2013 Southern WLT Report - Catamount Trail Assoc.

2013 Southern WLT Report

Here is a trip report for the first five days written by Pat Sabalis. I was unable to ski the first four days, thanks Pat!

01/26/2013 - 01/31/2013 We gathered on Day One at the Harriman Dam parking lot on a very cold morning (7°) under crystal clear blue skies. We numbered 28 hearty souls from Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Massachusetts, Quebec, Vermont and Washington, D.C. There was some new, squeaky snow. On Day Five, our numbers were down to 8, the temperature was up to 50, the snow was wet and we water-skied. Between these two extremes, we had surprisingly good skiing from the Massachusetts border to Stratton Pond when the weather forced us to reschedule the last part of the tour.
Although our fearless leader was sick at home, Marie and Pete stepped in and coordinated our check-in and the transfer of skiers to Readsboro, a sleepy town that once thrived with lumber, pulp and paper mills, and a chair factory. The Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington Railroad (HT&W or “Hoot, Toot, and Whistle”) moved logs from Readsboro to Holyoke, Massachusetts; it later stretched north from Readsboro to Wilmington. The snow cover was thin but skiable down to the Massachusetts border and back north as the large group evolved into the rabbits and the tourers. The thin cover continued in the woods along the Deerfield River, but we had fun and actually found a sunny, sheltered spot where we paused for a sit-down lunch. The day ended fairly early without incident except for the departure of two skiers early in the day when one fell while crossing the drainage ditch. In the evening, many of us gathered at Prospect Mountain for a lasagna buffet dinner. Some hearty souls braved the cold for a moonlit ski to a bonfire in the woods. Those who made the trip said it was wonderful.
Day Two was another cold sunny day as we split into a N-S group and a S-N group to enjoy the generally level skiing on old wood roads and the abandoned railroad bed skirting the Harriman Reservoir, the largest body of water completely within Vermont’s borders. It is 2,000 acres, has 28 miles of coastline, and is about 10 miles long. The western shore where we skied is rugged and thickly forested with no development except for a picnic area. On this quiet trail where we saw only three snowmobiles, it was hard to imagine that the woods once bustled with logging activity and the Deerfield River Railroad, which began construction in 1906 to carry hardwood to Mountain Mills. The DRRR eventually laid close to 41 miles of track in these woods, including spurs. It was narrow gauge during its 15 years of operation, and although it was a logging railroad, the DRRR sometimes carried passengers in a small coach.
The Harriman Reservoir buried Mountain Mills when the dam was completed in April 1924. In its heyday, Mountain Mills had houses, a 6-bed hospital, a sulphate pulp mill, a bobbin mill, and the HT&W railroad station that shared a four story building with a prostitution enterprise. When the logging business declined after the first world war, the sawmill closed in 1920 and the pulp mill followed in 1923. For more information about the town and railroad, see "Mountain Mills, Vermont and the Deerfield River Railroad," by William Gove in The Northern Logger and Timber Processor (May 1969). (http://www.hoosactunnel.net/HTW/images/SomersetVT_LOGGING.PDF).
None of this logging and railroad activity was apparent as we glided along the quiet reservoir under sunny skies in what seemed to be pristine woods. The snow was not plentiful, but it was adequate. Not all of us had the chance to glide along, though. Bill discovered that his binding wouldn’t open after he shuttled a car from Lund Lane to the dam in the morning, so he spent the day shuffling along on the snowshoes he’d been carrying. Nevertheless, he was at the dam when we arrived from the north at about 1:15 pm, smiling and cheerful as usual.

We all skied together north to south on Day Three from the south end of the Somerset Reservoir back to Lund Lane by Route 9. Julie from NH joined us. It was overcast, but still cold. After Pete regaled us with a few stories about the HT&W Railroad, we shuttled cars to the maintenance shack at the end of the Somerset Dam Access Road, a long beautiful drive. We dove into the woods by a huge ice formation in the stream. The snow was good on the initial steep descents. A few trees were down on the trail from recent winds. The trail flattened out, but the cover became kind of thin and we had to deal with gullies and stream crossings of glare ice. We had a chilly lunch by the amazing aluminum bridges provided by TransCanada. It started snowing lightly with temperatures in the 20s, a welcome development. We skied by the Searsburg Reservoir and on an old railroad bed along the Deerfield River back to the cars around 1:15 pm. One skier shed some blood on the trail when he fell and banged his head on a stump, but he soldiered on. Although we were all invited to Reed’s house for pizza dinner, few wanted to drive down the long hill to Bennington in mixed precipitation. As we chipped ice from our windshield after dinner, we were glad to be close to our accommodations.
On Tuesday, Day Four, we met at Dot’s and again split up into N-S and S-N groups. We had about 2” of new snow on a thin crust; the skies were cloudy. At the south end, Bob realized that he wore his street boots to drive to the start. He did have his ski boots, but had to jam the street boots into his pack and carry them nearly 8 miles. At the north end, Julie realized that she had the wrong skis (from Peter’s truck). Fortunately, the bindings were the same; unfortunately, the skis were waxable. Julie had her first experience with waxable equipment on a day that cried out for waxless skis.
There were lots of ups and downs on the east shore of the Somerset Reservoir through mixed hardwood forests. When the Somerset Dam was built in 1912, a few mills were drowned by the reservoir. The Somerset Reservoir has 1600 acres of water, is 5 miles long, north to south, has about 12 islands and 16 miles of shore and is surrounded by protected lands. Apparently, it is the largest undeveloped water body in Vermont. Townsend’s Leland and Gray High School owns 50 acres on the Somerset; the high school and TransCanada Corporation are the only landowners. Except for one picnic site, the shore is wild with little winter human use, limited to a snowmobile trail at the southeast corner of the reservoir and the skiers on the Catamount Trail.
There was some drifting at the northern section, which required some trail breaking (yay!). No one complained about the deep snow. Our two groups met about noon, so we ate lunch together. As the day wore on, the snow got a bit sticky, but not too problematic. We all reached our cars early in the afternoon and took off for the rest day.
On Day Five after a warm rainy rest day, we were just eight skiers at Winhall as the temperature started to drop from well above freezing, and light rain changed to snow flurries. Sam was back in the saddle, but had concerns about stream crossings, so we decided to go back to Kelly Stand Road and ski into Stratton Pond and back. The trail initially was compacted, but there was substantial water that was sometimes obvious and other times under the snow in unpredictable places. The snow was wet granular with very little crust. Conditions improved on the Stratton Pond Trail. We had a nice lunch in the Stratton Pond shelter and visited the pond so Sam could do a face plant. Sam suggested a new route back, so we took the AT/LT south to the IP road, which was quiet and mostly snow-less. We skied on the remaining strips of snow. Despite the conditions, everyone was smiling at the end. Smiles got wider when Pete broke out the week's supply of cookies and magic bars that would not be needed since Sam decided to postpone the last part of the tour. Part one was a great tour with only minor mishaps and only one broken pole, which itself was uneventful since Doug carried an extra one. Good trail, good companions, good times.

01/31/2013 Stratton Pond shortened trip report, this one by Sam:
About 16 skiers were signed up for Sec 5, but after a lot of cancellations we were just eight (Sam, Marie, Pete, Tif, Pat, Julie, Bill and Doug) Thurs morning, and even amongst that group enthusiasm was a bit low. There wasn't a lot of snow (except wind-whipped wet flurries) at Winhall where we met, and we had some concerns about a stream crossing N of Stratton Pond, so we decided to go to Kelly Stand Rd and just ski in and out to the pond.
See the pictures to get an idea of conditions.

"This is your trail after two inches of rain" Photo by Marie Bartlett

The trail had had enough traffic that it was well enough compacted, but there was substantial water under the snow in unpredictable places, and lots that was obvious as well. Since it was above freezing this didn't matter too much. The snow was wet granular with very little crust.
When we got to the Stratton Pond Trail things were a bit better, the skiing was more technical but there was less flowing water to deal with.
We had a quick lunch in the SP shelter, it was nice to be out of the howling wind. The wind was mostly just noisy, you could see where a few things had fallen down but it didn't feel dangerous.
We skied down the hill to say 'hi' to Stratton Pond, I said it a bit more intimately than I had intended but I dried off quickly.
Then we tried a new (to us) route back, we took the AT/LT south to the IP road. This is more challenging than the SP Trail, more short steep ups and downs, but very pretty, and the woods are open enough that you can blaze your own trail. So far, except for the running water, we had had at least a foot of base. When we got to the IP Road (a snowmobile 'highway', deserted this day) the cover had 50% burned off, with just a new dusting to cover the grass. We were able to ski it by changing from side to side to follow the remaining strips of snow. Without the machines and despite the conditions, it was kind of a pretty ski. Then we rejoined the AT/LT (it had gone over Stratton Mtn) and had a similar ski right back to the cars. A few skiers choose to walk some of the of the AT/LT hills, there was plenty of side stepping and I think everyone toppled over at least once.
Seemed like everyone was smiling at the end, even before Pete broke out the week's supply of cookies and magic bars. The die-hards then decided to hike to the Grout Pond trailhead so they could get 'every last inch'. Trip Reports, Second Half

02/28/2013 End-to-Enders and End-over-Enders
Section 5, Kelley Stand Road to Kendall Farm Road
Today proved that our decision to postpone the SWLT second half after the thaw was the right decision.
We had plenty (plenty!) of snow and good base. Twenty-one skiers started from Kelley Stand Rd (unplowed from Grout Pond) at about 10am, 22 ended (Dagny joined us mid-way). We had plenty of trailbreaking to help keep the group together, often having to knock snow off bent-over trees to get through. We had a cozy lunch at the Stratton Pond shelter. No one wanted to bailout at the midway spot, so we went on to another lunch at Little Pond. Intermittent snow (almost rain at times) showers throughout the day. At the top of Pony Hill everyone was game for the infamous descent. By the time all 22 of us got down it was well packed, by tracks, bodies and sidestepping. It was possible to get some turns in, but most folks were in survival mode.
As I skied back up for another round, I saw a lot of looks of concentration, some laughs and smiles, some frustration, but no terror. Everyone took day leader Andrew's advice to ski within their ability. So we had tele turns in the trees, snowplows, side steps, side slips, parallel turns, hiking, pole drags (broom stick), butt drops, face plants and end-over-enders.
We ended between 3pm and 4pm, and had cupcakes, crackers, cheese, sausage, and champagne (hosted remotely by Karen Heinzmann) on the tailgate to celebrate the newly minted end-to-enders Peter Cottrell, Charlene Gates and Margo Krasnoff. They all got the Rich Larsen-inspired bear hug and a round of applause.
Here is an annotated map of Sec 5 from Sean:

03/01/2013 Ball Caps and Bare Hands
Section 6, Kendall Farm Rd to South Road
Twenty-two skiers braved forecasts of rain today to ski this section. We started at about 10am. The morning was pretty uneventful, the wet snow from yesterday had frozen, so the skiing was much noisier and the conversation limited. We had some gung-ho trail busters up front, and they made a smooth highway for the folks in the back. By the time we got near the top of the first climb we were getting some nice soft snow with easy climbing. Pretty quickly the mittens came off and the ball caps came out as people warmed up. We had lunch at the top of the drop to Rt 30, hoping the snow would soften. Andrew encouraged folks to do switchbacks and traverses to control their speed, and everyone took that advice, so much so that we lost the trail. We knew we were going to Rt 30 so it didn't matter much, unless you fell headfirst in thick saplings. Some folks had their first-ever faceplants (luckily the crust was forgiving) while others worked on perfecting their faceplants. Hard stuff to tele in, hop turns worked ok, and lots of traversing and kickturns. No one wanted to bail out at French Hollow Rd.
The next section looks flat on the guidebook profile, but is pretty rollercoastery. The trail busters were working along at a steady pace, but the back of the group was like an accordion as folks would wait for a downhill to clear, then shoot down it (or crash) and bunch up and wait again. Nothing wrong with that, just the way it was, fast in the back and slow in the front.
The last downhill was nice and open and tricky crust again, not so steep and no one lost the trail. Lots of linked recoveries as folks would get on top of the crust, then break through, etc.
It never did rain, no complaints about the sun. Everyone out by 3:15 for brownies thanks to Pete.
Here is an annotated map of Sec 6 from Sean:

03/02/2013 The Bathtub Formula
Section 7, South Road to Danby Mt Tabor Road
Today we were twenty skiers skiing from South Road to Danby/Mt Tabor Road. This is a prompt, eager and well-oiled machine, we were ready to start the car shuttle before the assigned meeting time, and hit the trail less than 30 minutes later.
Very similar conditions to yesterday, crusty, fast, deep enough to be tricky to get out of the track, hard to snowplow in. Lots of little, medium and large branches in the trail after the recent wind, and a number of large blowdowns, some on hills, so be careful if you ski this section. Some folks opted to ski with their skins on to provide more control.
We fixed blazes that the logging operation messed up, and sawed out a few blowdowns that were too big to just haul out of the way.
We had an early lunch at the John Sterns bridge, and Bill Michels told us about John's contributions to the CTA.
We had light flurries and temps in the 30's.
The logging activity has finished for now and the new snow has covered over the skidder tracks. We opted to ski the Jones Brook trail, the official route, in spite of the reported beaver activity, figuring (correctly) that it would be frozen over.
Skier spirits were remarkably high, considering the conditions, and very little blood was shed. A lot of folks used the butt-drop to brake for the narrow, fast corners, leaving an impressive collection of bathtubs on the trail.
We decided that the formula for bathtub volume (B) is determined by the product of Velocity V, and Ass (A) (not a typo), or
B = VA.
I made some big bathtubs, must have been the velocity.
This morning one skier bowed out due to battered feet that didn't want to spend another day in boots, and another skier pulled a hamstring, skinned the rest of the way and will skip Sunday's tour. Other than that this is a bunch of happy campers, they'll be happier if we get the forecast 1-3" of snow.
Here are some pictures from Peter Cottrell, Sec 5, his end-to-end day.
Here is a 'song' for today (apologies to Janis Joplin):
"Oh Lord, won't you buy me some stickier wax,
Or maybe a groomer that's leaving fresh tracks?
I'm losing my grip and I've finished my snacks,
Oh Lord, won't you buy me some stickier wax?"
Here are photos from Sec 6 and 7 from Lori.

03/03/2013 All Good Things Must Come To an End
Section 8, Danby Mt Tabor Rd to Greendale Rd
We had nineteen skiers for the 9.7 mile ski. At 9:40 we left the sled dogs and snowmobiles behind at Danby Mt Tabor Rd to head north. We had a little new snow to quiet the crunchy old snow. The climb and descent of the Utley Brook Trail was through beautiful snow covered hardwood and softwood forests, some heavily damaged by prior wind storms. We cleared a few blow downs and left others for next fall's trail crews. Some off-piste skiing was attempted but the crust was still pretty unforgiving.
When we regrouped at the end of Utley Brook, a number of folks had tell-tale signs of "I fought the law of gravity, and the law won."
None-the-less, just around the next corner everyone was cheering on those who took the adventurous approach to a series of bumps in the trail that challenged your ability to maintain balance.
The snowmobile trail on FR 10 was smooth, soft and fast and we encountered few sleds. We stopped for lunch where the trail turns off of FR 10. (Note for next time, there is a nice beaver pond with an open slope that makes a nicer lunch spot just around the corner.)
This section of the trail was much less snowmobiled, and we didn't encounter any machines. We climbed steadily through more beautiful forests, studied an otter track, and tried (with limited success) some more off-piste skiing. A steep drop and climb to a stream provided some mid-afternoon entertainment, I saw several folks at once body-packing the descent and opted for more of a contour through the trees uphill, which, except for one blow down, seems to me the preferable route.
We regrouped again at the top of Jenny Coolidge Brook Trail (snowmobile highway, but quiet today) and giggled our way to the cars as we glided, doubled poled and skated the 1.3 mile downhill. I generally don't like skiing on SM trails, but this was a good way to end a great Week Long Tour.
Thanks to our day leader Andrew, and to Mark and Andrew and others for sweeping, and Pete for all the car shuttle work.

"What's the big hurry?" Photo by Ed Linton

Pray for Snow!

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