If you're not into shaggy dog stories, skip to the next post.
If you'd like to learn some backcountry lessons without having
to actually make the mistakes, skip to the end.  If you're
truly interested in (mis)adventure on skis, read on...

Post reading flow chart duty done, on to an account of a rather
memorable and soggy day frolicking through the remote forests
of Vermont in some rather deep and wild snow.

Poppa Tele made it up this weekend and wanted a little b/c
adventure on Friday.  Fresh from my brief intro. to the Bolton
b/c 2 weeks ago, I suggested either Cotton Brook or Woodward Mtn.
After doing a little research I felt Woodward looked like an
easier chance for less of a slog out to a spotted car<LOL>, and despite
Jerm's warnings and semi-strenuous pleadings for a Camel's Hump
tour instead, we made plans to meet up for a tour down Woodward Mtn.,
all the way to the Waterbury Reservoir (over 6 miles).

<shaggy dog on>
Denis and I met up with Nick and Jeremy Malczyk and Matt K. in Richmond in
the a.m., figured out car logistics, and set out for Bolton.  I had to rent
tele stuff from the Nordic Center, so Nick brought me up the access road
while the others spotted my car at the reservoir.  One problem: Nordic
Center is inexplicably closed due to a junior nordic race.  Closest tele
rentals are in Burlington... no joke.

Hoof back to Burlington, and almost score a funky ice climbing boot/
Silvretta/Hagen combination that would save me from free heel embarassment
on the descents, but alas, the bindings are too big for the boots.  Second
establishment we hit has 181cm Super Stinx and T3s.  Perfect.

Finally, upload the #2 lift at Bolton at around 12:30 or so, and get on the
Woodward Trail by 1:00.  Goodman's book has this to say about this
foolishness: "This is a full day trip, and you should start early to ensure
that you can finish in daylight."  Suffice it to say I will never again
ignore a warning delivered by someone named Goodman or Malczyk.

We're at about 3300' feet at the trailhead, and have 6 miles and 2800' of
descent ahead of us.  No problem.  Some ups and downs on the ridgeline, and
then a nice long, mellow run to the waiting car...

First thing we notice is, my goodness, the snow depths.  Huge drifts.  Tree
well black holes.  Snaky, wind born snow ridges right across trail.  The
snow is slabby, wind-worked, and even blown off down to the rain crust in
places exposed to the NE winds.  Either way, it's snowing harder now, and
we're breaking trail, or should I say, Jerm is breaking trail.

After marvelling at the beauty of the widely-spaced birches and pines, we
hit some uphill and apply some klister.  Only problem is, no grip.  Too
cold a wax, probably, and no cork to rub it in.  Some of us don skins,
Denis relies on his fish scales, and Jerm just plows through with side
steps and herringbones, a deliciously exhausting chore in this much snow.

After about the 52nd summit of Woodward Mtn., we wonder if this trail ever
heads down.  Jerm and Matt have now skied down a particularly good section
of north-facing woods, skinned up and have rejoined us just where we're
sure the real descent begins.  It's about 3 or 4 or 5 p.m. now, and we're
all getting a tad edgy, but heck, rip off the skins, and let's turn 'em!

I did okay for just about my 6th day on teles, even linking a couple turns
from time to time.  Denis gamely worked his light b/c setup, Nick wisely
retained his skins and descended carefully, and Matt and Jerm bolted down
the trail with confidence.  Then.... more up.  Then, a little down, then
more up, then... you get the idea.

Long about 5:30 we dodge a bullet and choose, what else, to go up once
again in order to find the trail that we've lost.  We're all aching to just
go down, but Jerm's route finding ability saves the day.  We all sigh
internally when he finds more trail blazes at the top of the climb we've
all just watched him do, and we reluctantly ski up and away from the
skidder path that tempted us down the gentle fall line.

Finally, we break onto a snowmobile path at about 6:00, now past dusk and
into the murky twilight of the young night.  Here, finally, is our
descent.  Screaming like ghoulish creatures of the darkness, we point our
sticks in the general direction of grey light between the dark globs, and
scream down the groomed path at ridiculous speeds.  Truly, a unique ski
experience to ski snowmobile ruts at high speed, down decent pitch, in the
dark.

I supposed we'd used up our quota of bad consequences for the day, and no
tragedies befall us in the high speed romp and glee of finally letting
gravity do the work.  It is now basically dark, and I pull out the
flashlight.  Jerm once again saves us from a wrong turn, and by 6:30 we're
on the Little River Rd., a 1/2 mile or so from the spotted car.

By this time I've passed exhaustion and am right on to adrenaline, so I
charge down the dark, paved road, with just a thin coat of snow, right on
the rental skis.  Blue-green sparks kicked up from the edges from time to
time, piercing the blackness and bringing a smile to my soaked and weary
soul. The overall experience of skiing white pavement in the darkness was a
rather enjoyable one in comparison to the undulating, deep snow slog we'd
just completed, and I was driven on in some sense by the thought of my ski
buddies sitting on their arses a half mile back down the hill waiting for
me to return with the wheels.

We finally load up the car by 7:00, limp back to Bolton in a driving snow,
filling the little car with a steam bath someone compared to a clambake,
and let Kathleen know we're okay, and apologize for being a little late to
dinner.  She's not worried.  She's come to expect this sort of thing,
maybe, which may be both good and bad...

<shaggy dog off>

Lessons learned?  Believe the time estimates you're given in guide books,
and then add 40% for misadventure factor

Bring someone along who had done it before.  Jerm, have you considered a
future in b/c guiding?

A recent "Outside" mag. article on b/c skiing told of a mtn. guide who
advised his clients, "Up here, your *hit has to be _dialed_!"  True.  Know
exactly what equipment you will need, make sure it works, practice with it,
bring extras or enough tools to fix sutff, and know how to use everything,
even in the dark.

To wit, one of our radios had dead batteries, no spares.  Didn't adjust
skin length well enough, and mine kept popping off in the deep snow.  Wrong
type of klister, no grip. Et cetera.

In all seriousness, even though we'd made some logistical errors, the
experience was enjoyable.  We all relied on each other throughout the tour,
and no one lost their temper.  We all kept positive attitudes and helped
with each others' equipment maladies, deep snow extraction procedures, and
all pitched in on route finding.  We'd been all alone up there, breaking
trail amidst some of the most majestic forest VT has to offer, in one of
the best snow years ever.  Huzzah for Woodward Mtn. trail.  Damn it's
endless ups and downs, intermittent lack of blazes, and lack of sustained
descent, it's worth it.  Just start early.

-Jim B.

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