Hmm, well it was cold… and then I wimped out

January 9th, 2010

Last weekend I had planned on heading out to Caribou Bluff cabin the White Mountains NRA, but alas the folks I attempted to conscript into coming along all either where too busy doing real work or thought it would be too cold to be fun.  I decided to go anyway and ended up skiing out a little more than half way, 17 miles or so, then decided that this was not such a good idea, and turned around and headed back out.   At the trail shelter the thermometer read -30f, with some of the lower sections noticeably colder. This was not particularly a big deal, its just raises the stakes in case of an accident or other troubles on the trail. I am not too big of a solo cabin trip sort of person, as its pretty boring being in a cabin without people to annoy with my endless babble, so with this combined with the safety worries I decided to bail and turn it into a longish day ski with a heavy pack. It was probably a good call, as it was quite a bit colder at my house the next morning, so the -30f temperatures on the trail would probably have been -40f on the way out. On the upside, I did this trip with stiffer racing skis, and they really rock with a pack on the heavy side – the extra stiffness really makes for better glide and keeps the kick wax on longer.

In the first couple of miles out of the parking lot I was treated to fantastic views of the Alaska range, back light by the rising sun.

In the “less fantastic views” category, just before the the Trail Creek Trail junction, the dogs found several well chewed moose hooves in the trail.

The dogs where quite excited by these trail finds and had to be forcefully prompted to keep going.  Polar was so excited he carried his hoof part for about a mile before I was forced to take it away and ditched it in some deep snow.

Besides the cold and the wind, it was quite a beautiful day – sunny and clear.


The only people I saw where in a low flying super cub who appeared to be headed out to a inholding on beaver creek and flew back out a hour or so later.

The trail is in quite good shape and super hard and fairly fast, given the temperatures.

Besides the moose parts, I also found another interesting trail find – a round fur ball about the size of a softball.  At first I though it a piece of hare fur, but on a closer look it was definitely not hare.  It was near where a musher had stopped, so perhaps someone lost a tassel on a fur hat..

The dogs enjoyed the trip, though by the end Polar was shivering. I think Polar’s days of 30 miles skis with dog packs are limited..

The overflow on the this year on the Wickersham Creek Trail is not bad at all – the spots that have been bad the last could of years are quite tame.

On a temperature related note, I did get to play a bit with a digital thermometer that I picked up a while back. Its supposed to be good to -55f, but alas the display seems to stop working at around -30f.

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A spin on the new skis..

January 5th, 2010

About two months ago I picked up a set of low end “racing” skis and until recently I had been too afraid to take them out for any long skis due to the low snow conditions. Yesterday I decided enough was enough, and took the new skis out for a out-and-back to Eleazar’s cabin the the White Mountains NRA.

It was not a long ski, only 26 miles or there abouts, but enough to say that the new skis are a bit faster than my old sport glasses and keep the kick wax on a bit longer in abrasive conditions. Hurra!

The trails are in fantastic shape in the whites, if you ignore the rocky sections in first quarter mile of the Wickersham Creek trail.

There was a fantastic temperature inversion going on – the temperature on the trail ranged from +15f to ~-25f. I stopped at the trail shelter, where it was a little below -20f:

And at Eleazar’s cabin, where it was around +8f. The distance between these two places is around a half a mile in a straight line (possibly less) – it is amazing to me that there can be such a large difference in temperature for such a short distance..

Eleazar’s cabin has a fancy new deck that is a new addition since my last visit – quite spiffy!

There were no critters to be seen (besides some gray jays anyway), though I did see a fantastic vole race track.

Amazingly enough, I made it back to the parking lot just after dark. The days are getting a bit longer – soon the best time of the year from a skiing perspective will be upon us. Wahoo!

I should mention that yesterday was quite a day for trail finds. I found a crescent wrench, enough dog booties that stopped picking them up, and a handful of neck lines. I really don’t understand how mushers could be losing neck lines but they are getting to be a common trail find for me these days.

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Beaver Creek Day Ski

December 31st, 2009

I had a day to myself so I decided to be productive and to get out and do a long day ski.  It was fairly cold, but there was supposed to be a strong inversion so I headed out the White Mountains to ski the hilly Mc Kay creek trail to Beaver Creek and back.  After a fairly late start ( stopping for coffee and a tasty breakfast treat at Alaska Coffee Rosters slowed things down a bit), I headed up the trail at a little before 10am.    The inversion was quite spectacular – it was well above +10f at the top of the first hill, much warmer than then -10f or so at the parking lot.   The lowest spots on the trail where probably around -20f, cold enough that my pack got crinkly.   The ski was mostly uneventful, but quite scenic, with wonderful views of the Alaska Range on the way in.

On the way up the first hill I ran into a trapper returning from checking his sets and talked for a while. The trapper took a fancy to Remus, and gave him a chunk of bait about as big as Remus’s head, which made his day. Yum, yum!   Besides the trapper I was passed by 3 mushers traveling in a tight packed group, but otherwise had the trail completely to my self.

The trail was in fantastic shape and was quite smooth and reasonable skiing, with great views of the surrounding hills, including a rock formation locally referred to as “Sled dog rocks”, a rock formation that is supposed to look like a musher with a dog team.

Once the moon rose there were fantastic views of the moon over the mountains to the North and East.

While the trail was in good shape, the off trail snow cover ranged from adequate to almost non-existent. The open tussock fields were blown almost free of snow, with the tussock tops completely exposed.

The total round trip distance was 30 miles.  I did not make it all the way to Beaver Creek but stopped at the top of the last hill before the creek, as I was not looking forward to the long drop down and the cold bubble waiting for me at the bottom.   The trail is quite hilly, and a bit of a workout, but quite scenic and highly recommended as a out and back day ski.  Next time I think I am going to explore the US Creek road and see if it would make for good skiing.

More pictures follow for the photo inclined..

The trail on the way up the first hill, complete with sunrise.

Remus, enjoying his “after huge chunk of meat” jog.

The trail winds though a number of burned areas.  A few of the areas burned so completely it seemed all the trees were completely incinerated. This open section used to be in black spruce, and now is a large field of stumps and grass.

Once the moon rose I was treated by the sight of it slowly creeping across the north eastern sky as the day progressed.

More moon and alpine glow photos, hurray!

My turnaround point – thats Beaver Creek at the bottom.

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A Solstice ski on the Compeau Trail

December 25th, 2009

On a brisk day near winter solstice (the actual solstice falls on the following day) I joined Dan, Ed, Ann, and Heather for a day ski on the Compeau trail in the Chena River SRA.  I had biked part of the Compeau trail in the summer, but had never skied it, and approached the outing with a bit of trepidation as the only person I had talked to about skiing it had said it was nearly impossible.  I should not have worried however, as it turned out to be a quite a fun ski, with only a handful of terrifyingly steep sections.   We skied out to Colorado Creek cabin first, which was still warm from the previous tenants, had a short snack, then headed up the Compeau to the top of the ridge.  The initial climb was very pleasant, with lots of switchbacks and hardly any steep sections.  Once we reached the top of the ridge we then followed a old dozer line to a fire break installed in the summer of 2004.  There were a handful of fairly steep climbs and descents but everything was manageable on skis.  I had a number of crashes ( I think four total – I led the crash count by a wide margin) but nothing too tremendous.  Eventually we rejoined the Compeau trail and were treated too a 10 mile decent to the Chena Hotsprings winter trail that was quite pleasant and very fun.  Once at the bottom we followed the Chena Hotsprings winter trail back to Colorado Creek trail parking lot, and we where finished, only 26 miles later.   This loop evolved lots and lots of climbing and was quite a workout.    This is a fantastic day trip, and highly recommended!  The Compeau trail is very skiable, with wide switchbacks on the downhills.  The new reroute on the beginning of the Colorado Creek trail is a wonderful addition that cuts out the heavily rutted sections, which is a great improvement.

The following photos are complements of Ed, as I forgot my camera in the car, alas.
 
The views from the trail along the ridges was fantastic.

The lower sections of trail wind though black spruce forest and is quite scenic.

The Alaska range was back lit by the low angle solstice sun for most of the day, and was extremely beautiful.

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Fat Bars!

December 19th, 2009

In my continuing search for tasty delights that can be eaten on the trail on ski trips, I decided to revert to a old standby, the “fatbar”.   My last 40 mile day ski was a bit calorie deprived near the end, probibly due to getting sick of trail food.. even fruit pies loose their appear after a while.  Alas, most common treats are pretty much inedible at <0F temps.  Powerbars turn into bricks.  Snickers turn into iron bars of teeth breaking hardness.  Even the best candy bar looses its appeal when you have to suck on it for a extended period to warm it up enough to chew.. so thus the fatbar!  Fatbars are sort of a soft cake like thing that has soo much fat and sugar it never really freezes and is soft and edible at cold temps.  At -30F its fairly hard, but still chewable, rather than jaw breaking hard like lots of other treats. Here is a how to, with my assistants, Molly and Lizzy. First you mix up 2 eggs, 1cup pb, and 1/2 butter:

Next add the cake mix:

Stir and press into the bottom of a 9″by11″ pan:

Next mix up the filling, starting with the ingredients below, and adding whatever comes to mind, though if the goal is winter trip food keep in mind the ingredients should be eatable at cold temps – I would stick with chocolate, coconut, and other high fat foods.  Substituting white chocolate is a good call.

Next pour the filling over the crust, crumble some crust over the top (optional), and then bake.  After 20 minutes or so, remove from the oven and then cool.  

After its cooled, I transfer the fat bars to one quart bags for easy access snack rations.

These snacks are surprisingly tasty, though I was somewhat surprised to learn that the recipe originated in the Mid West as a desert.  I can’t imagine eating  these things while I am not on a trip… so much fat and sugar..

Many thanks to Margret for the recipe!

The Recipe:
Bottom Topping:
1 package of yellow cake mix
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs

Filling:
2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flaked coconut (optional)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, combine the bottom/topping ingredients.  Stir until it becomes a dough that holds together.  Press 2/3 of dough into the bottom of an ungreased 9 X 13 pan.  (Reserve the remaining 1/3 for the top.)  Prepare the filling by melting the chocolate, condensed milk, butter, and salt over a low heat while stirring.  Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and optional coconut and/or nuts.  Poor over the dough.  Crumble the remaining dough onto the top.  Bake at 350F for 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown.  Cool and cut into bars.  Serves lots of people in town, and only a few hard-working winter adventurers.

Notes:
I substitute white chocolate chips, and add 2x to 3x the amount of coconut, and sometimes use almond extract rather than vanilla.  Yum, yum!

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A Borealis-Lefauve Day Ski

December 14th, 2009

I had plans to do a overnighter at Borealis Lefauve Cabin in the White Moutains NRA last weekend but alas the folks who where coming all bailed due to other commitments. Since I had the cabin, I decided to do a day ski out there instead, with a stop at the cabin to warm up and relax. This turned out to be a wonderful way to spend a Saturday. The Whites were completely empty and I had the trail all to my self. Its always hard to predict how busy the whites are – I would have expected that it would be quite busy, as it was a fairly warm (+10f to -10f depending on how low or high one is ) calm day with clear skies. Perhaps the low snowfall is keeping the snowmachiners home.. In anycase, it was a great ski. The Wickersham Creek Trail is in great shape for skiing, though the snow was pretty abrasive and hard on wax. The normal overflow spots had a fair bit of overflow, fortunately it was the dry and hard. The 40 miles took me about 4 hours going in, and 5 hours going out, alas not particularly fast. I am afraid I am going to have to work a bit on my nutrition on these longer skis, as I was a bit energy deprived for the last couple of miles, but it all worked out and I arrived at the parking lot relatively intact.

Pictures follow, for the photo viewing inclined. We are now in the time of the year where the photos mainly consist of sunrise and sunset photos, due to the fact it is either dark or the sun is rising or setting. Which is all good, but it limits the picture taking a bit.

The sunrise, shortly after I left the parking lot, complete with a early morning raven.

A wee bit of overflow.

The overflow had fantastic ice crystal formations in all kinds of strange shapes.

The thermometer at the Trail Shelter half to the turnaround point said it was a balmy -10f.

Even more overflow.

The final bit of overflow.

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