trouble and managed to line up a sleep over. While we were hanging out and socializing the rain outside turned into snow and the general mood around the place lifted just a bit.   Sara had been in electronic contact with her pal Margaret and they ended up going to see "New Moon" at long last.    So a movie night it was.

Overnight and into the next morning you could hear the wind howling through trees outside the window.  Sara was to meet up with Margaret to get their day of skiing this weekend.  Despite continued protest she walked over to the competition center through the mud.   It really wasn't as bad as it was the previous night when I had walked across.  There was a coating of white on everything which made the whole place look a lot more like a ski area for the first time this season.   It was actually warm, too warm to make snow unfortunately.

Maggie game with us and was having about as much fun as a dog could have.  She really does love it up here in the mountains.  After dropping Sara and her stuff off at the Comp. Center I plotted a course up the hill so that I would at least get some exercise.  I hiked straight up Monday Mourning to where it crossed Over Easy and then crossed over until I hit the top of the Tempest lift.

It started out as only barely speckled mud and snow but grew gradually slightly deeper.  As I crossed this elevation it seemed to be a good 3"-4"deep with occasional drifts that were 8"-10" in erosion bars.   Maggie ran every which way sniffing out rodents buried beneath the snow.  At one point she was truly on the scent and buried her entire head in the snow trying to get at what ever was underneath.  The fortunate creature managed to avoid capture and we continued on up the hill.

The conditions themselves were not all that bad and certainly a lot better than I would have expected looking from the base lodge.   With the correct camera angle things actually looked pretty darned good.   Despite some bits of mud here and there the top of T2 actually had pretty good cover.  They had set up a little terrain park for the twin tip crowd and it was possible to load from the mid-station.  I stood and waited a while and started to get the itch to go skiing.  Maybe tomorrow.

The line at the mid station went from short to fairly long in a very short time and that was a bit on the discouraging side.   In the big scheme of things it didn't seem that terrible considering.   We really, really need some much colder temperatures and one wicked snow storm to get this season moving.  I cut through the woods across from lift and ended up on Southpaw, perhaps my favorite trail on this side of the mountain.  It is a fairly steep trail and the further down the mountain I got the slipperier it became.


 I ended up boot skiing down big stretches which was pretty fun.   Agony cried out for snow and Sunday Punch was as slimy as the moss on the bottom of a brook and downright treacherous.  I longed for some really crappy old rock skis.

It ended up being a day to work on a few chores around the condo and do some blog writing.   I think the next job will be to head down to the locker and see if I can file some of the nasty burs and get the skis waxed and ready for when the snow does finally arrive.