Here is a link to Gretchen's Section 1 pictures.
02/19/2011 Day 1 Section 1: We had two warm days, then it froze last night. Could have been ugly, but except for the extended road walk due to construction, we had some pretty nice skiing. I'm told the trail breaking up front was a bit of work, but back where I was it was like a groomed (with slightly icy rough edges) track. I did a test faceplant (off trail) and did leave a little skin behind, so staying up is recommended. It was so nice for the last three miles that four of us turned around at the end and skied four extra miles back to our cars. I heard a little grumbling about the conditions, but I think most folks enjoyed themselves.
Here is a link to Gretchen's Section 1 pictures.
02/20/2011 Day 2 Section 2: For Section 2 we had 20 "leisurely" skiers northbound, eight "eager" skiers southbound. The half inch or so of new snow was enough to quiet the crunchy snow somewhat. Trail breaking was pretty easy, many places we broke parallel tracks to the frozen ruts that were left from the warm spell. The leisurley skiers lived up to their name with a sunny lunch along Wilder Brook (Thank you TransCanada for a the bridge repair!) and many pauses to view fresh bobcat, porcupine, turkey, partridge, fox and coyote(?) tracks.
The eager skiers were finished and back at Medburyville by the time we got there (with two more miles to go) to provide bailout options. The ups and downs along Medburyville and Searsburg Station were navigated with discretion (see picture from a few years ago at the bottom of
Your Skiing Ability,
this is the drop at Medburyville South in even worse conditions).
And then, a quick hop over to Bennington for the Bennington Gluttony and Sauna Extravaganza! You could hate skiing and still be glad you skied if you got to go to this event. But of course you could go even if you hadn't skied. Food, drink, food, sauna, poetry, stories, food, dessert, good company, food, they had everything! Thanks Jim and Chickie!
Snow coming tonight, should be a good trip on Sec 3 tomorrow.
Here is a link to Gretchen's Section 2 pictures.
02/21/2011 Day 3 Section 3: Twenty eight (!) WLT skiers enjoyed the sights and sounds of the upper Deerfield River Valley today, with our day leader Tim Marr.
We prevailed on the eager skiers to drive the cars up to the dam and drop them off, then they chased us, catching up just before lunch on our well tramped trail. Tim picked the perfect lunch spot. Tim is also the trail chief for this section, he has made great improvements over the years. He does need to work on his Moose Education program though, they keep postholing the trail. We only got 2" of the predicted 6" of new fluff, but it was enough to give some beauty and grip and a bit of quiet. Some of the stream crossings caused bottle necks, but I don't think anyone got wet.
Thanks Tim!
Here is a link to Gretchen's Section 3 pictures.
02/22/2011 Day 4 Section 4: Tuesday's tour started with breakfast at the West Dover Inn. We
then threw all the car keys into a hat to figure out the key swap
(not really). Skiing Section 4 (from the perspective of the
northbound leisurely group of 16) began with a missing blaze snafu
that was quickly remedied (the snafu, not the missing blaze), and
then sighs of relief as folks left the SM trail and hit the new fluff.
We 'broke trail' all the way to the end of the reservoir, but it was
easy going. The base was firm but not rock hard, even those of us
with big packs and/or big bellies weren't breaking through. We
practiced finding our own way around dips and stream crossings
and hard-to-ski-across bridges. This trail is a hiking trail with CT
blazes. The trail chiefs have made some modifications for skiers
that were appreciated by those who don't like to herringbone out of
narrow deep holes.
We met the ten southbound eager skiers just north of Moon Brook
bridge for lunch. According to the guidebook we had done 1.8
miles, they had done 6.0 miles, but theirs was all down hill, and I
have always been suspicious of the GB mileage here. Some of the
eager skiers warned of difficult conditions near Grout Pond, but we
were puzzled the whole way to our finish as it seemed pretty
perfect and consistent to us. I suspect their problem came on the
long gradual downhill, which looked like it had frozen rutted tracks
in it. I was able to get some tele-turns in the open hardwood
forest near Grout Pond, but your mileage may vary.
The SB skiers were finished by 2pm, the NB about 4pm. Except for
one couple, we managed to have everyone's car available to them
at the finish, without additional driving to un-swap keys.
Here is a link to Gretchen's Section 4 pictures.
02/24/2011 Day 5 Section 5: Twenty-three skiers headed north from Kelley Stand Rd today after a complicated car shuttle. The gradual climb in the sun soon had everyone stopping to shed, some down to shirt sleeves. The woods along the Stratton Pond Trail were cooler and faster, the snow was like the last few days, a little fluff on a solid base. It was often easier to ski off of the pounded hard snowshoe track, parallel to the trail in the woods. We stopped for a breezy lunch on Stratton Pond, then on to Little Pond where we split up so that some could continue on to the fabled and feared Pony Hill.
Half the group followed our trusty day leader Andrew, who did not recommend either Pony Hill or the IP Road bypass due to the solid crust. They returned to North Brookwood Road at Stratton Mtn. The remainder of the group plunged down Pony Hill. Every method of speed control was used, side-stepping, side-slipping, snowplowing, parallel, cristy, various approximations of telemark, hop turns, jump turns, butt plants, face plants and sliding into home plate. No one successfully tamed the unpredictable crust, but very little blood was actually shed. Julie summed up her 1.5 mile snowplow descent by saying "It was fine, I never felt like I was going to die."
The group was inspired by the feat of 75-year-old Glenda Cotrill. She had skied all but this one section as part of the MONTH-long tour in 2003. We gave her a rousing cheer as she finished skiing 300 miles of Vermont on the CT.
Many of us had dinner at the Landgrove Inn to help Gretchen and Michael celebrate their anniversary.
Snow coming!
Here is a link to Gretchen's Section 5 pictures.
02/25/2011 Day 6 Section 6: Today's selection was a saucy little number called Golden Spike, produced by Catamount Trail in 2008. As decanted by Day Leader Dagny, it started with a messy drive. It then developed a strong uphill component, aided by a heavily falling snow. The body was damp, and alternately chilly and overheated, with threats of hypothermia. Notes of oak, beech, hemlock, spruce, maple, poplar, ash and sweat were present. The middle produced a confusing diversion of pathways and destinations, and some enjoyable yo-yoing was detected. It had a foot-feel of snowplow, telemark, pole-drag and sitzmark. It finished with a flourish of whoops, chocolate and spruce. An after-taste of shoveling was present as well. This selection was enjoyed by eighteen northbound skiers, seven of whom decided the glass was half full at Rt 30. Ten southbound skiers enjoyed the day as well. This tour complements any potluck, especially chili, chicken-brocolli and plenty of desserts.
Here is a link to Gretchen's Section 6 pictures.
02/26/2011 Day 7 Section 7: Words cannot describe this perfect day!
Here is a link to Gretchen's Section 7 pictures.
02/27/2011 Day 8 Section 8: Our final day of skiing from the MA/VT line to Greendale Road started out with enough new snow to generate some concern about driving and about getting wet and chilled again. The 23 skiers who did brave (is it brave, or foolish?) the conditions had another beautiful tour. We used the eager skiers to spot cars at the end of Greendale Road. The rest of us were held up long enough trying to avoid the town plows and figuring out what cars to leave where that some of the eager skiers hit the trail before some of the leisurely skiers did.
We had not only 6" of new snow to enjoy, but the 12" from a few days before was there as well. Some of the Utley Brook Trail had been skied after the prior storm.
Pat did a great job breaking trail over the Utley Brook Trail section. She can't be accused of hogging the front because no one else was even keeping up with her. On the descent some short-cuts provided a chance for a few tele-turns, while others plowed or turned their way down the trail to FR 10.
We regrouped at FR 10, and two skiers choose this point to ski the FR back to the cars, as there is no place to spot a car along this route. At the back of the group various scenes of ski scraping and glide waxing were encountered as folks dealt with the new warm snow. The snow stopped in the early afternoon, and a few glimpses of sun were seen.
We met very few snowmobiles on the parts of the trail open to sleds, but we did meet one dog sled on FR10! The remainder of the ski was just pretty new snow on hardwood and softwood forests, ponds and streams. Apparently a number of folks felt the 'smell the barn', 'end of the tour' blues as they dragged their sticky skis along Jenny Coolidge Brook, luckily that part was all down hill.
Hugs, good-byes and promises were shared at Greendale Road as we figured out who rode in what to go where to get home.
Here is a numerical rundown of the Week Long Tour: 71.3 guidebook miles for Sec 1-8. 50 different skiers took part in this tour. Sec 1 20 Sec 2 27 Sec 3 30 Sec 4 24 Sec 5 26 Sec 6 28 Sec 7 32 Sec 8 25 32 skiers the most on a single day. 20 skiers the smallest day. 212 skier-days, partial and full length. Over 1722 skier-miles for the week! (1 skier, skiing 1 mile, is one skier-mile, I didn't keep track of 'bail-outs' or back tracks.) $2000, roughly what was collected in donations for this tour, you can still make this bigger! 18 years, youngest skier. 75 years, oldest skier(?) 8 skiers who skied all eight days, full length. 4 social events. 4 great day leaders! Thanks, Tim, Andrew, Dagny and Donna. 2 missed turns on the trail. 2 times I needed the radios to work and they didn't. 9 couples who skied at least one day together. Over 600 emails sent or received by me. Here is a bunch of zeros: Skiers rescued. Skiers lost. 'Lost-time' injuries. Minutes spent waiting for late arrivals. Days cancelled. Minutes of skiing in the rain. Skiers who wanted to do a group ski on the 'Rest Day'. Broken skis. Each of these is one: Mother-father-daughter ski days. Father-son ski days. Cases of pneumonia. Skiers who finished her end-to-end quest. Mouse (not moose) holding up skiers by hogging trail. Broken ski pole. These cannot be (and should not be) counted: Falls. Laughs. New Friends. Times someone said "This is so beautiful!" Pounds of gear carried. Pounds of delicious goodies shared on the trail. Hours spent drying wet gear. Hours spent coordinating this tour. Appreciative comments.
If you've stuck with me this far, here is a little limerick from Jim Goodine to finish things up. Conditions can be quite a mess, We don't have the skills or finesse. Most of us bail, And get off the trail, But Sam will just schuss none-the-less. Terrain around here ain't Nantucket, Not flat like the lid of a bucket, The washouts, you know, Or limbs hanging low, So jump it or maybe just duck it. We're all pretty fit exercisers, We love food and hot appetizers, We're not maimed or dead, They planned well ahead, So here's to the trip organizers. Listen to daily trip bosses, Avoid a deadly colossus, Check in with "the man", Check out if you can, 10% are acceptable losses.
