Training Log Archive: bl

Snowing DP, pretty hard but small flakes. Can hear the water hissing & cracking on the PL. Looking better for local skiing.

Only a Game provided fill-in on completely missed Olympic trials marathon in Houston as well as stories about the para-Olympic 400m runner Oscar Pistorius ("With all the training I have had to cut down on my subjects. Hopefully I'll finish by the time I'm 30!"; "You're not disabled by the disabilities you have, you are able by the abilities you have.") and Trinity's 252 game squash streak that finally had the life squished out of it.

Impulsive BOS boundary walk of Hammond NP. Perfect winter afternoon, got there just before 3p. Hardwoods wide open which I had not seen there. New blazes generally easy to follow esp with pieces of streamer tape, even the occ strand of barbed wire. Twice confused for even as far as 200m when I walked off 10 deg or so (compass would have helped checking) - first time in a ride on top of a bank but boundary angled left. Another problem with double vertical corner boundaries missed on map. Cut Brown Hill Rd. corner due to proximity to houses, dogs and road. Could not find anything in the swamp but no surprise perhaps. Was surprised to see a good # of people enjoying the place when I returned to parking. Dogs were pretty beat by then.

Map
useful demo to BOS of actually having walked the boundary & moreso w/ sat view

Winter sleep


Yummie tree


A boundary there somewhere

DP, powder blue cloudless over 3" fresh powder - hiding ice for treachery but stayed vertical. Colors were blue, white, pink, green. Wanted to see rays on the sand pyramid but wasn't to happen.

Noon venture in search of ski possibilities at White or SPS. Chose latter for
better chance of less wind. Bright January midday. Snow was thin - fresh stuff had been groomed with occ blades of grass poking thru or small patches bare ground etc. Stepped out on the pond maybe 20m between 2 small patches of open water - seemed solid enough but wasn't entirely interested in proving myself correct. Might have provided a decent skiing surface had I tried it. Glad to have gone but not again until significant change. 16% back to 'high noon'. Going nowhere that I know of (as of yet) this weekend which seems fine.

Cold DP, 6F by car temp. Cold fingers! Lots of recent Sandskript, never see or hear the artists - they must come after dark when bad stuff thrives.

Bold brush stroke

a tumble would most likely result in something dislocated or broken

Cf:

Basic Luti loop, wore O pants which seemed thin. 32' 50/50 - should do more. Saw a cardinal pair & noted chickens in the SPS coop. Avoided an abundance of sidewalk ice.

Windy am DP. Went to Parson's Way for a change. As it happened, plowing was just coming out of PL access. Morning light was nice when clouds' underbellies glowed pink briefly. January more than half over. User-beware walk got a dusting of sand.

Went to Winant parking on Fisk - too windy to care for the road. Ran to top of Winant hill in woods - only 4" of snow - so that was fine. Paths were icy. Bounced off backs of Pleasant St. buildings til finding the path in returning. I would say dark waited til 5pm today. In my book, spring murmurs 3rd week in February.

DP, 2" new snow, nearly got stuck underestimating what was there. 29F warm, all relative.

Noon - South, Iron Works, Clinton - ended up with long sleeve light synthetic top - back before a dreary rain.

Faraway series, photos from elsewhere, #91


Since mountains are a current theme, this seemed apropos in this eve's search. It's from summer, 1980, on Mt Baker in the North Cascades, Washington state. I had an interest in climbing, spent a week with the North Cascades alpine school and climbed two peaks, this being one.

C • H.A. 2

Great Glen Ski-O, map/courses by Ernst. Perfect day, cold (0F at 0930) but calm. Accurate but not very decent skating, particularly on up-slopes. Broke a pole in the woods (caught in tree fork) cutting E from #6. Brand new, too - used only twice. Had one layer extra on - an oversight - still 2 cold fingers, L hand on & off. Compared routes w/ TF. Right on #4 was my worst RC. All in all, nice time but would not have driven up for just the ski-O. Was a stroke of luck in that it was cancelled last wkend. Hans drove from Camden, Bermans there from Cambridge, Aims, Ken, Alex & Ed - all long drives.

Two nights at the Pinkham Notch AMC lodge with communal dinners and after dinner entertainment. A room came with dinner & breakfast as well as GG ski pass. Sitting for dinner with faces that became increasingly familiar over 2 days got to be quite enjoyable. Last night, 12 at the table, six of us w/in hearing had a lively conversation. Finally, just me & four women and the conversation had turned to fabric - which included fabric hoarding, a specialty of Beth's - ah, but for the palette. Very interesting presentation on White Mountain history after. Once chock full of great wooden summer hotels, burned one after the other - two huge Glen Houses up in flames. Crawfords discussed some. Beth said Sharon told her she was related - wouldn't be surprising as they were hardy. Home via Kancamagus/112 for a change of scenery - no ticky-tack for 30 miles...WMNF, lots of trail heads with cars for hikers etc. Excellent mountain scenery. Last 3 MLK weekends spent with work buddies in Wentworth Location - this was a refreshing change. Beth enjoyed herself - first WM hike in a while and XC in 2 or so seasons

Orange - Splits

Hike to Tuckerman's, frigid NW day but well-dressed &, turns out, almost no wind along the trail. A lot of hikers/climbers/skiers, 4 dogs and even a few 'babes' - everyone enjoying White mountain scenery. Noted 3-4 robins on the trail, eating berries. We might have been inspirational (somewhat bothersome to mull over, eg appearance & performance weighed - what do we look like?:)), reading between the lines of a few comments. One teenage girl: words to the effect that she could barely keep ahead of us - which was nothing more than slow & steady. Too bitter for XC in open. Went to GG around 3:30, 0F, a few skiers returning. No face cover to speak of...hardiness abounds here.

Tuckerman's Headwall

C • Smart 13