Here at Hangman Hill

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Homemade pizza for dinner tonight!

It's sure to be a feast!

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Nor'easter Fun in Connecticut and New Hampshire

Several weeks ago New England was blanketed with 1-2' of snow including the coastal areas all the way north to the mountains of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. While still in Connecticut we enjoyed some great skiing at Hewitt Farm in North Stonington.

We enjoyed the snow again in New Hampshire. We were amazed at the amount of snow when we arrived at the chalet! It was also fun to have Sedona along to enjoy the snow. Sedona stayed with us while our friends Mike and Denise spent time in Colorado. Although the temperatures were very mild over the weekend, we managed to get in some great XC skiing on the Jackson trails. It was fun sharing the trail with Sedona and we made lots of human and canine friends.

Snow at Hangman Hill

More snow at Hangman Hill

Even more snow in New Hampshire

Sedona on Jackson, NH XC Trails

Bruno on XC skies with views of Mt Washington in the background

Feline update

Chatra' and Hary' have been doing their best to survive the short days of winter over the past few weeks. This frequently involves curling up together, wedging themselves into tight spaces, and being cuddled by whoever is close by. Hopefully they can hang in there until the spring!

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

Week of arts

Last week we enjoyed two events at local arts venues in Connecticut. It was a nice change of pace for us.

On Wednesday evening we saw Rosanne Cash at the Katherine Hepburn Center. She played an acoustic set with her husband and it was filmed for a local TV station.

On Sunday we saw the Banff Mountain Film tour at a local private college. This included 10 short independent films documenting various adventures on the water, snow and land.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Maine Huts Ski Trip 2017

In 2016 we spent a long weekend skiing the nordic (XC) ski trails that are part of the "Maine Huts & Trails" system with a lively group of friends. It was such great fun, we decided to return and extend our trip to a five-day and four-night trip. This would allow us to ski the entire length of the trail system and stay at all four of the Maine Huts.

The huts are "off the grid" and they generate their own energy and use the latest in high-tech composting toilets! We carried all of our clothes, sleeping bags, and food for the tail. The huts supplied breakfast, lunch and dinner, and hot showers at the end of each day.

Maine Huts and Trails

We began the trip with an overnight stay on a Wednesday evening at the Inn by the River in West Forks, ME. The inn is located a short drive from the most north-eastern point of the trail system. On a brisk Thursday morning, six of us met for a hearty breakfast at the inn before heading for the Grand Falls trailhead.

Our first day was bright and sunny, and started with some rolling ups and downs that quickly initiated us to the challenges of skiing with a back-pack. There was plenty of snow and the conditions improved as the day progressed and the temperatures warmed into the low 20's. Not long after lunch we saw a most welcome sign that read "7 Miles to Grand Falls Hut". This evoked a loud cheer from the group which became a ritual each time we would see the mile markers, particularly during those last few miles at the end of each day. After 14.5 miles of skiing we arrived at the Grand Fall Hut with daylight to spare and were made welcome by Rob the hut caretaker. We enjoyed warm showers, hot drinks followed by cold drinks, and chicken pot pie for dinner. We mostly had the hut to ourselves but quickly made friends with the few other guests. Rob was a wealth of information, a great cook, and had lots of helpful tips for the trails. He suggested a lunch spot by the trail for the next day and encouraged us to go out of our way to see the Grand Falls.

Skiing the trails

Sunny skies along the way

Day 2 started as a misty, cloudy day. Not long after leaving the hut we arrived at the junction with the cut-off that took us to the Grand Falls. Rob was right, it was spectacular and we lingered to take photos and make friends with a trio who had arrived on snowmobiles. We continued in a westward direction with an additional 10+ miles to the next hut. Much of the trail followed a river that eventually would lead us to Flagstaff Lake. We arrived at the Flagstaff hut at about 3:30pm with a little extra time before the sun went down. We enjoyed some late afternoon sun that warmed the hut and cast lovely views of the lake. Two more friends joined us on that Friday evening after a short ski to the hut.

Grand Falls

Warming up in the Flagstaff hut

Snowman at Flagstaff

Flagstaff Lake from the hut

Flagstaff Lake

Sunset

On the third day we experienced more varied terrain. Initially, we had very level with terrain with views of the lake and the river followed by gentle rolling hills later in the day leading to the next hut. A highlight of this section was the half-way yurt which offers a warm shelter between the Flagstaff and Poplar Huts. We arrived at the yurt just as a friendly group from Canada ("the Canadians"), who we had also been at the Flagstaff hut, had settled in for lunch. Having just had "elevenses" we decided to ski to a vista point nearby. This small diversion took us through some incredible untracked powder to a high point that offered stunning views of the Bigelow Mountains. After snapping photos we skied back down to the yurt where we enjoyed the cozy setting for lunch. After lunch we had a lovely ski through open woods and arrived in the late afternoon at Poplar Hut. For some of us this was the second visit to Poplar. We shared the hut with a number of groups and had another lively evening enjoying games of Rummy, Jenga, and catching up with our new friends from Canada.

Early morning views of Flagstaff lake

Somewhere between Poplar and Flagstaff Huts

Lunch in the yurt

Anne and Paul in the yurt

Views from a point high above the yurt

Yay!

On Sunday morning we took a relaxed start to the day having only a short ski to get to the next, and last hut, Stratton Brook. While it was the shortest distance, there was plenty of climbing. A steep and sustained approach for the last mile brought us to Stratton Brook Hut which sits on top of a hill with breathtaking views of the Bigelow Mountains and Sugarbush. We had a late lunch at the hut, which of the four huts offers some of the best views and a cozy space for relaxing and reading. A few, including the "Mo' is Better" sisters, explored the area around the hut on snowshoes. Others enjoyed reading and napping. Our final evening in the hut was shared with 3 other skiers and a hut caretaker we met while staying at Grand Falls. We worked on a jigsaw puzzle, played cribbage, and cheered the Patriots on to victory for the last 10 minutes of the game (hint, there is spotty cellphone coverage at this hut, and at this hut only!).

Skiing to Stratton Brook

Anne and Don having lunch by the trail

Denise at Stratton Brook Hut

View of the Bigelows from Stratton Brook

A little fresh snow for the ski down

On Monday morning we enjoyed a long descent as we retraced our steps from the Stratton Brook hut back down the trail for several miles. We exited the system at the Airport Road trailhead and we were met by a driver with a large van who transported all eight of us with skis and packs back to our cars. It took about an hour to travel back the 50+ miles by car. It was a great experience and the Maine Huts and Trails are highly recommended!

Ski Main Huts!

Saturday, February 11, 2017

Skiing in Connecticut

10" of snow in Thursday's storm. A nice chance to ski in our neighborhood at Hewitt Farm in North Stonington.

Saturday, January 28, 2017

Vacation in British Columbia

We spent the second week of 2017 in British Columbia (Canada). We have been eager to return to the Okanagen area just west of the Canadian Rockies to visit with friends and to explore Silverstar Resort.

On Saturday we flew into Kelowna where we met up with Andrew and Brenda, friends we first met through the Canadian Alpine Club - Montreal Section many years ago. It had been nearly 10 years since we last visited and it was great to see them both. We didn't spend long in Kelowna. From the airport we drove east to Silverstar Resort where we also met up with Damon and Jayne, friends we recently bumped into during out travels in the Dolomites. We spent the weekend XC skiing and enjoying catching up with our long-time friends over some great meals.

Brenda and Andrew returned to Kelowna for work on Monday and we continued to explore the vast number of ski trails in the Silverstar Resort and at nearby Sovereign Lake. One of the reasons we have wanted to explore Silverstar is that it has both nordic and alpine skiing trails, fantastic snow fall amounts, and a small village-like quality. Silverstar resort is a nice size, easy to get around, and has a charming quality in part due to the brightly colored hotels, huts, condos and homes in the village and dotted around the mountain. We had fantastic accommodations and found it easy to ski from our suite or walk into the village.

During the week we nordic skied with Damon and Jayne, and also used the chair lifts to access the alpine terrain on our snowboards (with Damon joining us on his Alpine Touring skis). Each day we managed to find the best conditions and plenty of soft fresh snow in and around the resort.

Friday quickly arrived and it was time to pack up our gear and head north-east to the town of Revelstoke to explore a different kind of terrain. Andrew and Brenda are both bona-fide backcountry skiers and they regularly ski in the mountains around Revelstoke and Rogers Pass near the continental divide. We were lucky enough to be invited to join them for a couple of days exploring the easier slopes in this area.

On Saturday we parked at Rogers Pass and headed to some easy slopes from the NRC parking lot. Avalanche conditions (and perhaps our skill level!) limited our options and this option seemed like a sensible way to spend the day. When we left the car there was a low cloud level and we weren't expecting too much of a view. Thankfully as we headed higher so did the clouds, and by the time we stopped for lunch the sun was out and the views were plentiful. We were on our split snowboards and managed to descend through the small trees and outcrops without to much ado. We got back to the car by mid afternoon and all agreed to head back to Revelstoke for an early dinner and a few drinks.

On Sunday we were somewhat tired from the previous day, and we opted for a short adventure from the Asulkan valley parking lot. The picturesque ascent wound through the trees and we emerged at the bottom a couple of small and relatively untracked slopes. This time we did two laps (ascent and then decent) before heading back to the car and because we fell down a lot we were thoroughly exhausted by the end of it all! Thankfully Andrew, Brenda and their friend Steve waited for us at every intersection despite our slower pace. We thoroughly enjoyed our adventures with them and finished our trip off with a quick meal in Revelstoke before heading back to the airport for our trip home to Connecticut the next day. Overall, it was a great trip with fantastic skiing opportunities and great company!