Tales from the Hinterlands 2024/25

[Sick Bird Rider]

When I was a horse wrangler...

Such a great opening line.

 

[Sick Bird Rider]

A bit late in posting this but Telemark Dave and I had a nice ski at the Limberlost Forest last week. All pics by TD.

In TD language: "Running down a dream of more snow than there was.. @hundwalden and Moira and myself did an early late mid morning ski tour at @thelimberlostforest today. I was so “over-booted” for the trail ski that I simply skied the entire session with only my toe buckles done up. Like Chandler Bing says, Could I have been any stupider??? (Probably, me being me..) "

Moira the dawg helps with preparation:

The humans are kind of almost ready. Moira is way ready.

Telemark race boots and three-pins? Buckles undone!

We made it up to the cabin and decided that the glades were still a little sketchy for old guys.

So we skied the old-school Ascension Trail and had a good time. It's like a Jackrabbit trail, if you have ever had the joy to ski one of those.

Across Buck Lake and back to the car:

Time to head home. There's a dog in there somewhere:

 

[Sick Bird Rider]

The chair is looking phat. Twigfest is coming up this weekend, should be good conditions and hopefully not brutally cold like most years. Or cancelled due to lack of snow, like the last two years

 

[Campgottagopee]

How old is that chair? I know it's been a staple for a while, just curious.

 

[Sick Bird Rider]

How old is that chair? I know it's been a staple for a while, just curious.

We got it when we moved here, so about 17 years old. Definitely showing some age but still sittable.

 

[Sick Bird Rider]

This past Saturday was a great day for a Twigfest, though it ended painfully for one of the crew. Shoulder injury (separated and dislocated) after a tumble resulted in a trip to Huntsville Hospital, with me at the wheel. Nothing like driving for an hour trying to make conversation with someone who is in excruciating pain. Kudos to the WWHSTA gang for collaborating on first aid, extraction, transport to emerg and ultimately a ride home in his own vehicle. And at the same time breaking camp and getting all our stuff to the cars. The Moose Milk will keep till the next event!

As usual, a grocery store meetup. Though with more stuff, including too much firewood.

This was at the grocery store. It was several degrees colder and windy at Nickle Peak parking lot. (-17 C = 1 F)

Discovering that a heated steering wheel is handy for face-warming when booting up in the truck.

Hauling stuff in. In the end, there were five sleds at base camp.

The river crossing was in excellent shape, thanks to the cold snap.

WWHSTA's snazzy new hot tent was a great addition, that's our membership $$$ at work! Peter and I met on the TGR forums and he drove all the way from London, ON to check it out. (Imagine going on a ski trip with people you met on the Internet...)

Nice stove setup. There's a little old man in a town just north of us that makes these little woodstoves out of 20 lb propane tanks.

Due to the aforementioned incident, the shotskis did not get their moment to shine. Next time.

Lunch time in the rotunda.

Much conviviality was enjoyed. Teo (kid on the left) spent his 14th birthday at Twigfest! His mom (on the right, in blue) is the Patagonia rep in our area, so they were well kitted-out.

I volunteered to be base camp manager, so didn't ski much. These last two are from another skier:

Dense and reasonably deep pow in the trees.

One slightly sketchy line that got skied:

 

[Brownski]

Ah, another successful twig fest. How complicated was the injured’s evacuation? Did somebody come in with a snowmobile or did he have to walk back to the car?

 

[Sick Bird Rider]

Ah, another successful twig fest. How complicated was the injured’s evacuation? Did somebody come in with a snowmobile or did he have to walk back to the car?

He walked out with a lot of support. A crew went up from base camp with a sled but he was more comfortable postholing out, though still in a lot of pain. It is a very painful injury, though not terribly severe. Hospital staff told us that we "did everything right." Had we called EMS, the evac would likely have taken a lot longer due to the remote location.

 

[Sick Bird Rider]

Despite all the snow we've been getting lately, I've been slacking on extra-curricular activities. You know, life gets in the way. But the chair is compelling...

Valentine''s Day:

The stoke was diminished by finding this rock with the snowblower, deposited by the plow driver at the end of the drive. Thanks, dude. Broke three out of four shear pins, thankfully I had spares. Had to use hammer and nailset to get the pin remains out. Rock was stuck in the chute. Eff me!

Things improved today. Following a powder day at the dog park with 15 other dawgs (no pics, sadly) I roasted up a stash of Cuban coffee beans. Took longer than anticipated.

There was not a lot of time left in the day for a ski adventure, so I opted for the simpler activity of slowshoeing, which requires way less prep. And you can slowshoe in jeans. Moira was ready for whatever.

Lurk test revealed a 26 " / 67 cm snowpack. Not bad.

Wolf tracks, eff that, I'm heading for the house.

I must point out that, despite the pictures, Moira was not breaking trail very much, and this was maybe the only time I could outpace her in the woods. Go human!

 

[Sick Bird Rider]

Well, that was quite a Sunday: