Yikes 7/1/07

Sunday after a day of rafting I went back to Rumney, to go rock climbing with Igor. As previously stated I find it difficult to write about rock climbing but feel compelled to tell you about Sunday briefly because there were so many firsts for me.

We warmed up on a 5.8 that I cleaned and rappelled off of. That was my first rappel.

We climbed a multi-pitch route! It was super easy, basically a hike but good for figuring out the rope system on multi-pitch especially when the other multi-pitch we were going to try doesn’t exist! That was my first multi-pitch climb.

Ok, I’ll try harder on this next first. We had just finished a fun 5.8 called Drilling for Dollars and we were waiting for one of two other routes to open up. Either a 5.8+ or a 5.10a that are both very popular, however the Quebexicans were all over the place, mainly on these 2 routes, so Igor opted for a 5.10d, named something – I imagine it was named something but I can’t be sure. Before starting the route, Igor said, “its time to get over my fear of falling”. And that’s what he did, yikes. This is a very difficult route (as you may have guessed from the 5.10d rating). So I had Igor on belay about as tight as I could get him without pulling down on him when he came off the rock. He was about 4 feet above his last draw and it took about 6 feet to catch him which even though I’m not an MIT student equals about a 10 foot fall. For my mother’s sake I won’t go into detail but this was my first big catch (I made that term up I mean belaying and stopping someone else on a big fall).

Igor was fine and we took some time to chill while the Quebexicans yucked it up in French, English and Spanish (all very funny) while still climbing our intended routes. Finally, about an hour later, they got off Lonesome Dove, the 5.10a the Igor had his heart set on. I told Igor “I doubt I’ll get up this but I’ll give it a shot.” Igor decided that rather than lead, lower, belay me until I gave up then have to clean the route he would lead, top belay and then move over to the 5.8+ from above. That way I could finish my last route and Igor wouldn’t have to climb the same route twice. Igor had no problems with this extremely fun climb and set up to give me a shot. This climb is very balancy and does not have many jugs (big holds). As I got past the bottom and ran out of jugs, I tried to go off route and climb a crack but I soon realized (by realized I mean I came off the rock twice) that going up the route was my only chance. At first I didn’t see any holds but eventually I changed my perspective and noticed the smallest cracks and bumps. After deciding to climb the real route things started going really well. I climbed my first 5.10a!!!!!! and we went home.

High Side 6/30/07

Not our pics, again

I thought I signed up for another kayaking trip with MITOC but because it turned out to be a rafting trip, I’m still alive. 9 of us left MIT at 6am and headed out to the Dryway, a class 4 section of the Deerfield river (class 4 means big whitewater and is why I say that I would have died in a kayak). At the put in the MIT cars met the RPI cars, we ran shuttle to the take out, inflated our rafts and we were good to go/have a safety meeting because I hadn’t been in a raft since I was 13 and it was on a lazy river.

Oddly enough, when the group split into the rafts, all the BC skiers ended up in 1, odd. Ernesto was our guide and Doogie was training to guide which left Ali and I up front along with one non BC skier, Slobodan. The first run, led by our experienced guide was a lot of fun. The Dryway starts right below the release of a dam and about 100 yards into the run, we hit the rapids. Unlike the Winni, where I went kayaking, the Deerfield is cold water and as we ran the first rapid, I felt how cold, with multiple waves crashing into me.

During our safety meeting we were told to keep paddling until we were told to stop and we must have done a good job because Ernesto decided it would be cool to take us surfing! I didn’t know you could surf in a raft but we did it! Our first shot didn’t workout but we caught the eddy and gave it another try. Ernest told us, “when I say forward, I mean forward. Seriously, jump forward.” And as we paddled hard into the wave and finally got into the surf we heard “FORWARD” and Ali and I basically jumped into the water with the wave pearling (I’m guessing on that term) over the bow and the 2 of us pushing all of our weight on it, we were pressed between the water and rubber! Sitting there on the wave, not paddling but just balancing is an awesome feeling and because I was so focused on the task at hand I didn’t even notice the freezing water.

As we made our way down, we ran through a handful of rapids and even took one of them switch! The second to last rapid on the Dryway is called, Dragon Tooth and it is massive (we saw multiple kayakers swim). We head into the rapid paddling hard and follow the tongue half way through, when all of a sudden we come up on a wall of water. As we hit the water my contact shifted in my eye and I had to close my eyes to make sure I wouldn’t lose them. This meant I paddled the mankiest section of the river blind which also meant I probably wasn’t being so useful because I was hitting the side of the raft with my paddle rather than the water! Either way, Dragon Tooth is a sweet rollercoaster that guarantees you are soaked at the take out!

The last rapid, while not as intense as Dragon Tooth, was plenty exciting. It starts with an entry about as wide as a raft that drops about 2 feet (it looks big) into a re-circulating hole called Terminator! Ernesto lead us through rest of the maze (oh yeah this rapid is called Labyrinth) without a problem and we were out of the boat and loading Ali’s Civic with rafts (funny picture).

For the second run, Doogie was our guide! We didn’t get to surf but we really had a good time! Evidently, it takes 3 seconds to get a raft to start moving in the direction a guide wants it to and Doogie, while an experienced kayaker, had a little trouble adjusting to this.

We made it through a few rapids sans incident but soon enough, Doogie railed us into a rock and Ali went for a swim. Luckily Ernesto was able to pull him out right away. After that rapid, came another shallow rapid section, where Doogie did something, (I have no idea what that something is) Ali and I kept paddling and then we heard some commotion, looked back and Doogie is sitting on a rock in the middle of the rapid, Ernesto is guiding again and we are being told to paddle hard up river to try to rescue Doogie. We didn’t make it to Doogie so we had to eddy out about 40 feet from where he was. Ernesto tossed him a rescue line and pulled him through the still freezing water.

After laughing at Doogie I asked him if he was ok and with chattering teeth he said “cold”. But Doogie manned up and got back in the drivers seat! One more rapid and the excitement began. Doogie was taking on a maze of a rapid trying to get us river left of a large boulder when all of a sudden, he didn’t. The right side of the boat slammed up into the boulder and we were pinned. Let me restate that, pinned sounds so nice and comfortable. The right side of the boat SLAMMED into the boulder and the water started pushing the left side down so the right side was moving up the boulder. Yes this means the boat was going VERTICLE! Ernesto yelled “HIGH SIDE” as Ali and I were jumping up on the right side of the boat to level us out. We managed to counterbalance the water and ended the rapid going switch, hooting and hollering, stocked to, one not be swimming and two have had such a rush! Thanks Doogie that was sweeter than candy.

Doogie pulled through and led us through Dragon Tooth without a problem. We picked up 2 kayakers who had lost their boats and ran Labrynth (Doogie nailed this one as well) with their dead weight. The BC ski boat had an awesome day!

Sport 6/16/07

Stealing pics again: we totally didn't climb this

I have a confession to make, I’ve been climbing and not posting. We drive to the rock, walk to the top, build an anchor and then basically yuk it up, on and off the wall. While I’m hooked on climbing, I just haven’t been inspired to write a trip report that sounds like: “and he moved his right arm then his left foot and … he did it again and again…” You get my point but on Saturday Igor, Doogie, Ali and I went to Rumney and I am now inspired to write a TR about climbing.

Friday afternoon, a few minutes before 5 we all get a text message from Igor asking if we wanted to go to Rumney the next day. (Originally Igor was going to Maine and being that he is the only one among us with quick draws or webbing that meant none of us were going anywhere.) We all said yes, Doogie and Ali went out and bought harnesses and we all met at 6am and headed back to, where else… NH!

12 hours of this and see how your neck feels

We hit the parking lot at 8ish and reached the Parking Lot Wall a few minutes later. Igor is the only experienced climber among us and was forced to lead the first few climbs because none of us had climbed sport (heads up - scroll down on these links until you see the term)before. So Igor set us up on a 5.7 warm up and then we moved on down the same wall to another 5.7 and a 5.9. The sun and people were coming out in force and we ready to take a hike (about 30 minutes) to the Hinterlands, where we could find a little more space.

not one of us but we did climb this

Before we left we had to clean our routes and take down our ropes. This was my first experience cleaning or doing anything technical related to climbing! After that experience I reiterated to Igor that I would be stoked if he would teach me how to lead and of course let me borrow his gear, it’s hard to lead without gear (note to self – get rich – buy gear/buy gear - go further into debt!).

Igor on the first climb

We ate lunch then started hiking up to the Hinterlands. Approaching the shark fin shaped rock we were are all excited to be getting on such a tall climb with what looked like the possibility of awesome views and a relatively small group of climbers around us. Igor referenced his guide book, (note to self – kill Igor take all of his stuff – I mean buy guide books) set his pack down, pointed to a climb called ‘cold feet’ and told me that I should be able to lead it! I wasn’t really expecting him to actually let me lead but I was stoked to have the opportunity! It was a 5.7 and relatively simple but my nerves were going crazy all the way until I clipped into the anchor! My first lead and nobody died! At the top I was so worried about securing the rope that I never took my eyes off the rock and missed the great views.

I shrunk

After that Igor redpointed a 5.10a called ‘chicken parts’, which was awesome to watch. This gave Doogie and I a shot at a climb well over our heads but because it started to rain on us we didn’t really get to give it our all and totally believe that we could get over the crux if we had a little more time!

So the rain came down while we cleaned up our gear and got ready to head back to Boston but as we finally got everything in order the rain stopped. The climb we were looking at, ‘Dolt’, opened up and we unpacked our gear and watched Igor nail another one. Dolt is 30 meters and a ton of fun. It has a crux about 10 feet up and another one 20 feet from the top (which I decided to avoid by climbing to the right – ok I cheated but one crux is enough and I needed to clean the route so Igor didn’t have to climb it again) . After the second crux there is 20 feet left but it’s tiring and tough which made reaching the top even more enjoyable. The view was awesome but being 30 meters up it was hard to talk to the people at the base and when I said “someone left webbing up here!” no one heard me and I just left it up there. It turned out that Igor had forgotten it while he was building the anchor and I should have brought it down with me (sorry bud).

Igor - with Doogie spotting

I was able to lead another climb near dolt and after that we headed back down to the area near the car via Waimea (a beautiful, wave looking slab of rock – and as we decided, something that we wouldn’t be able to climb for years – 5.11 and up) the 5.8 crag (mostly 5.9 or harder climbs oddly enough) where we met up with (randomly) some other MITOCers (they are the legit climbers not BC skiers who are looking for things to do – Igor excluded). They talked us into one more climb (a cool down right Igor? – no a 5.9 is not a cool down!) and a swim! The swim, at 8pm, was a perfect ending to an awesome day and as of now the plan is to head back to Rumney in 2 weeks!

this is 'jolt' - just around the fin from dolt

Diversifying my portfolio 6/3/07

Surfing (but not anyone I know)

Skiing is over. Ok, I said it, I'm not happy about it but it's true. Now, thanks to MITOC I will try to expand my "outdoor portfolio" (Toma 2007). As previously mentioned I have begun rock climbing and as of Sunday I am hooked on 'paddling'.

Ernesto is an experienced paddler and was willing to take Ali and I out for our first time ever and Doogie out for his first time in 2 years along with 3 other newbies (Paddington, Slavica and Jaso) and 4 experienced kayakers (Goga, Juan, Tudjman and Niko). We headed back up to NH, which Doogie and I had missed dearly, and 'put in' at the top of the upper Winnipesauke River.

I had been excited for and fearing this day since mid-winter when Doogie, Toma and Ernesto had hinted that they might take me to the 'white water'! I knew it would be fun, it's melted snow it had to be fun but I also worried that it would be incredibly cold. I knew that the
first thing the experienced paddlers would make me do was 'wet exit' (turn upside down and swim out of my boat) and I would be freezing for the rest of the day. Luckily the water was warm and I was not too cold to get back in my boat and learn the ropes.
Ernesto was in a canoe (but not that one)

We split into 2 groups Ali and me with Doogie, Juan and Goga as our instructors and the rest in the second group. Our instructors were incredibly nice to have spent their day on the lazy river with us teaching us the basics while they could have been a few miles south,
paddling a harder section of the river (thank you very much above listed 'instructors').

The first thing we learned was to keep the bottom of our boats to the current and as easy as that may seem I continually forgot and found myself on the shore draining my boat of water, (yes, that means flipping over unintentionally) thanks to my slow learning. The first run down, I managed to flip twice and the second flip was right before the biggest rapid section we went through. This meant my whole group had to rush through and pick up the pieces, instead of messing around on the fun section.

Luckily, there was a second run but before that we were able to work on our 'rolls'. This entails intentionally flipping over and flailing around like an idiot until you run out of breath and then wet exit because it is incredibly hard to figure out how to do this properly. Somehow I figured it out and was able to successfully roll about half the times that I tried, not including the last attempt which meant that I never 'dry exited'.

Back to the fun stuff, on the second run we all went as one big group and there was no structured lessons but more just helpful hints as we quickly made our way down to the rapids were the newbies were able to watch the experienced group 'surf' an eddy/wave (that might be the wrong spelling and term, oops). All day Niko, Juan, Goga, Tudjman and Ernesto were messing around with their boats like a skier does when they're bored (nose presses, olies, spinning 3's, I'll figure out what paddlers call these things later) but watching them surf was something else.

They passed the rapid, got into an eddy and then paddled back into the wave, where they could stop paddling and just balance on the rotating water (if you want to really understand what the water was doing so they could do this look somewhere else because I don't know).

While we were watching the show, Ernesto decided to play a little prank on me. He unscrewed my drain plug, which explains why my feet were getting wet, even though kayaks have skirts that seal off the water from getting in! (well done sir)
first rapid section (completed by unknown paddler)

After the surfing was over we headed back to the section where we were practicing rolls earlier and worked on rolling, an essential aspect of paddling, some more before we headed home.

Thanks again to all the instructors and feel free to take me again as soon as possible!

Bagged a summit, took a nap (six de mayo, 2007)

coolest thing ever? I think so

I picked Doogie up and we headed over to MIT, where we met up with Toma and Ali (as in Mohammed Ali). We were headed to Monroe Brook and Oakes Gulf again but this time we decided to take it a bit easier. It was 6am not 4 and the ride up consisted, mostly of plans to paddle white water next weekend rather than sleeping, as was the case 2 weeks before.

boney

The plans were made for a sweet trip to paddle next weekend and all of a sudden we realized that we were going skiing and needed to get out of summer mode and back into skiing mode (obviously not our boots those were in walk mode!)

not bad but not 2 weeks ago

The scene at the base of the cog had changed dramatically since two weeks ago when Igor declared,"this looks like Alaska!" The snow had receded about 100 yards into the trail and we decided it would be best for our skins to keep them off the pine needle infested snow which, of course, meant we would have to boot pack it up the whole way.

AT boots rock

By 'whole way', we had originally assumed that would mean to the top of the skiable section of Monroe but as we reached that section and assessed the kevlar esc snow we decided to head over to Oakes (our original plan was to ski Monroe all day). As we approached Oakes the summit of Monroe called out to us "bag my summit!" or something like that, I can't remember exactly! So we did and unlike last trip, where we put down three huge runs, on Oakes before we ate, we stayed on top of Monroe for a while and decided that the views and wind protection demanded that we eat at the summit.

summit, in shorts

After lunch, we hiked back down to the snow and skied three runs on Oakes. These were three different runs from our first visit and I imagine that we could find 30 more over there (not this season though, the route from Monroe Brook is almost out, FYI). The snow was corned up but maybe not the best we've ever seen so we decided to head back over to Monroe and try to harvest that corn.

no comment

As I dropped into the top of the Brook and landed on the type of snow I would have appreciated back when I raced, we all decided that rather than hike up again, to face the ice we would take a nap near the bottom and wait for it to setup.

Big Mountain

This was the nicest nap I've ever taken. 3 or 4 groups passed by and from what I could tell, they all starred at us with envy. An hour later we woke up and booted up, for our last run. The snow was better but not great and we were happy to be headed back to the car.

oli

"We're dogging on a great day" Ali said to me "it's true but in comparison to last time…I'm not sure we can ever come back, we spoiled ourselves." This was a cynical view, because Ali was right, it was a great day and Oakes is truly big mountain skiing on par with some of the skiing I've done out west.

lookin good

Oakes gulf again? No? ok, then what? … Rock climbing! 4/29/07

We forgot the camera, so check out my gear

Skiing wasn’t in the books for last weekend, due to rain, so Chicks Rip Too and I went rock climbing. (I don’t know how I feel about posting non skiing related trips here but if I hear complaints or am so moved I’ll steal someone else’s creative/gory title for another blog. While I’m explaining, this was my first post-puberty rock climbing trip and really don’t know what to write about, so… anyone who wants to take pity on me and take me climbing should feel free, I’m sure it will help my writing which in turn will brighten your day!)

We had stayed at casa de Hochberg in Richmond, MA (look it up, it’s a real place, I swear) on Saturday night, hoping that the rain would stop and the sun would come out strong Sunday morning. It didn’t so we gave up hope for climbing the Berkshires and headed to Northampton MA, the closest rock gym around.

and my room

Not thinking to get directions to this gym, we drove to Northampton and stopped at the first outdoorsy esq. shop we could find, the Mountain Goat, where CRT asked the clerk, “where can we climb around here?” with a puzzled look he asked, “outside or inside?” I had been hoping for outside, myself when he said, “cause I climbed outside this morning...” CRT wanted to know if it was dry, it was and we took his handwritten map and found our way to the trailhead.

Finding the trailhead does not mean we found the rock! An hour or two later, we found the rock. First we found a dead snow mobile, then we found a sweet cliff band to drop (sadly I was sans skis), then a stream and a water tower but still no rock climbing route. Finally we went back to the car and tried the other trail and 5 minutes down the trail, there it was. And as soon as we got there it started to rain.

hot, right?

The rain wasn’t strong enough to keep us off the rock and we were able to top rope 3 climbs (see I’m making terms up). More importantly than the climbing I belayed for the first time and learned the basics of rock climbing safety.

Chris, you missing something?

Killer was there with us and did a great job as a watch dog and even tried to climb the wall a few times as his mom, sent it. (can I say that?)

I didn’t get to ski but I had a lot of fun and I even got to stop by my friend from study abroad, Lo’s place, in South Hadley for dinner.

it was 'skate to' access

Take me climbing!

Little Alaska; from Dusk 'til Dawn 4/21/07

ski-dorphins in full effect

I sent out the e-mail on Thursday, "anybody feel like sending it? Anybody think it will be safe?" No one thought it would be safe but 5 of us wanted to give it a shot. We decided that if we were going to try we were really going to go for it; we planned to leave Boston at 4am.

I left my friends party at 1am slept until 3:20 I don't remember what I did until 3:40 when I found myself in my driveway grabbing my helmet from my sister's car and Huckleberry pulling in so he could drive me to meet up with the rest of the crew at MIT. 4am on the dot, Toma, Igor, Ali (formerly Jose) where loading up Toma's Honda.
Good morning beautiful “Photo: Patrick Allen”

When I woke up again around, 7 we were almost there. Huck, Ali and I were lucky enough to sit in the back and sleep most of the ride up (thanks Toma, he drove from DC to Boston on Friday slept for about 4 hours and drove us all up to NH.) while Igor kept Toma awake until we reached Lincoln where we stopped for coffee. With a good 2 extra hours of sleep and a cup of coffee in me the ski-dorphins kicked in as soon as I saw how much coverage the backside of Mt. Washington had on it!

get ready “Photo: Patrick Allen”

The week before had brought an opposite storm to Mt. Washington, which meant that the backside which is usually wind-blown bare to the rocks was well covered with snow. So much snow in fact that Igor declared "this looks like Alsaka!"

We pulled into the parking lot at about 7:30 and we were a bit disappointed to see that 2 other cars were already there. "I bet they didn't drive from Boston." Igor suggested but as we got closer I saw that they had Wyoming plates which inspired me to get out of the car and taunt them immediately, "not enough snow in Jackson for you, huh?" It turned out that they were headed for a different aspect than us anyway and it would be ok if they got first tracks because we wouldn't have to ski over them (for that matter we wouldn't have to ski over anybody else's tracks all day!) 7:45 and we were on the trail checking beacons. The approach trail was short and by 8 we were boot packing up the Monroe Brooke trail (I am not going to verify these names – in the hope that they are wrong and no one else ever goes where we went – it is ours! All ours!). The snow was still hard and the pitch was, well, steep.
Huck bootin “Photo: Patrick Allen”

Luckily our only fall on this ascent was me very close to the bottom. I pushed myself to skin up as high as I could before moving onto boot packing. This was a bad decision because not only do my hands have a host of new scabs on them but I ended up boot packing from further down than anyone else.
Ali owning it “Photo: Patrick Allen”

Around 10 we reached the summit house at Lake of the Clouds, where we decided to take a break and try gain back a few of the calories we had just lost. We also figured that if we waited a little bit; Oakes would soften up.

We were right! After skinning over the peak past the frozen lake, that I hear is home to the MITOC annual hockey game, we pulled our skins off for the first of many times. The avalanche danger was forecasted as low and all signs pointed towards a consolidated snow pack so we decided to dig a pit anyway. The pit proved us right and we were off!
Huck slayin; first run (yeah those are my tracks he's crossin!) “Photo: Patrick Allen”

No one else was anywhere around and our first descent granted us some of THE BEST snow you never skied (because you weren't there:) This first run was about 700 vft at a good pitch and made us all feel like pros as we bagged our first run at Oakes!
Toma, first run, dropin knees

At the bottom of the first run we had some decisions to make. Do we head backup the same aspect we just skied and drop the huge boulder? Do we go a bit to the skiers left and shralp some steeper stuff? Should we go way skiers right and ski Double Barrel, a steep and narrow chute that just looked epic? Or should we head way skiers left and ski some Alaska style chutes with three rocky spines to choose from?
me leadin up the right barrel (look at the mank) “Photo: Patrick Allen”

"Double Barrel first," Toma decided. As the name implies there are 2 chutes right next to each other, both very, very steep. Skinning up was not an option so we took turns leading, slowly making our way through, some extremely sun affected snow. We made our way past the crux of the skiers' right chute and decided skiing the top would not be worth it and decided to drop in from the there. The crux was also where the Barrels met giving us 2 options for a descent. Igor, Toma and Ali went left, Huck and I went right.

I ruined Huck's run. We had decided that to get past the crux (in this case it was a large bush that made for a small drop but required taking some speed into it and making a few quick turns to avoid the rock walls on either side) by sending it. I went first; I made my hop turn, headed over the vegetation, spotted my landing, dug my tips into the super sun affected man eating snow, rag dolled 20 feet, caught one ski and took a bow. Sadly I had left the other ski right under the vegetation where it had dug in. Huck was nice enough to grab my ski for me which meant he wasn't able to huck crux.

All of us seemed to agree that we would be better off skiing a different aspect so we strapped on skins on and made our way to skiers left of our first run. After my fall my cotton shirt was soaked and I decided I'd strap it to my pack to dry. This meant that I skinned up shirtless. But that was cool because I got this sweet match.com photo out of it!
pack/ clothes line “Photo: Patrick Allen”

On our way up we noticed about 5 other people skiing our first run but once again it didn't matter because we were headed away from them to some more untouched snow. We ended up on top of the Alaskan style chutes.

These chutes are steep. Igor decided to ski chute 1 and the rest of us pushed over one more to grab chute 2. Once again everyone laid down some silly sick lines and at the bottom we decided, 3 runs usually meant a good day so it would be ok to stop for lunch before we bagged 3 more.
Chute 2

Huck made a bench for us and Toma told some war stories about his brother while the rest of us soaked up some sun (I currently look like a cross between a raccoon and a lobster) and enjoyed the sensation of not pushing our bodies to their limits for a while. After I finished my lunch I walked over the ledge we were above and commented, "this would be a great place for hang-gliding." "really Josh, really?" Ali asked, "well, I guess I don't know." "That's obvious because I hang-glide and this would be a horrible place for it!" As I was about to walk off the 80 foot cliff to end the embarrassment Ali gave in, "I'm kidding I don't hang-glide, don't jump!" I didn't and a good thing because our next run was epic!
helicopter heading for Tuck's “Photo: Patrick Allen”

Skins on, coats off and we were back into action just in time to see 4 new people getting sloppy seconds on the chute we had just skied. They were a nice (given, they are BC skiers) group of middle aged skiers who thanked us for laying down skin tracks for them. As we set some more track for them to follow we ran into the first group of 5 we had seen. They were skinning up our original track that we re-joined. This group decided to try to make us feel jealous by letting us know that they took a cat to the summit while we had to boot pack in. (We weren't jealous because we actually had a helicopter ride in - not actually sure why the helicopter was there but I doubt it was good news) This group was led by an employee of the Mt. Washington Observatory (who hooked up the cat ride) who talked some pretty good back-country game along with the rest of his crew. We talked about trips we had taken and trips they had taken, discussed lines and offered up trip ideas until Igor was fed up and took off leaving the group in our tracks. "Thanks for laying down the super highway for us" was the last we heard as we pushed on and made our way to the top of the "steep run".

Huck ontop of "the steep run"

Double Barrel and chute 2 were steep, no doubt about it, but chute 3 was so steep that when Huck took out his steep-omoter (you know the devise with the little arrow that moves back and forth to tell you whether the slope is 1. Not steep you sally put the steep-omoter away. 2. This isn't steep but it could slide. 3. This is steep, well done sir. Or 4. Snow shouldn't stick to stuff, this is steep! And you can find these on my website, givemeyourmoneyyouidiot.com) the arrow broke off!
Is that a cliff?

Toma thought someone should guinea-pig the run for the rest of us because we couldn't see over the first roll and we weren't sure whether it was a cliff or the chute. Toma chose me and as much as I wanted to lay first tracks, I knew Huck wanted the same and I had ruined his run at Double Barrel and owed him as much. After he broke his steep-omoter he laid down one of the nicest runs I have ever seen. He cut right swung left just in time to setup for a narrow passage between a bush and a cliff, after fluidly passing through that gate he banked around a boulder curved off a snow bank and shot down the final pitch. I was so impressed with the run I turned creativity off and followed his line all the way down! Sick bird "Kaw-Kaw"!!!!!
Igor enjoying the bottom of "the steep run"

The next trip up consisted of the super stoke that can only be found in the backcountry. "That was sick," "yeah" "true" "sick" "love it" "live for it" "better than crack" "I hear crack is back" "sick" "amazing line" "gnar" "dude, that was sick" "yeah, super sick" …
if you've never seen the super stoke, there it is

The next run we decided to step it down a notch and if the steep-omoter was still working it would have come up as a level 2 or there about. This doesn't mean it wasn't fun. Ali and Toma laid down some beautiful tele turns down the center and Huck, Igor and I boosted our confidence by dropping a small cornice with great snow underneath it. Igor made it look classy by adding, his favorite, iron cross! (I love it when he does that!)
signature Igor

That was it for Oakes but we still had to cross over the top and ski down the Monroe Brooke. On our way back up we looked back on what we skied and decided that if we burned down the trees covering the cliff I wanted to hang-glide off we could have an amazing big mountain competition venue (don't worry hippies, we decided that it would be better to keep it for ourselves and use trees as shelter for a base camp for a multi day trip to Oakes). Up and over past the Lake of the Clouds and summit hut I didn't expect much out of our last run but boy o boy (yeah, I wrote boy o boy!) was I wrong.
Super final venue for the comp

The snow was great the pitch was level 3 steep and once again we got first tracks! Huge turns, 1 more cliff, a tree laden half-pipe and an easy run out and we were back at the car!
first ascent last descent, Monroe Brooke “Photo: Patrick Allen”

I'd never been to Alaska but we made a full day of it, (climbing about 9000vft and skiing the same) leaving the lot around 6pm, and it was everything I could have imagined!

In Bounds But NOT Lift Service!!!!! 4/14/07

lock “Photo: Patrick Allen”

Cannon Ski Area is in a part of NH that is still getting pooped on! After a week of traveling to Ohio, [which according to Doogie, is round on the edges and high in the middle (see his jokes aren’t always funny)], and New York, [which according to everyone and their mothers and for that matter, my Mother, say is very far from back country skiing], so that I could look at law schools. (I decided on Hofstra in New York FYI) I was stoked to be on the hill again! When I got back to Boston on Friday the 13th I hadn’t been on top of my emails and didn’t know what the MIT kids were planning.
and pop “Photo: Patrick Allen”

It turned out that the fresh snow had once again made Mt. Washington super avy prone but made Cannon ski area prime for slaying the white stuff! Buffalo Killer and his pack, Chicks Rip Too, Doogie and I took one car up and were planning on meeting Ernesto, Igor and Irish at the base. The four us drove up, obeying all posted speed limits and had planned on calling the other car when we were within a half hour of the hill. However, Irish called Doogie well before we had expected (about an hour and a half into the 3 hour drive) to let us know that they were still at MIT and wanted to know if we were still planning on going skiing?!!!!!!!!!!!? Doogie told Irish that, yes, we were still going skiing and they could call us when they got there.

The ride was not promising in that it was raining almost the whole way up and when I felt lost and asked Doogie for directions he responded with a variation of one of his funniest most annoying lines; “Just because it seems like I have the world on my shoulders, doesn’t mean I’m an Atlas!”
tramline and base “Photo: Patrick Allen”

Regardless of the shenanigans, when we reached the base, the rain stopped and we were stoked to go tap the new snow! Chicks Rip Too was especially stoked to see some fellow hippies protesting the Tyrants in DC who are doing nothing to combat global warming! (If you want to fight the power, put a lot of bumper stickers on your car!) It turned out that there were about 1500, small (like this one) and large organized events across the country on Saturday where activist were taking pics and signatures of supporters to show congress that we want to save the planet. (I felt really bad about wasting the extra gas pulling donuts in the parking lot!)

After posing for the photo opp with the Step It Up Crew (yes I’m wearing a Paul Pierce Jersey, GO Cs!!!!!!!!) we were able to get a quick run in before the other three slackers who had slept in (Irish and Igor, not Ernesto, to be fair) reached the parking lot. Killer’s crew enjoyed some untouched, wide open turns to warm us up for the real deal with the others.

I felt that trekking in bounds on a closed ski area was a special occasion and thought I should dress like I was skiing in bounds; baggy pants, worn around my knees, hand knit ear flap hat, aviator sunglasses and of course, a Paul Pierce jersey.
Ballin “Photo: Patrick Allen”

This outfit was good for the first quick run and part of the second skin up. As we passed the spot were we had turned around to meet the rest of the crew, I was getting extremely overheated or Doogie bet me to skin up in just my jersey, either one I forget? So I did for a while and it felt great, my body temp was low, keeping my energy stored up and my team pride was off the chain which was great for trying to keep up with Irish and Igor, 2 very fast skinners. Eventually I put some clothes back on as we got closer to the summit and some great views (I imagine they would have been great views if we hadn’t been socked in, crazy weather!).
getting dressed “Photo: Patrick Allen”

We reached the summit ate some lunch met a MIT graduate from 1965 who talked our ears off about the crazy life he leads and then we turned around to ski some lush ski resort trails! Igor and Ernesto had been skiing Cannon since they were Killers age (4) and decided that today was the day to ski Tramline, an epic black diamond that was rarely skiable due to lack of coverage. Doogie, Chicks Rip Too, Irish and Killer were smarter than to follow these 2 onto the boulder laden trail but I of course was not.

The run, while covered with exposed rock and plenty of branches sticking through the snow had tons of fresh snow to rip and plenty of big and small rocks to drop. While Greeley Ponds Slide was a hucking clinic, according to Toma, this run was a combination of great powder skiing and plenty of extra curricular options. We were having too much fun for pictures which you my not appreciate but left more time for us to enjoy the playground we were on.
looking back “Photo: Patrick Allen”

At the bottom we all met up at the tram house where we had started that morning. One by one we got back to bottom so we could look back and enjoy the others turns!
The Hurricane “Photo: Patrick Allen”

From the base we could see a large cliff band that Ernesto, Igor and I were feigning over! As we marched back for our third run I commented to Enresto, “I don’t think it’s as big as we were saying at the bottom, it looks more like 20 or 30.” “yeah, that’s nothing , you send it first!” “fine, I just need to borrow a helmet.” CRT piped up first “If you want a helmet, you shouldn’t do it.” And the Irish put me in my place! “I’d give you mine but your ego wouldn’t fit inside!!!!!!!!!”

After the ego deflator, Killers crew turned around and the other three headed back to the summit. It was a sick bird day, KAW-KAW!