Tucker Brook

Last Sunday morning, Feb. 8th, I woke up early and headed up to Franconia to meet a group from the AMC NH Chapter. The destination was the Tucker Brook trail. We skinned up Mittersil after spotting a van at the bottom of Tucker Brook.

The weather was a mixed bag of NH precipitation. Rain, sleet and snow were spotted in the Cannon parking lot alone. During the trip up, we met up with some snow flurries but mild temp with no wind. On the trip were tele skiers Nik, Rick, Ted, Paul, Thor, Lindsay, and Tony. Mark and Valerio were on AT gear and I used my Frankenstein apline gear with my trekkers.

It was strange seeing the abandoned lift towers on Mittersil while the Cannon lifts were working hard to move skiers to the top. After we worked on skins to the top of the Tucker Brook trail, we found boilerplate moguls. The trail is no secret. But as we moved down in elevation, the warmer temps softened the untracked snow. The best approach was to try and float turns on the wet heavy snow. It was a great time and I hope to meet up with any of these skiers again sometime soon.

The Dukes of Firescrew

No, not some lame attempt at punning one of my favorite 80's tv shows. The Dukes trail is a backcountry trail cut off of Mt. Firescrew. It's part of the AMC's Mt. Cardigan reservation in Bristol, NH. We hiked up the Manning trail. Shawn on his snowshoes and me on my alpine trekkers and skis with skins. Shoes aren't allowed on the Dukes trail which is what skiers normally skin up to the summit. The Manning trail is real steep in some sections. I actually fell out of my bindings a few times. Shawn did great on his snowshoes. It was definitely a workout.

The snow was great up top, but my buddy had a little trouble in the powder which he worked on the following weekend at Wawawachusset. Next time we'll be able to play around a bit more on the open glades at the top of the Dukes. It was great to get out and meet a backcountry goal. I had a great time and thank Shawn for coming along.

Gear Update

For this year's goals, downhill doesn't pose a problem. It's the uphill I have to work on. My current alpine setup won't get me up a hill unless I'm booting it. That's fine up Tuckerman's because the trail is alway well tracked. It's other trails that I need to worry about. On a lightly traveled trail, hiking in boots means postholing which would be hard for a three mile hike. So I'm adding to my current setup with Alpine Trekkers and skins from Climbingskinsdirect.com. I should be able to shuffle along and stay on top of the snow. It's going to be heavy and the adapters aren't the most efficient but it is what it is for this year. C'mon, dudes used to hike and ski with 7 foot hickory boards with cable bindings. I think I'll be fine. I worked on both my adapters and skins this weekend and here's the update.

Wow...East Snow in October

Kids are already hitting the cat this fall...

courtesy of SkiNet Snowmail Update:

Wildcat Mountain, NH
Kevin St. Gelais (skier) and younger sister Sarah (photo) managed to bag some first turns at Wildcat Mountain late last week...2 days after Wednesday's snowfall.

I'm jealous. Good job kids.

Goals-No Lift Lines

This year's theme is NO LIFT LINES

by Mark Charest


I started off today by making a list of goals for the upcoming ski season (2008-2009). Last season was great ending in a mancation to Crested Butte. I'm not doing a big trip this year and instead my ski goals are all about backcountry skiing. I've skied the back bowls of CB as a Western State student and the Thompson Brook trial off the Polecat at Wildcat. As a kid we always tried to go ski in "the woods" at whatever mountain the minivan took us to. But this year I really want to get into hiking for my turns.


David Goodman's book Backcountry Skiing Adventures: Classic Ski and Snowboard Tours in Maine and New Hampshire provided me with my first draft of goals except for the Thunderbolt trail off of Mt Greylock in Mass. I'll research that trip on my own. Here's my list of goals:

Mount Moosilake Gorge Brook Trail
Cardigan Alexandria Trial
Doublehead in Jackson
Gulf of Slides
Tuckerman's
Mount Hale in Zealand
Thunderbolt on Mount Greylock
And possibly the Great Gulf (maybe with a guide)

Let's hope the weather cooperates this winter. To start, I've got to get in shape and start gathering my gear.