Rainman
01-26-2004, 08:47 PM
Mission: Short (Less than 3 hours) BC Trip.
Route: Doublehead ski trail
Mileage: 3.6
Vertical: 1573
Round Trip Time: 2 h 45 m
We had a late start on Saturday because we went into Conway to look at Coats. We noticed that during our Avy training our guide, the Snow Ranger and one other guides all had Wildthings http://wildthingsgear.com/ coats. Our guide said it replaced his Gore-Tex shell as his primary top layer about a year ago and seeing the people that live and work on the mountain was testament enough. My girlfriend (Carrie) was looking to get a coat suited to BC skiing so we went and checked it out. There store in North Conway across form LL Bean. We talked to the guy in the store for quite a while and he was very friendly and knowledgeable. She wound up getting the EP Hooded Jacket for $165 and it worked just as well as they said. The coat is VERY lightweight, breathable, waterproof, wind proof and inexpensive. The temperature was in the single digits in the parking lot and for the climb she wore just Polartec Power Dry Crewneck and the EP jacket. At the top where it was cold and windy she added just one insulation layer a REI Power Stretch Pullover and that was it. In the end it wound up being a GREAT coat for an even better price. I was wearing 5 layers including a Coudveil shell and micro fleece and was still a little cool.
There were 4 of us on the trip Brian, Clint and Carrie and myself. We got on trail around noon to find the parking lot full. It was mostly people on snowshoes but we did see a large group of boarders coming down when we were a little over half way up. The bottom of the trail was very rocky it made skinning difficult at times. For this reason we decided to stay on the ski trail up so we could scout the area before descending. After the trial split the coverage started improving and the top 2/3rds of the trail looked like it had enough coverage to make it down without doing to “much” damage to our skis. I was thinking if we had to we could walk the “bad section”. We keep and eye to the woods looking for skiable routes. The tree spacing and pitch looked good but there was lots of brush and smaller trees so nothing jumped out at us.
The weather was beautiful. Blue Blue ski day. My friend took some pictures at both half way up and at the top. When I get copies I will post them. The top of the mountain was cold and windy but it was nice in the trees. The view of Washington was obscured by clouds but the northerly view into Maine was completely clear. From that vantage point we couldn’t see any signs of life. No houses or roads just woods, lakes and mountains. It was quite a breath taking view. We brook out the hot chocolate and took a break. There is a cabin at the top of Northdouble head and just before we started down a forest ranger came up to do a cabin check. She showed us the inside and it was very cool. There was a little wood stove, a table, and bench in the common area and 8 bunks which were just simple plywood surfaces. It was cozy and looked like it might have 60+ years ago. There is a lock on the cabin and you get the key from the ranger station before you start up. We asked about reserving the cabin and I guess if fills up pretty quick in the winter and is already full for this season.
The ski down was surprisingly more fun that it looked from the climb. The double fall lines, narrow trails and short steep shots were fun. It wasn’t really that steep because we were able to skin straight up it .. but it was steep enough to have fun and play around on. This was the first CCC trail that I’ve skied and loved it. I plan on seeking out more over the next few weekends. We were able to navigate the rocky section OK without doing any unreparable damage. We were all wondering where the “bad section” had gone when we got to the bottom but 3 out of the 4 of us still needed to drop of our skis for some base repair.
The trip was exactly what we set out for a short fun back country trip close to our ski club. We were back just in time to help getting ready for a party that was scheduled to start at 4. Our party was also a HUGE success. We had over 200 people show up which was even better than I anticipated. :skiplow: Sunday we went to Sunday River before heading back to Boston. The more I ski in the BC the more I’m finding resort skiing just isn’t the same. It was a nice day. Good snow, no crowd, fast runs an all around good day at the resort. All day when sitting on the lift the only thing I could think of or talk about was where our next BC trip is going to be.
:happyhiker:
Route: Doublehead ski trail
Mileage: 3.6
Vertical: 1573
Round Trip Time: 2 h 45 m
We had a late start on Saturday because we went into Conway to look at Coats. We noticed that during our Avy training our guide, the Snow Ranger and one other guides all had Wildthings http://wildthingsgear.com/ coats. Our guide said it replaced his Gore-Tex shell as his primary top layer about a year ago and seeing the people that live and work on the mountain was testament enough. My girlfriend (Carrie) was looking to get a coat suited to BC skiing so we went and checked it out. There store in North Conway across form LL Bean. We talked to the guy in the store for quite a while and he was very friendly and knowledgeable. She wound up getting the EP Hooded Jacket for $165 and it worked just as well as they said. The coat is VERY lightweight, breathable, waterproof, wind proof and inexpensive. The temperature was in the single digits in the parking lot and for the climb she wore just Polartec Power Dry Crewneck and the EP jacket. At the top where it was cold and windy she added just one insulation layer a REI Power Stretch Pullover and that was it. In the end it wound up being a GREAT coat for an even better price. I was wearing 5 layers including a Coudveil shell and micro fleece and was still a little cool.
There were 4 of us on the trip Brian, Clint and Carrie and myself. We got on trail around noon to find the parking lot full. It was mostly people on snowshoes but we did see a large group of boarders coming down when we were a little over half way up. The bottom of the trail was very rocky it made skinning difficult at times. For this reason we decided to stay on the ski trail up so we could scout the area before descending. After the trial split the coverage started improving and the top 2/3rds of the trail looked like it had enough coverage to make it down without doing to “much” damage to our skis. I was thinking if we had to we could walk the “bad section”. We keep and eye to the woods looking for skiable routes. The tree spacing and pitch looked good but there was lots of brush and smaller trees so nothing jumped out at us.
The weather was beautiful. Blue Blue ski day. My friend took some pictures at both half way up and at the top. When I get copies I will post them. The top of the mountain was cold and windy but it was nice in the trees. The view of Washington was obscured by clouds but the northerly view into Maine was completely clear. From that vantage point we couldn’t see any signs of life. No houses or roads just woods, lakes and mountains. It was quite a breath taking view. We brook out the hot chocolate and took a break. There is a cabin at the top of Northdouble head and just before we started down a forest ranger came up to do a cabin check. She showed us the inside and it was very cool. There was a little wood stove, a table, and bench in the common area and 8 bunks which were just simple plywood surfaces. It was cozy and looked like it might have 60+ years ago. There is a lock on the cabin and you get the key from the ranger station before you start up. We asked about reserving the cabin and I guess if fills up pretty quick in the winter and is already full for this season.
The ski down was surprisingly more fun that it looked from the climb. The double fall lines, narrow trails and short steep shots were fun. It wasn’t really that steep because we were able to skin straight up it .. but it was steep enough to have fun and play around on. This was the first CCC trail that I’ve skied and loved it. I plan on seeking out more over the next few weekends. We were able to navigate the rocky section OK without doing any unreparable damage. We were all wondering where the “bad section” had gone when we got to the bottom but 3 out of the 4 of us still needed to drop of our skis for some base repair.
The trip was exactly what we set out for a short fun back country trip close to our ski club. We were back just in time to help getting ready for a party that was scheduled to start at 4. Our party was also a HUGE success. We had over 200 people show up which was even better than I anticipated. :skiplow: Sunday we went to Sunday River before heading back to Boston. The more I ski in the BC the more I’m finding resort skiing just isn’t the same. It was a nice day. Good snow, no crowd, fast runs an all around good day at the resort. All day when sitting on the lift the only thing I could think of or talk about was where our next BC trip is going to be.
:happyhiker: