Roger Lowell is a good friend of my folks and the father to one of my closest childhood friends. He had a big impact on my cross-country skiing as a kid, and even encouraged me to race BKL as a young child as his daughter, Erica, was racing and really enjoying it. I didn't take him up on the racing at that point, but did enjoy many adventures with him on XC gear as a kid.
Rog isn't about the latest gear, the greatest groom, the perfect form, or who's leading the World Cup. Instead Rog is about the pure joy of exploring and gliding on skis. This past week I went on two very different adventures, one was a circumvention of the Pleasant Mountain ridge, and the other was supposed to be another mountain climb under the full moon, but we couldn't find the trail head so it turned into an exploration of a oil pipeline.
Both were fun. Both were memorable. Both were trips I never would have done without someone like Rog saying, "hey let's do this".
I have a write up on the Pleasant Mountain trip that I am working on, but it's not quite done yet. The pipeline trip went like this, Rog called and said he had an idea and gave me a run down on who was going. I talked K into going and then I packed. When I say I packed, I mean I packed. A trip with Rog can often mean an adventure that runs WAY over the allotted time. So food and water are always key, as well as clothing that you REALLY hop you won't need.
When Rog showed up, he was alone, the thought of a night time trip with Rog on trails we had to drive to, that he hadn't been on in years, was just too much for most. So Rog jumped in our van and we were off. Keep in mind the temps had been in the upper 40's during the day and the temps were dropping, so we hoped the snow would set up nicely. K and I chose BC skis with metal edges. Rog chose his pair of XC skis. A vintage pair of waxless Rossi's (no edge and likely 210's). Add to that and his "pack" a 4oz water bottle.
We headed towards Bethel and began the search for the trail head, which was supposed to be near a "green post just past where the Crooked River crosses the road". We looked. We drove back and forth. Rog got out and stepped into a brook looking. We looked a bit more and then gave up. So we headed to Albany to find the pipeline, which was plan B.
We found a spot to park and headed out. The snow was firming up fast, but the snowmobile trail hadn't been used for awhile so there was a mix of rotten snow that you could punch through to very hard crust that I was glad to have and edge for. We headed up the trail, literally up- herringbone for the first few minutes. The moon was super bright and the night time views were very impressive. The climb mellowed and we were enjoying the tour, but in the back of my mind I was worried about the ski back down. With funky snow, bare spots, open streams, and a pretty good hill I was envisioning several near death experiences on the trip back- but I kept putting that out of my head.
The trail rolled along, giving us a chance to enjoy a few short descents, and our concern about the snow conditions was justified. We came to a spot that looked like we had come to a stream we couldn't cross, but we finally found a suitable snow bridge and gave it a go. We came to another stream, and with no snow bridge we jumped it (small gap). We came to yet another stream and decided to call it a day and begin to head back.
K and Rog were ahead of me and made it look easy. I got cocky and nearly did my famous star-fish-fired-from-a-cannon routine. The snow was fast, but I didn't feel like I could put much pressure on a single ski for fear of punching through and getting tossed, meaning edging was done in a very gentle way and in those situations where we had to stop quick we took the risk and punched down through and stopped quick.
However we became more comfortable and soon we enjoyed the ride, taking in the moon soaked landscape and enjoying the crisp air. We got back to the car and were chatting about the adventure with smiles on our faces. The snow conditions weren't great, the trail was just ok, but the joy of being out on skis under a beautiful moon with great people- well that just trumps it all.
I can't wait for my next trip with Rog.
Monday, March 21, 2011
Friday, March 18, 2011
100,000 Vertical Challenge Raises Record Funds For Make-A-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire
8th Annual Marathon Skiing & Riding Event Participants Raise Over $64,000
Pinkham Notch, NH – A total of 32 skiers and riders registered and accepted the challenge to conquer over 100,000 vertical feet in a single day on Monday, March 14th to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire. Weather for the event couldn’t have been much more perfect for the field of male & female, young & old, and ski & snowboard participants to push themselves to complete the marathon alpine event. This year’s participants were able to collectively raise over $64,000 in pledge donations to set an event record high donation amount for their efforts. With this additional amount, The Wildcat Mountain Vertical Challenge has now contributed over $200,000 in funds to directly benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire.
Loading the Wildcat Express high-speed summit quad chairlift at 7:30am to begin the 100,000 vertical foot challenge (skiing or snowboarding 48 runs down the Lynx trail), 22 of the 32 participants were able to complete the challenge with Chris Scannell of Marblehead, MA, Al Toutant of Bryant Pond, ME, and Chris Leuci of Lynnfield, MA finishing 1, 2, and 3 respectively in an event touted not as a race, but as a personal challenge and fundraiser. More impressive, top fundraisers for this year’s 100K Day were lead for a second year in a row by Kevin Elwood of Rowley, MA having raised over $44,000. Chris Scannell of Marblehead, MA was second top fundraiser for a third year in a row with over $4,000 in donations collected and Jessica Quinn of Hudson, NH was the third highest having contributed over $2,000 in collected donations for the event.
Including this year’s new record high donation amount, since the first 100,000 vertical foot challenge took place in 2004, the annual event’s cumulative donation amount has exceeded $200,000. Wildcat Mountain was most recently recognized by Make-A-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire as a “Wish Benefactor” noting that the event’s annual giving surpassed $25,000. The annual 100K event is unique to Wildcat Mountain coupling the accessibility and speed of the Wildcat Express high-speed, summit lift and the ski area’s greater than 2,100 vertical foot drop.
Wildcat Mountain would like to thank all participants, donation supporters, volunteers, and recognize the generosity of those that helped to make the event possible providing in-kind support, participant gift bag donations, and top fundraising prizes including: Rossignol Skis, Fischer Skis, Dakine, Bern Helmets, Green Wax, Liftopia.com, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England, Maui Jim Sunglasses, Moat Mountain Smokehouse & Brewery Co., The Local Grocer, & Poor People’s Pub.
The mission of the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire (www.newhampshire.wish.org) is to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. It strives to provide children with the hope for better times, the strength for the tough times and the joy to experience the present. The Make-A-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire is part of the nation's largest and most recognized wish-granting organization, with chapters and volunteers throughout the United States and the world.
Wildcat Mountain is located 100% within the White Mountain National Forest in Pinkham Notch, NH. It is home to the 75-year-old Wildcat Trail first cut by the Civilian Conservation Corp in 1933 and is renowned for its proximity to Mt. Washington and Tuckerman Ravine. For further information, please visit skiwildcat.com or call 1-888- SKI WILD.
###
Thomas Prindle - Director of Marketing
Wildcat Mountain - Rt 16, Pinkham Notch
PO Box 817, Jackson, NH 03846
Office: 603 466-3326 x216 Fax: 603 466-5813
Email: tprindle@ Web: skiwildcat.com
Pinkham Notch, NH – A total of 32 skiers and riders registered and accepted the challenge to conquer over 100,000 vertical feet in a single day on Monday, March 14th to benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire. Weather for the event couldn’t have been much more perfect for the field of male & female, young & old, and ski & snowboard participants to push themselves to complete the marathon alpine event. This year’s participants were able to collectively raise over $64,000 in pledge donations to set an event record high donation amount for their efforts. With this additional amount, The Wildcat Mountain Vertical Challenge has now contributed over $200,000 in funds to directly benefit Make-A-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire.
Loading the Wildcat Express high-speed summit quad chairlift at 7:30am to begin the 100,000 vertical foot challenge (skiing or snowboarding 48 runs down the Lynx trail), 22 of the 32 participants were able to complete the challenge with Chris Scannell of Marblehead, MA, Al Toutant of Bryant Pond, ME, and Chris Leuci of Lynnfield, MA finishing 1, 2, and 3 respectively in an event touted not as a race, but as a personal challenge and fundraiser. More impressive, top fundraisers for this year’s 100K Day were lead for a second year in a row by Kevin Elwood of Rowley, MA having raised over $44,000. Chris Scannell of Marblehead, MA was second top fundraiser for a third year in a row with over $4,000 in donations collected and Jessica Quinn of Hudson, NH was the third highest having contributed over $2,000 in collected donations for the event.
Including this year’s new record high donation amount, since the first 100,000 vertical foot challenge took place in 2004, the annual event’s cumulative donation amount has exceeded $200,000. Wildcat Mountain was most recently recognized by Make-A-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire as a “Wish Benefactor” noting that the event’s annual giving surpassed $25,000. The annual 100K event is unique to Wildcat Mountain coupling the accessibility and speed of the Wildcat Express high-speed, summit lift and the ski area’s greater than 2,100 vertical foot drop.
Wildcat Mountain would like to thank all participants, donation supporters, volunteers, and recognize the generosity of those that helped to make the event possible providing in-kind support, participant gift bag donations, and top fundraising prizes including: Rossignol Skis, Fischer Skis, Dakine, Bern Helmets, Green Wax, Liftopia.com, Coca-Cola Bottling Company of Northern New England, Maui Jim Sunglasses, Moat Mountain Smokehouse & Brewery Co., The Local Grocer, & Poor People’s Pub.
The mission of the Make-A-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire (www.newhampshire.wish.org) is to grant the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. It strives to provide children with the hope for better times, the strength for the tough times and the joy to experience the present. The Make-A-Wish Foundation® of New Hampshire is part of the nation's largest and most recognized wish-granting organization, with chapters and volunteers throughout the United States and the world.
Wildcat Mountain is located 100% within the White Mountain National Forest in Pinkham Notch, NH. It is home to the 75-year-old Wildcat Trail first cut by the Civilian Conservation Corp in 1933 and is renowned for its proximity to Mt. Washington and Tuckerman Ravine. For further information, please visit skiwildcat.com or call 1-888- SKI WILD.
###
Thomas Prindle - Director of Marketing
Wildcat Mountain - Rt 16, Pinkham Notch
PO Box 817, Jackson, NH 03846
Office: 603 466-3326 x216 Fax: 603 466-5813
Email: tprindle@ Web: skiwildcat.com
Monday, March 14, 2011
Know the Code!
Do you "Know the Code?" Ok I'll give you a it of a hint, I'm talking about the "Your Responisbility Code" that is promoted by the National Ski Area Association and is posted on the back of trail maps, on lift towers, in ski shops, and all sorts of other areas around ski areas. In fact the National Safety Awareness Week just wrapped up as part of a nation wide effort to promote safety on the slopes.
So back to the code- do you know it? There are seven items on the list, and here they are verbatim from the NSAA website:
* Always stay in control, and be able to stop or avoid other people or objects.
* People ahead of you have the right of way. It is your responsibility to avoid them.
* You must not stop where you obstruct a trail, or are not visible from above.
* Whenever starting downhill or merging into a trail, look uphill and yield to others.
* Always use devices to help prevent runaway equipment.
* Observe all posted signs and warnings. Keep off closed trails and out of closed areas.
* Prior to using any lift, you must have the knowledge and ability to load, ride and unload safely.
KNOW THE CODE. IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
This seems like a pretty straight forward list, but if we stop and think about it I'm guessing we could ride any lift that rides over a busy trail and see many of these rules broken on a regular basis.
The first item may be a bit subjective. There are plenty of times I'm pretty glad I'm on the lift when I see a skier or rider come careening down the hill in what I would argue is a situation of little control. That particular skier may argue that fact, but my guess is that some skiers rely a bit too much on luck.
The second item is one that irritates me to know avail, as I'm pretty sure there have been skiers who have read that to ready "as long as you can get in front of someone then you will be the downhill skier and then you will have right away, but since you will eventually have right of way you mind as well take it now and just about run over the person in front of you." Ok maybe they don't put that much thought into it, but the skier or rider who is in front of you has right of way- so let them have some space and make a safe pass.
You must not stop where you obstruct a trail, or are not visible from above. I think NSAA should have said, "Stop where people can see you from a safe distance, and do so on the side of the trail". Again in peoples haste they miss the nuance of "must not" and they assume that stopping in the middle of the trail beneath a knoll is the safest spot, the old "if I can't see them they can't see me." Just think about it- that skier who is questionable in their adherence to the first rule may be the one coming around the corner or over the knoll.
The merging and yielding- oh my. Just look at the difficulty people have at the round about near Hanafords- enough said!
Always use a device to avoid run away skis. This one, I think, has good compliance. Most alpine skiers have brakes and most telemarkers and snowboarders run their leashes. The bigger issue is when the skiers loose their skis on a powder day- can be a bummer looking for a ski as everyone snakes by and steals you fresh tracks!
Signs. Ok this one is tough, the number of signs we have to try and pay attention to is a bit much. I'm pretty sure I didn't have on my sunscreen the other day, and I think I saw a sign saying I needed some. I'm also sure that the Parking Lot Full sign doesn't apply to me when I drive our Honda Fit- I can park that anywhere. That being said trails are closed for a reason, usually involving hazards that you're inner Glen Plake may not be ready to deal with. Nothing is more embarrassing than hurting yourself on a closed trail, where the added insult is losing your ticket in addition toboggan ride that isn't nearly as much fun as it looks when you watch someone else get carted off the mountain. It's not just the closed signs, but also the SLOW and the Trail Merge signs- there there for a reason, and just because you can cut your way through a crowd like Zurbriggen used to cut up a slalom course doesn't mean you should- my kid might be in that crowd and I get a little edgy when people ski by her at speed in a slow zone.
The final rule on this admittedly abbreviated list is to know how to use the lift before you load. This one reads more like a self preservation rule, but I'm always amazed at the group of teens out at the mountain for the first time that think a quad is made for five or six- or think that the unloading area will have an usher that will walk them down the ramp. I don't know about you but the idea of any contraption that is going to take me up into the air, up to 40 feet up, I want to have an idea of how it works. When it comes to surface lifts it's a good idea to know how they work as well- but I have to be honest watching people try to figure out a self loading poma lift of t-bar can be very entertaining.
So those are the rules. Give them a read. Share them with your friends. Quiz each other, and understand there is a reason for the Code- it is to keep all of us safe out there while we are having fun. The one major addition I would like to add- be courteous. We are all trying to have fun, no need to be rude out on the hill, in lift line, in the lodge, in the parking lot, in the food line, anywhere. Take a deep breath, heck take three since they are free and just relax. Skiing is the best sport in the world, so take an extra moment to enjoy it right.Originally printed in the Mountain Ear- February 2009.
So back to the code- do you know it? There are seven items on the list, and here they are verbatim from the NSAA website:
* Always stay in control, and be able to stop or avoid other people or objects.
* People ahead of you have the right of way. It is your responsibility to avoid them.
* You must not stop where you obstruct a trail, or are not visible from above.
* Whenever starting downhill or merging into a trail, look uphill and yield to others.
* Always use devices to help prevent runaway equipment.
* Observe all posted signs and warnings. Keep off closed trails and out of closed areas.
* Prior to using any lift, you must have the knowledge and ability to load, ride and unload safely.
KNOW THE CODE. IT'S YOUR RESPONSIBILITY.
This seems like a pretty straight forward list, but if we stop and think about it I'm guessing we could ride any lift that rides over a busy trail and see many of these rules broken on a regular basis.
The first item may be a bit subjective. There are plenty of times I'm pretty glad I'm on the lift when I see a skier or rider come careening down the hill in what I would argue is a situation of little control. That particular skier may argue that fact, but my guess is that some skiers rely a bit too much on luck.
The second item is one that irritates me to know avail, as I'm pretty sure there have been skiers who have read that to ready "as long as you can get in front of someone then you will be the downhill skier and then you will have right away, but since you will eventually have right of way you mind as well take it now and just about run over the person in front of you." Ok maybe they don't put that much thought into it, but the skier or rider who is in front of you has right of way- so let them have some space and make a safe pass.
You must not stop where you obstruct a trail, or are not visible from above. I think NSAA should have said, "Stop where people can see you from a safe distance, and do so on the side of the trail". Again in peoples haste they miss the nuance of "must not" and they assume that stopping in the middle of the trail beneath a knoll is the safest spot, the old "if I can't see them they can't see me." Just think about it- that skier who is questionable in their adherence to the first rule may be the one coming around the corner or over the knoll.
The merging and yielding- oh my. Just look at the difficulty people have at the round about near Hanafords- enough said!
Always use a device to avoid run away skis. This one, I think, has good compliance. Most alpine skiers have brakes and most telemarkers and snowboarders run their leashes. The bigger issue is when the skiers loose their skis on a powder day- can be a bummer looking for a ski as everyone snakes by and steals you fresh tracks!
Signs. Ok this one is tough, the number of signs we have to try and pay attention to is a bit much. I'm pretty sure I didn't have on my sunscreen the other day, and I think I saw a sign saying I needed some. I'm also sure that the Parking Lot Full sign doesn't apply to me when I drive our Honda Fit- I can park that anywhere. That being said trails are closed for a reason, usually involving hazards that you're inner Glen Plake may not be ready to deal with. Nothing is more embarrassing than hurting yourself on a closed trail, where the added insult is losing your ticket in addition toboggan ride that isn't nearly as much fun as it looks when you watch someone else get carted off the mountain. It's not just the closed signs, but also the SLOW and the Trail Merge signs- there there for a reason, and just because you can cut your way through a crowd like Zurbriggen used to cut up a slalom course doesn't mean you should- my kid might be in that crowd and I get a little edgy when people ski by her at speed in a slow zone.
The final rule on this admittedly abbreviated list is to know how to use the lift before you load. This one reads more like a self preservation rule, but I'm always amazed at the group of teens out at the mountain for the first time that think a quad is made for five or six- or think that the unloading area will have an usher that will walk them down the ramp. I don't know about you but the idea of any contraption that is going to take me up into the air, up to 40 feet up, I want to have an idea of how it works. When it comes to surface lifts it's a good idea to know how they work as well- but I have to be honest watching people try to figure out a self loading poma lift of t-bar can be very entertaining.
So those are the rules. Give them a read. Share them with your friends. Quiz each other, and understand there is a reason for the Code- it is to keep all of us safe out there while we are having fun. The one major addition I would like to add- be courteous. We are all trying to have fun, no need to be rude out on the hill, in lift line, in the lodge, in the parking lot, in the food line, anywhere. Take a deep breath, heck take three since they are free and just relax. Skiing is the best sport in the world, so take an extra moment to enjoy it right.Originally printed in the Mountain Ear- February 2009.
Friday, March 11, 2011
Rain
It's pouring out right now. I'm not sure how I feel about that. On the one hand it may be dumping up in the mountains and at the same times the roads are getting cleaned off and that means the road riding is getting better. At the same time it means my local XC skiing is starting to come apart at the seams.
This is always a tough time of year when I struggle with the daily bounce between skiing and cycling. Boy life is tough.
This is always a tough time of year when I struggle with the daily bounce between skiing and cycling. Boy life is tough.
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