Dec 17
Although snow squalls left us with a daily dose of fresh snow in the mountains this week, the conditions on Friday were extra special. We can thank the large body of water we call order xanax online Lake Champlain for giving these snow squalls a little boost, too. Here are a few images captured on Friday in the heart of Vermont’s Green Mountains. (Click on the images to enlarge.) Enjoy!
Dec 15
Since late Monday, light to moderate snowfall has been the rule over the higher elevations of the northeast. Terrain and aspects prone to catching more snow are shaping up again, and there is some very nice powder skiing to be enjoyed on wind-protected lines above 2500′. Where the wind is blowing, only 3-6″, rain-crusted base layer remains. The powder is only boot to shin deep at the moment, but it’s powder, and where it’s untracked, it’s simply a joy to ski. With more snow falling tonight, and continued wind loading in the days to come, the skiing should only continue to improve.
Here’s a snap from this Wednesday afternoon (12/15) in Vermont’s Green Mountains – ski day #58 for some northeast skiers…
(Click on the thumbnail below to enlarge)
– Brian
Dec 13
Life is good when fresh snow falls day after day after day – a pattern we might be settling into this week. With snow falling steadily across the northeast’s mountains by late in the day Monday, Tuesday morning promises to offer fresh tracks on established downhill ski trails and higher elevation nordic trails. Still, the snowpack off-piste and in the northeast backcountry, below 3000′ especially, remains very thin, and in the higher mountains, it’s just beginning to make off-piste navigation worthwhile. Still, it’s only mid-December. Some forecasts are calling for significant buy clonazepam online uk orographic (upslope) snowfall to develop in many mountain areas on Wednesday. In the meanwhile, get out there and enjoy the fun skiing already in effect…and think snow.
Also, be sure to take a peek at a few of the photos captured by our friends at Famous Internet Skiers during last week’s super-fluffy, high-elevation snowfall in Vermont. Had we not been in the midst of our usual Nov/Dec excursion to Central America’s Bongo-Ario watershed, we’d have a few more images from last week to share ourselves. – Brian
Dec 07
It’s amazing how quickly the skiing and snow conditions can turn around. It’s also amazing how deep and light and fluffy the powder snow in December can be. If you have not already been getting out there to enjoy the snow, now is the time. Before long, Deepcember will give way to good ol’ December.
The images above and below were captured at this time in 2008 (Dylan Crossman) and 2009 (Ian Forgays), respectively. Many mountain areas of the northeast today offered similar conditions. And for more, please check out our latest story in Burlington, Vermont’s Seven Days newspaper.
Please beware that although the fresh snow might be deep, the coverage beneath it is dangerously thin. Ski with great care right now, and enjoy the snow!
Dec 01
by Brian Mohr
David Olilla, who calls the playful mountains of Michgan’s Upper Peninsula home, is onto something revolutionary. He’s now producing a ski that many of us here in the northeast have been dreaming about for years. It thrives in thin-cover/ice-free conditions common in the very early or very late season, and in many ways, is the ultimate rock ski. It also does many other things well.
The Marquette Backcountry Ski is short, fat, without metal edges, has a waxless base (no need for kick wax or skins when climbing low-medium angle terrain)… and it’s affordable! The ski features a raised and highly functional tip, inserts for basic 3-pin telemark bindings (although any binding can be mounted) and a stiff flex capable of handling high speeds and aggressive manuevers. A must-have ski for the quiver, it also has great potential to make the adventure of skiing accessible to so many who have been turned off by the costs and challenges associated with the modern, mainstream approach to skiing.
Since November 2010, we’ve been testing this ski in the variety of conditions common to Vermont’s Green Mountains. From frost-coated grass and moss to thigh-deep powder to peel-away corn, the Marquette Backcountry Ski, has performed beyond all expectations. And while it promises to be a great tool for learning to ski off-piste and for exploratory off-piste adventures above town or out the back door, it has already proven itself as an incredibly high-performing quiver ski for advanced skiers, too – a ski that thrives in relatively ice-free, technical and thin-cover conditions on moderately pitched to steep terrain.
The pluses: They are incredibly easy to ski, turn and manuever. Their big tip keeps you out of trouble. They are virtually indestructable, and b/c they lack metal edges, they are less prone to grabbing and throwing you out of rhythm when you encounter an occasional rock, stick or frozen lump of soil. They are also quite stiff, and have just a bit of sidecut and camber, and when you feel like opening the throttle, these skis can handle speed surprisingly well. When climbing, too, and the scales aren’t offering the traction you need, side-stepping and herring-boning up hill to overcome steeper sections of your climb is a breeze, due to their short length. (Along these lines, our most common approach to climbing with the Marquettes involves strapping our skis to our packs and hiking the mountain, b/c when the snowpack is thin, post-holing is a non-issue and hiking various up-routes is a nice change of pace from the usual skin track.)
The minuses: They don’t glide like a ski with a ptex base, and thus they are quite slow in low-medium angle terrain, unless the snow condition is especially fast. (However, waxing them up with glide wax does help a little, as does silicon spray. We have also belt-sanded the scales off a pair to improve glide and waxability. (We have outfitted those skis with fat skins for climbing by stitching two short lengths of old-school skinny skins together side by side.) They have no metal edges, so they offer little control on very hard pack snow, frozen turf and of course, ice.
The skis are now retailing for under $200 and shipping from Michigan, USA, where they are made in a factory that also produces snowmobile skis. Hmmm… See, snowmobilers are our friends, after all. You can place an order through the Marquette Backcountry Ski website directly, or acquire them through your favorite local northeast skiing retailer (after encouraging them to order some up!)
Check out some of the video footage we captured below, featuring the Marquette skis in action here in Vermont. Don’t miss the grass skiing at approx. 2:05 in the last video below. You can see more photos of the Marquettes in action below, and here, here, here, too.
The Marquettes in their element…
Be sure to catch the grass skiing action, too, starting at 2:05…
And this backyard classic, parts of which feature the Marquettes…
The Zero Approach Ski Tour from AdventureSkier on Vimeo.
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