Skinning the Western Summit at Windham

This time I picked the right way to skin up to the western summit at Windham Mountain but not the best day in terms of the weather.  The thermometer at Adaptive Sports Foundation read 9 degrees and the windchill made it feel like -10 degrees Fahrenheit.

After making sure that Elliot was properly bundled for his race training I headed out.  I had an extra sweater on, over mitts, and a balaclava which I had to pull down once I got a feel of that wind.  I had to take the over mitts off 20 minutes into the climb but kept everything else on.

  

Still, it was hot and I had to open the zipper to my fleece and my zip pits because of the exertion but kept the balaclava on for the wind, despite the sweat pouring off my head.

This was the second time climbing up Whiskey Jack however I had plenty of time to reach the summit.  The bottom section of Upper Wraparound is a little hairy because its so narrow.  I had no trouble climbing up but had to wait near the top to traverse to the other side while a long throng of snowboarders and skiers came by.  I hate to say this but snowboarders are the worst!  Some guy stopped to chat with me and snowboarder ran right between us.  He passed within a foot of me and he was going extremely fast.  One the Ski Safety Patrollers noticed this and went after him.  I hope he got his ticket pulled!

At the summit of the western peak the wind was so fierce I de-skinned behind the Ski Patrollers shack.  Threw on my shell and helmet and took a more direct route down the mountain.

I got back to ASF with plenty of time before Elliot returned.  For some reason my Strava app failed on the iPhone.  I think because I had to bury it number my jacket so it wouldn't freeze it lost signal and never recorded the route.  Fortunately, I always bring my old cycling GPS, my Garmin Edge 705 and got a good track.  It took me an hour 20 minutes to get to the top.

Elliot returning training but was totally warm.

Blue Ribbon Snowshoeing

Had a little time to kill midday on Tuesday so I went for a little snowshoe at Upper Paugussett State Forest.  It was an interesting day, partly cloudy with a little wind out of the northwest.  When the sun went behind the clouds it was cold but when it was out, it was nice and warm.

Uphill Skiing Walk of Shame

This was my fourth day of uphill skiing at Windham Mountain and I planned to try the new trail called Wolf's Prey to get to the summit of the western peak after two previously failed attempts.  Of course if I had all day, the two previously failed attempts would have been successes but my activities are tied to the time my son is out race training.

The Trail Map that Windham offers is very misleading because I found that Wolf's Prey was essentially straight up.  I grabbed a water break on a corner section of the trail where there was a rock I could sit on and take a little rest.

Uphill Skiing to my first Summit

Now that I am know what I am doing when it comes to skinning uphill my third weekend at Windham Mountain I went for the summit on Cave Mountain.  I took White Way to Wanderer.  It's a green trail but going up is still challenging because there are still some steep sections to contend with. Also, you have watch out for blind ascents because you can get some yahoo who won't be able to see you, all of a sudden be on top of you!

Three quarters of the way up I had to hit the bottle.  It started out around 20 this morning but when the sun came out and all the climbing I was doing I got hot and thirsty.  Along the way, I met up with two women on snowshoes.  It's funny but I have yet to see another person skinning.  Plenty of snowshoers but no skiers.  

By the time I got to the top I was drenched!  I had some more water, ate half a cliff bar, changed and then took a really nice run back down the slope I just climbed up.  By the time I was down at the bottom, my quads were killing me.

In the afternoon I tried to summit the second peak but ended up on the wrong trail and didn't make it. Not sure how or why this happened but boot must have been too lose because I terrible blisters on both sides of my heel.  I will have to try a different sock next time.

2nd Skin

The following weekend it was really cold so I dressed accordingly.  This time around I wore a cycling t-shirt and thermal long sleeve that I also wear for the cycling.  Over that I was wearing my favorite fleece with zip pits.  However, by the time I got to top of Wilbur Park I was sweating profusely once again.

I headed up Wing'n it but then when I saw the last section to the top I knew I wasn't making that so I cut over on a trail called Wintuck, thinking I would probably be able to climb Why Not only to find the trail closed due to ski racing.

In the afternoon I headed over to the western side of the resort to try and climb the western mountain. Along the way I saw Elliot up in the chair.  I was probably 100 yards up the mountain and we was already taking his third run.

I never made it up the western mountain but I still had fun climbing.  Coming down was great, too.