Ski Peaks: January 16th-March 17th, 2024

Burke Mountain, January 16th

Nearly a month after my first attempt at Burke, I finally got a proper skinning setup figured out, and what better a mountain to redeem myself on than the one that had caused me such a fuss earlier? So I drove up to the Mid-Burke Lodge with the intention of buying an uphill pass and skinning up. Turns out, you can only buy tickets at the base of the mountain, and I was pretty unwilling to go through the effort of skiing 500ft down a green only to skin back up and then go up, so I just raw-dogged it. In retrospect, as an employee of another ski area, I could have gotten that ticket for free anyway, but still, unless you're also an employee of another area, remember to start at the base. The skin up only took two hours flat, and the ride down was fantastic, big fan of this mountain. I didn't attempt to climb the fire tower but it would have been a great (and very cold) view if I did!

Paine Mountain, February 4th

This mountain is the most obnoxious mountain I have ever climbed in my five years of experience. Not the hardest, not by far, as at least the craggy overnight ascents of Agiochook and Bold, or the extended backpacks up Kuwahi or Emory, to the ultra-long single day trips up Lafayette or Attakulla each had something to offer in their own right. Hell, even when my stupidity makes a trip hard like in the case of White Cap or Nettle Creek, there's still some consolation for me that at least I was the root of the issue. But with Paine, this was not the case - the mountain is obnoxious. You can read my previous failed attempts at Paine on their peakbagger reports, and I won't repeat any of that here, but suffice to say, I had thought I had this mountain figured out, and that approaching with the right gear would make everything okay. It didn't

I backcountry skied up the hiking trail from GMFP, and actually had a good time on teh compacted snow right up until the first switchback after the pond, where I had discovered that people like to drive their trucks/ATVs/side-by-sides through the snow, creating a very thin layer of snow platform with deep ruts on either side, these continued right up until the spur to the summit, and were very frustrating to ski in. The way to the summit had a good tread (in the snow) but a terrible corridor, and on the way down I left my skins on to avoid whacking my face going too fast. After this, I went along the ridge till I found a leanto that I presume the people driving their cars and ruining the snow on the trail were going to. Great views there, and I started down a foot-path which led me to buttslide through some thick short spruce with my skis - an experience that involved me taking off my backpack to squeeze through the openings

Upon loudly groaning at the trail and startling some nearby skinners, I proceeded along the ridge to get to the abandoned ski area, only to entirely lose the trail along the way (terribly blazed, no discernable corridor). Eventually I decided to skin down a waterbed which was a fascinating experience of bushwhacking backcountry skiing. I cried loudly at one point until I heard a dog bark and, not wanting to concern its owners, shutted up. Getting back to the trail and actually skiing down the rest of the way was kinda fun, but wow, this mountain should be waaaaay easier than it is for a low-elevation mountain with a "maintained" trail to the summit. The only other time I've failed to summit a mountain twice in a row before successfully doing so for the first time was Magnificent in the Chugach, which at least I got the pleasure of finishing a ten peak loop on it the third time I tried it. There was no triumph here, only Paine. No one I've talked to has ever heard of this mountain, and given my animosity toward it, I hope it stays that way

West Ragged, February 21st

So for Ragged, I somehow got it in my mind that the west peak of the mountain - the one that the ski area goes to - was the prominent peak, and so when I skinned up it, I neglected to go down the ridge trail to the East Peak - a mistake I only learned after the fact. Oh well. Skinning up Ragged was straightforward, with a $10 ticket getting me up one of the open glades and power line trails to the summit. Nice views, lots of people, but a good experience

Gile Mountain, March 12th

Gile occupies a special place in my mind, being one of the closest and easiest mountains to where I lived for three years. Yet I never did it, mainly out of annoyance for how popular it was among the hiking club at my college. So I never did it, and even though I'd lived at it's base for four months prior to this, that held. But my lover convinced me to do a sunset hike, and so I went up and had a terrific time and saw a wonderful view at the summit - I see why it was so popular

Okemo, March 16th

This was an ambitious day for me, as I had to move out of my house, say goodbye to my lover for the next month, find a heater for my van, do some quick installations of wood, grocery shop, and then go and skin up Okemo. But I did it. After all that, I started up Okemo right at 16:50, since I had a bunch of logistical things I had to figure out in the twenty minutes between when uphill travel opened and when I got up there. Okemo is free to skin pu after 16:30, following a designated route - one that I completely strayed off of after the first little bit. Oh well. Nice views at the summit toward Ascutney, Kearsarge, and Sunapee, with a nice icy descent

Snow Mountain, March 17th

After spending the night at the trailhead for Okemo, I went down to Stratton to go ski with an old friend who's an instructor there. Even though we only got to do about four runs before they had to leave to go on a trip, it was nice to catch up with them. After doing a few more runs, I called it a day at about one due to some heavy rain/snow soaking me to the core. A short lunch and warm-up later, and I figured it could be nice to skin up Snow. So I drove down and got on the mountain right at four, and was able to miss all the precipitation and have a nice, partially cloudy (and windy!) ascent. Snow lets you skin up whenever for free, but I find a spring ascent after closing to be about the best time to do this. Absolutely beautiful views toward Glastenbury, Stratton, and Glebe. At the summit I poped in one of the partial-enlosures of the summit lodge and got to get ready to go down out of the wind! I ended up getting my photos about 100ft down from the summit due to a snow cat parking right at the top (I think he was waiting for me to go down to start winching, so I didn't wanna keep him any longer than I had to). A nice descent and off to skin up Magic and ski Bromley the next day! (spoiler alert: only the second one happened)