BC/XC anything but resort skiing.

[Justo8484]

Cornfields were skiing nice today. Got a quick slightly less than 2 miles in this afternoon roaming around some cornfields looking for something with enough pitch to actually make some turns. Found a decent hill that had enough pitch to get some speed and made like 6 real turns. Since I went out mostly just for the exercise, finding something I could actually ski downhill was a bonus.

 

[mbike-ski]

Snow and sun were just too nice to stand in line or go home , no takers so I set off for the pipeline solo. I guess I should of paid more attention to the directions but after crossing Blue Mt Drive I walked up to the green AT gate and saw a skin track headed up the AT. Not realizing the gas line is literally right at the gate I started skinning up the AT. After a decent climb I realized that I obviously missed the gas line. Bluebird sky, sun and snow were so nice I decided wtf and kept going until the power lines.

The skin track dropped off to the right then back up to the AT. Didn’t want to venture down the power line cut solo and didn’t know if there was an option to skin back so turned back east. I noticed some nice low angle trees on the climb up and dropped into them before getting briared out just before the gas line. Mixilpix is right the saplings are a bitch at the top, my tele skilz aren’t good enough to do quick turns down the clear “chute”

the lower section was much more clear and fun. 

I was beat and after a slow skin out Mrs Snowbunski went by and honked as I was crossing the road. Little did I know she was carrying some of Enjo’s meat to re-fuel when I got home - thanks man!!!!

Fun but exhausting way to beat the lines !

( bummed that Strava crapped out to see what the distance and elevation was...)

Edited February 21, 2021 by mbike-ski

[Mixilplix]

Yeah the top section is not easy...Lower section makes for some nice turns...How was the snow?

[mbike-ski]

Yeah the top section is not easy...Lower section makes for some nice turns...How was the snow?

Challenging lol, few inches fluff on dense / not quite crust. Maybe corn harvest coming?


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[Justo8484]

Yeah I got tangled in the briars pretty bad when I skied it. Tried to stay a little left of the clear cut and get into the trees which were somehow actually more open than the normal line. Could be interested in a corn harvest this weekend if the freeze/thaw cycle cooperates.


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[toast21602]

2 hours ago, mbike-ski said:

Challenging lol, few inches fluff on dense / not quite crust. Maybe corn harvest coming?


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1 minute ago, Justo8484 said:

Yeah I got tangled in the briars pretty bad when I skied it. Tried to stay a little left of the clear cut and get into the trees which were somehow actually more open than the normal line. Could be interested in a corn harvest this weekend if the freeze/thaw cycle cooperates.


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Corn harvest? I’ll gas up the combine and join in. 🌽🚜

[toast21602]

Took advantage of (likely) the last day of touring the Pennsylvania steeps for a bit with this upcoming weather so I decided to check out an area that I've been eyeing up for a bit. With this last. 6" of dense snow I figured it should be safe to give it a shot. Ended up taking about 20 minutes of skinning to get to the zone I was interested in. Once I got there I made my way down through a Shicola Chute of tight trees which then opened up into a vista of the valley below. The snow was creamy and soft.

After 750' of some good turns and a few areas where I had to pick my way through, I made it to an old logging road and started making my way back to a stream bed down the valley that I was going to skin back up. It was starting to get warm and the sun started to pop out as I was making my way up. After clearing some denser trees it opened up quite nicely. The sun was super warm and I had to shed my jacket and gloves climbing back up 750' of mountain.

I looked down and saw my shadow and knew, like the groundhog, that my winter turns were not over. This area that I was skinning up was way more open than anything else I've skied on this ridge. As I was going up I knew it might be my last set of turns so even though the snow was getting heavy I decided to go for it. Snow was more cream cheesy with the sun being out, but it was still nice with some rocks to pop off of.

Skinned back up and skied back to me car to call it a day. These last 3 weeks have been surreal and it hasn't felt like PA. It might not be crazy stuff, but I definitely feel more comfortable getting out on my touring gear and putting it to use. Hopefully this won't be the last time this winter.

Enjoy the mediocre video.

 

 

 

 

 

[saltyant]

That was grate. Glad you aimed your GoPro down instead of up at the sky after the first clip. Is that music from the Weather Channel?

[GrilledSteezeSandwich]

@SallyCat this is getting good 

 

wow no gloves. I do that sometimes and Atomic Jeff calls me a gaper 

[AtomicSkier]

25 minutes ago, GrilledSteezeSandwich said:

@SallyCat this is getting good 

 

wow no gloves. I do that sometimes and Atomic Jeff calls me a gaper 

I'll allow it here because he was working for it.  You're not off the hook.

[mbike-ski]

very nice, you must have crossed some of my tracks from sunday

[Barb]

Very fun day today! Headed up to East portal in Rollinsville. The last 4 days have been pretty windy so we knew the snow would not be great. But the weather today was calm with bluebird skies before snow rolls in tonight.







Stas hats represented!




Sketchy bridge crossing

Panda zonked out in the car

Just over 4 miles w about 1000’ of gain. I ended up taking a wrong turn and we literally ended up on the wrong side of the tracks, railroad tracks run next to trail. We thought we could go around but it was all fenced so it was kind of a pain in the ass going back uphill. Skis on had to herringbone, skis off post hiking up to knees. Think we burned more calories backtracking that section then on the whole tour!


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[Mixilplix]

20 hours ago, toast21602 said:

Took advantage of (likely) the last day of touring the Pennsylvania steeps for a bit with this upcoming weather so I decided to check out an area that I've been eyeing up for a bit. With this last. 6" of dense snow I figured it should be safe to give it a shot. Ended up taking about 20 minutes of skinning to get to the zone I was interested in. Once I got there I made my way down through a Shicola Chute of tight trees which then opened up into a vista of the valley below. The snow was creamy and soft.

After 750' of some good turns and a few areas where I had to pick my way through, I made it to an old logging road and started making my way back to a stream bed down the valley that I was going to skin back up. It was starting to get warm and the sun started to pop out as I was making my way up. After clearing some denser trees it opened up quite nicely. The sun was super warm and I had to shed my jacket and gloves climbing back up 750' of mountain.

I looked down and saw my shadow and knew, like the groundhog, that my winter turns were not over. This area that I was skinning up was way more open than anything else I've skied on this ridge. As I was going up I knew it might be my last set of turns so even though the snow was getting heavy I decided to go for it. Snow was more cream cheesy with the sun being out, but it was still nice with some rocks to pop off of.

Skinned back up and skied back to me car to call it a day. These last 3 weeks have been surreal and it hasn't felt like PA. It might not be crazy stuff, but I definitely feel more comfortable getting out on my touring gear and putting it to use. Hopefully this won't be the last time this winter.

Enjoy the mediocre video.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for posting that....Can't remember when we saw this much PA backcountry...

[Mixilplix]

51 minutes ago, Barb said:

Very fun day today! Headed up to East portal in Rollinsville. The last 4 days have been pretty windy so we knew the snow would not be great. But the weather today was calm with bluebird skies before snow rolls in tonight.







Stas hats represented!




Sketchy bridge crossing

Panda zonked out in the car

Just over 4 miles w about 1000’ of gain. I ended up taking a wrong turn and we literally ended up on the wrong side of the tracks, railroad tracks run next to trail. We thought we could go around but it was all fenced so it was kind of a pain in the ass going back uphill. Skis on had to herringbone, skis off post hiking up to knees. Think we burned more calories backtracking that section then on the whole tour!


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You always bring the good stuff Barb....Love the hats!

[Barb]

better view of the bridge crossing. 

[toast21602]

1 hour ago, Mixilplix said:

Thanks for posting that....Can't remember when we saw this much PA backcountry...

Probably never? @GSSucks starting this thread was a great idea and I hope it continued into the future seasons. It definitely motivates me to get out more when possible. 

[mbike-ski]

26 minutes ago, toast21602 said:

Probably never? @GSSucks starting this thread was a great idea and I hope it continued into the future seasons. It definitely motivates me to get out more when possible. 

lol, some of ya'll are a little late to the game!

fuck me i'm old

Edited February 25, 2021 by mbike-ski

[Johnny Law]

1 hour ago, Barb said:

better view of the bridge crossing. 

That is the most technical skiing in existence lol with no water below you wouldn't even think about it but knowing a cold plunge awaits any error it's treacherous af ! 

 

Looooooove the hats !!!!

[Barb]

Haha don’t be too impressed, had my skins on (way up) and was taking it SUPER slow. Water aside, just taking a fall off that bridge could fuck you up in lots of ways. 

[AtomicSkier]

1 hour ago, Barb said:

Haha don’t be too impressed, had my skins on (way up) and was taking it SUPER slow. Water aside, just taking a fall off that bridge could fuck you up in lots of ways. 

Hah ... @NMSKI and I had to walk on a log across a stream at Silverton, without skis on. That was some technical shit. 

[NMSKI]

8 hours ago, AtomicSkier said:

Hah ... @NMSKI and I had to walk on a log across a stream at Silverton, without skis on. That was some technical shit. 

The whole time I kept saying “don’t fall in don’t fall in don’t fall in don’t fall in”

[Barb]

My girlfriends and I rented a cabin in FairPlay for the weekend. Did a little ski tour on the way up. The trail we wanted (and is listed in a BC tour book) was not accessible. So we started in a forest road that intersected the trail after a while. First we hit a gate with tons of no trespassing signs about a mile in so we turned around and took the other fork. After about half a mile we hit another no trespassing gate.

Hmmmm, so not exactly the day we wanted but we took turns breaking trail in about a foot of snow so got a workout in anyway.

The summit skin we planned for tomorrow now looks to be 45 mph winds so we are trying to come up with a plan B










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[AtomicSkier]

Toured part of the way up Snodgrass after work today, taking a different, more technical ascent.  Skin track was definitely a little icy, and glad I had the "grip" skins.  Sun stayed away which made the climb quite pleasant.  Found some mediocre untracked on the way back down, but any more sun and it's cooked.  Stopped after 1.9 miles and 1100ft of climbing.  I can definitely tell I'm getting more proficient, efficient, and faster while touring. 

[Barb]

Today was good ....until it wasn’t. I had a pretty scary incident happen to me. We amended our plan to be in the trees because the winds were brutal and temps frigid. We started at the French Gulch TH in Breckinridge. Absolutely puking snow when we got there. 

the snow was great. We started out with a gentle climb. When we reached Sally Mine we turned into the trees. 

 

Nobody had been on the tree section today so we were breaking trail. The incline increased a lot and at about the 2 mile mark into our day we decided to turn around since we were all freezing and getting beat. 
 

Trying to stamp down a platform to transition. As soon as I took one ski off my foot postholed up to my thigh. There was a trail intersection we passed on the ascent that I knew would have firmer snow. I decided to just clip my heels in and ski down to that section w my skins on. Once there I took off my skis/skins  and my helmet on. The other girls managed somehow where they were. As they started coming down I was taking pics of them so then I was he last one in they train. 
 

It was too skinny to make any turns. There was a tree section that looked fun so I decided to turn my into it, off our skin track. Once I hit the deep powder my skis either stopped or way slowed down but my upper body still had forward momentum. I did a complete face plant in the snow, legs straight behind me, skis attached. 
 

My face was buried up to my ears.I immediately started to push my hands down to lift up my face. My hands would not get any purchase and just kept sinking. All the while my nose is full of snow, face buried and I can’t breathe. I tried again and got my face out about an inch. I started screaming for my friend. I called her name and then yelled I NEED HELP as loud as I could. I had no idea if she heard me because I could not get my head up enough to see. As soon as I go let out the call for help my face buried again. I was able to grab my pole and push off that a bit and got it out a few more inches. I realized I was starting to panic and knew I had to try something else. So I concentrated on trying to wiggle my feet little by little to get them to an angle I could push off and bend my knees. Slowly that started working. I was able to bend my knees and get my face out. 
 

I could then see my friend was climbing back uphill to get to me. By the time she reached me I was in a much better position. She had been yelling to me but I don’t hear any of it. The whole episode was probably 5 minutes or so but I was completely shaken by it. 
 

When we regrouped at the car we had a long discussion about what we did wrong and what we did right as a group. We decided that the strongest skiers should be in front and in back. I am def middle of the pack out of us so that’s where I should have been. We also discussed getting radios because the girls that went ahead were waiting at a split wondering where we were. 
 

Definitely a learning experience for me. 

[toast21602]

Wow Barb. Glad you’re okay. That is super scary. I think it’s awesome that your group debriefed and came up with new safety ideas. 

Edited February 27, 2021 by toast21602