rafe
04-12-2014, 23:13
Did a quick trek up to the north country yesterday morning. Back mid-day today. Gorgeous day of spring skiing at Sunday River yesterday. Left there bit early and headed towards Gorham. Walked a crunchy 1.7 miles up to Rattle River shelter in snowshoes and spent the night in the shelter. There was a bright moon out. In the morning I headed back down and drove home, with a grand view of the Presidentials from Rte. 115 (1st photo.) The trailhead parking lots were all accessible and most of them were populated, particularly the one on Rte. 2 with trails to Madison and Jefferson.
Snow cover up here is strictly a matter of elevation. In town most of the snow is gone, but the snow was a good 18-24" deep at the shelter, and clearly got deeper the more you climbed. I walked uphill a bit from the shelter this morning. A few times I broke through the crust with the snowshoes and I realized that with the temperature around 60 most of the day, that crust might not hold me in the afternoon. I didn't want to be postholing up and down Mt. Moriah in snowshoes.
My passion for skiing has ebbed. I could have spent today at Sunday River, Wildcat, Loon, Attitash or Canon... and I skipped them all. Sunday River closes for the season after next weekend. The 2nd photo is from slopeside at Sunday River, looking in the general direction of Grafton Notch. It was 70 degrees this afternoon back home in MA.
Snow cover up here is strictly a matter of elevation. In town most of the snow is gone, but the snow was a good 18-24" deep at the shelter, and clearly got deeper the more you climbed. I walked uphill a bit from the shelter this morning. A few times I broke through the crust with the snowshoes and I realized that with the temperature around 60 most of the day, that crust might not hold me in the afternoon. I didn't want to be postholing up and down Mt. Moriah in snowshoes.
My passion for skiing has ebbed. I could have spent today at Sunday River, Wildcat, Loon, Attitash or Canon... and I skipped them all. Sunday River closes for the season after next weekend. The 2nd photo is from slopeside at Sunday River, looking in the general direction of Grafton Notch. It was 70 degrees this afternoon back home in MA.