Central Vermont Bike Tour: Calais, Vermont and beyond!

Sunday, g-$$$, DogMan, tMail and I took part in the CVBT (a fundraiser for the Cross-Vermont Trail).  This is an outstanding 60 mile tour that hits some of the most astounding routes in central Vermont north and east of Montpelier, centered on Calais.  They offer three incredibly well-marked routes:10-ish, 34-ish and 60-ish miles), no official finishing times, great aid stations and a huge buffet at the end.  The start/finish is at the Morse Farm, which includes a gift-shop that sells maple creemees - a summer staple in this part of the world that, made with real maple syrup, is an out-of-this-world flavor.  DogMan, g-$$$ and I biked the 60.  tMail ran the 34.  Here's a description from g-$$$:

Yes it was a great event.....nice intimate grassroots event.  Organizer is super-passionate and just trying to promote his cause without trying to make it a big moneymaker.  Entry was $50....very reasonable for the level of support and effort.  The course was hard.....lots of short change of tempo climbs and lots of leg/lung busters.....descents were fun but often heavy on the washboard.  Because of the amount of rain they've had up there the roads were often a little soft so it was easy to get bogged down in the thin muck.  The course is your classic Vermont ride...endless Vistas and cow pastures galore.  Turns were well marked and the local support was wonderful.  The course was special...we even rode UNDER a barn!

DogMan's Trip Report:  Really enjoyed it.

G$$ - thanks for the smoking first leg and a half and the fluid. Very impressed. Who needs a sternum anyway?

Tmail - way f* impressed. Pummels the Whites Saturday, solo runner navigates the hill country, fends off red neck dog attacks, pushes through the paved brutality of Minister Brook, cruises smoothly to the finish.

Mutha - Pummels the Whites Saturday. Today, uh - did you sweat? I think you could probably just ride BMB next weekend and finish. Sure it would take you a while, but you would cruise into the finish laughing, telling a story, put on your 5 fingers and go find someone to "run around with".

g-$$$'s Trip Report:  Finally home and showered, bike and riding gear put away, chores (trash/laundry) done....sitting at my desk trying to motivate myself to get some work done......it's looking more like f' that.

Sorry I missed the beef tips...they looked good....but got to spend an hour at the lake house with EZ-E and and then around the campfire with 5 women....they all want to meet THE VALENTINO...it seems my mangled sternum was not nearly as impressive as someone running 34 miles!  I think Lisa wants to hook you up [last 3 words omitted by blog author to retain PG rating].

Dogman....the only reason I fought so hard to stay with you was I didn't want to get lost....riding today was like having a headset in my ear and cues coming from the team car.  For not having many miles under the belt it didn't show.

Muthaz...the Goat Shack Farm tour was awesome.....TJ was exactly as described....sorry about dragging shit into your house and sticking you with the beef tips bill...but hey I paid for your salad.  Incredible that you did Tecumseh and Osceolas in 5.5 and then did the 60 too!

Tmail...as usual...Impressive...Simply Impressive.....

Not sure I'll be getting out with you guys next week with the Holiday and all.....so it may be the VT100 will be the next chance for me to get out with you guys....

The Pain in the NEK is going to be AWESOME!!!!

tMail's Trip Report: What I a weekend! The weekend hangover is here.

We started training camp with a warm up - up Tecumseh ski slope and down the North West side of Tecumseh. This was "joint 47". The trail down is beautiful very runable, we had very wet conditions but held a good pace. We took the right onto Tripoli Road and headed toward Mount Osceola which we crush in no time then had a rapid descent.

Once pack on Tripoli we crushed it back to the car and had a classic NH River soak.

Mutha got his latte or double espresso at Mad River Coffee.

Saturday night was chilling out and evening cores. Booker T banged in he said his head was ready to explode.

Sunday morning came early. Booker T was seen flying down Peacham and arrived fully recovered for morning chores.

We left to pick up DogMan and arrived at Morse Farm. G$$$ greeted us and the bike squad got ready along with the lone runner.

Fears going into this getting lost or eaten alive by a Vermont Junk Yard Dog. Fears came to revelation on Lyle Young Road which has a beautiful barn from 1899. Let's call the "Great Dane" Toby. I saw Toby early and he saw me. Owner was under his car in the front yard fixing it. Toby came charging he was eye level to me and ran with me snarling, growling. Owner was probably still under car until I heard "Get back dog". Toby didn't care I told him to F off and he stopped.

From the top of Worcester Road to West Hill Road brutal. Asphalt paving torture. (DogMan there is a road off Worcester Road (Robinson Hill Road) it looks like a beast. Anyway the cavalry starting coming West Hill Road first DogMan, then G$$$ who rode with me until Culver Hill Road aid station. I then saw Mutha on North Street and again on County Road when he ran in with me. I almost had my 2nd run in with Rotweiller on Horn of the Moon Road. He had destroyed the window and curtain and torn tore through the window screen. His head was through that and he was ready to eat tMail. He never jumped through window.

This was a magnificent run tour the roads are just relentless and hard pack gravel. Running through the NEK (E. Montpelier, Calais, Worcester and Middlesex just rocked. Those climbs are brutal running can't imagine on a bike.

Sunday night was rocking with 7 dogs, the DogMan family beef tips, Positive Pie Pizza and DogMan home brew. The Apple cider was rocking, I loved it.

This morning Mutha, Spanky, Jake and myself probably ran for 45 minutes attacked by deerflies it was brutal but we survived.

Training camp concluded back at Muthaville USA.

Booker T is a true classic. His bike is a disaster, we took off his front breaks and replaced the rear pads with the front ones. No front breaks. He needs medicine lots of it, the stuff he is on doesn't work he needs like Rhino tranquilizer. He is a GOOD kid, just needs help and guidance. He attention span is a nano second. He got booted off the property Sunday night.

Mutha / tMail. "Get the F out of here" (we chased him on his bike)
Booker T "Why"
Mutha "Go the F home"
around the corner walks Booker T's teacher. Mutha says "can you flunk him next year" she says "he wouldn't care".

This morning Smidge, Chance, Einstein and Zeus got their tetanus shots.
Zeus will be eaten soon he is pretty useless.
Thor has a nice burial.
The bees are rocking.

Stay tuned for coming weekend adventure!!!

Mutha's Trip Report:  I've got total adventure hangover.  Everything around me looks really boring.  A weekend w/ you guys and I'm just lost.

tMail: holy crap.
dogman:  SMOKE THAT COURSE (ridin' it like a native).
g-$$$:  you think if i cracked MY sternum i could ride like that?

this was great adventure, no doubt.  what a fun weekend.

Osceola & Tecumseh: Joint 48

tMail and I finished our 'joint 48' today:  our joint tagging of the White Mountain 48 together.  We ran from Waterville Valley, up the ski slopes to Tecumseh, down the north side to Tripoli Rd, along the road to the trail to Osceola, up and back, Tripoli Rd. to Waterville Valley and the car.  16.5 miles, under 5.5 hours.


We soaked in the brook by the Tecumseh Trailhead (not the little trickle by the trailhead, but the rushing brook about 150ft in.

Conditions were easy and predictable.  Things were  a little wet but nothing unusual for the way this weather has been.  We just churned out the miles and the feet of elevation and I did my best to keep up w/ the wind.... The wind had to wait for me.

Chamberlain and Rake Factory Roads

I figured I'd get some miles in today on my bike.  22.3 miles and 1170' elevation gain (according to MapMyRide).  It took 2.25 hrs.  "Woah, 10 mph Mutha, what the hell?  Sounds like you had a rough time of it...."  Yeah, I did. But even though my pace was slow, I have an excuse.  It was a rough ride.

"But ...", you ask, "... at 10mph avg speed what was the holdup?  Legs?  Lungs?"

Neither.  I cruised south to Peacham and then east to Barnet at a good clip on my old Specialized Crossroads, and then at an inspired moment, made a crucial left on something called Warden Road.  Then turned onto something called Chamberlain Road, and then a left on something called Rake Factory Road, then back home.

I knew what I was in for.  For those of you who have any idea what this might've been like, allow me to give you a few ideas of how this route has been transformed by all those massive storms.  For those of you who have no idea what Chamberlain and Rake Factory roads are like, pull up a chair and check this shit out when you have time to read.  Here are a few notes:

1)  The first part of Chamberlain, done in the reverse of what I've done w/ some of you, involved a lovely climb which was at first just a matter of putting the bike in my smallest gear and working it....until I got to the section that was about 150' from the guys house on the long driveway w/ the dogs that came out to meet us.  As some of you may recall, this was where (coming down) I got off my bike and walked it for a while because of the loose and large rocks.  Well, the town used large stones again to repair it after the storms.  They were large and jagged, up to 8-12 inches mixed w/ smaller rocks and dirt.  I had to get off the bike.

2)  At the guys driveway, I headed off into the woods on what's left of Chamberlain Rd.  This wasn't too bad at first - just a little rutted and muddy/soft.

3)  Chamberlain still appears on maps - MapMyRide shows it, in fact shows it splitting into two roads, both of which come out on Rake Factory.  I've been on it three times (or four?) and have never found the 'fork'.  There's zero evidence of it.  In fact the mile or so after entering the woods and leading down to Rake Factory Road was abandoned a number of years ago and last year was basically an ATV/snowmobile trail in the woods, climbing up and over Strobridge Hill in a rutted, muddy, trail.  There's not a lot left of it on that section.  What's left I couldn't ride down, which doesn't mean a lot, but at least I didn't have to carry the bike except in a few short sections.  It could probably be navigated w/ a 4-wheeler with some skill, really aggressive tires and a significant clearance.  Worse than the 'road' condition were the mosquitos, which were thick and swarming.  It was downhill, I had to drag the bike in and out of ruts, and wipe bugs off my body.  If any of you remember the first climb up from Rake Factory Road, I couldn't even ride down that.  Chamberlain has a canyon about 2ft deep meandering down the middle of it.

4) Okay, so I got on the bike about 50' from Rake Factory road, made my left, and within a few minutes was off the bike.  Then on and off again for no more than 100' at a time, until I unclipped my left foot in a mudhole, fell to the right and landed on my shoulder/back.  I was moving forward at no more than 0.1 mph so the impact was relatively easy - kind of laid down hard and took a few rocks against the body - not even a scratch.  Well, there's nothing left of most parts of Rake Factory.  It's completely blown out.  For long stretches it looks like a rocky brook w/ steep banks.  For really long sections near the top the bottom of the 'road' is about 5 - 6' below the original grade.  Much of it is more than 2' deep, but blown out for the whole width.  In the steepest section, the road washed into the woods, which now looks like trees sticking out of a flat plain of mud - no organic forest floor - just trees sticking out of dirt.  I had to carry the bike for about 25 minutes, scrambling over boulders and shredded culverts.  I eventually dragged the bike into the dense woods and bushwacked for about 300 yards.  Unfortunately I didn't have the tool necessary to remove my handlebars - it would've been a lot easier if they were rotated parallel to the frame because the trees were so close together.  Mosquitos, branches, rocks, etc.  I eventually lowered the bike into the bottom of the gully and did some distance on rocks/mud/etc., then scrambled back up on the banks when I could.

5)  With great relief I finally hit Varnum Rd, which is normally a pretty primitive route (not too good in a passenger vehicle - mostly just trucks/farm equipment during sugaring season) but it had been repaired post-storm and compared to Rake Factory was like a freaking paved highway.  A few hundred yards later, made a right on the Thaddeus Stevens Road.  Ahhh, freshly graded this afternoon with ... uh oh, soft material.  The bike sank in so deep I couldn't pedal through it on the FLATS!  Crap.  Had to actually get off and drag the bike on flat freaking dirt road.  Well, even though it's a maintained road, the T.S.Rd is still pretty out-in-the-sticks, so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when a black bear crossed in front of me and headed into the woods.  My first bear in Danville.  It didn't even look at me.  It just ambled across the road and into the woods.  I got on the bike and pedaled like a motherf**ker, looking over my shoulder repeatedly in case for some reason this bear decided to go into ol' grizzle bear mode.  I know, black bear aren't aggressive.  Right.  Fine.

6)  The last scramble was over the washout that has closed the Greenbank Hollow Covered Bridge, through the bridge, over the chain blocking the bridge from the other side and then 20 minutes later - home.

http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/38482858/http://www.mapmyride.com/routes/view/38482858/

North Twin Mtn, South Twin Mtn, The Tent & Thor

Mutha's Trip Report

Fun day for Team Barks-a-lot:  Dogman, Mutha, Trudy, Spanky & Jake.  Destination:  South Twin, via the North Twin trail, out and back.  Three river crossings.  On the way up, did the bushwack so only had to do last crossing.  Bushwack is now a well established trail - easy to follow - almost as good as the regular trail.

Beautiful weather - lots of sun and even more bugs.  Herbal Armor bug repellent works wonders (MadDog, that's the stuff you and I used in Wyoming).

The view from South Twin is amazing.  It's such a great perspective on everything from the Presidentials to Franconia Ridge, to the entire Pemi. The views of Carrigain and Mt. Nancy and even Norcross Pond are excellent.

While on South Twin, I found a nalgene full of water.  Score!  Gave it to the dogs.

On the way in, from North to South twin, kept an eye out for Chip's tent.  Every possible place, trudged around in the brush and woods looking for it.  We figured that on the way back it may be more obvious.  Indeed, on the way back, we scoured the woods with me mumbling "to find this tent, we have to think like a douchebag...".  After nearly giving up, we focused on a section of dead trees with deep ferns and fallen logs.  As it transitioned into the ascent up N. Twin, BAM!  The tent.  At the time I was pretty disdainful of Chip's explanation of where he left it, but after we hauled it out to the trail it was clear that it was actually a pretty accurate explanation - just a little vague - but there was no other way for him to describe it.

So we got a tent and a nalgene.

On the way home we stopped in Littleton at the DD.  I got a (hot) latte w/ whole milk.  Dogman got some crazy iced beverage.  While sipping the drinks, he saw a sign for a new special drink:  Mountain Dew Kolatta!  He promptly ordered a small and you could see the stars and hearts floating around his head.  The man has found his new beverage nirvana.

To round out the festivities, I pulled into the Burger King just before the highway, and focusing on the "$1 menu", ordered for the dogs 2 orders of 4-pc chicken nuggets and 1 'stacker' (a burger w/ cheese and a piece of bacon).  For $3.27 this should be quite the dog treat.  We got our order and after pulling ahead a few feet to park, started to distribute the chicken nuggets.  Jake just stared at his.  Spanky ate hers, but not very enthusiastically.  Trudy picked it up, sucked on it for a second and spit it out.  We though she just dropped it, so DogMan re-fed it to her.  She sucked on it for  second and spit it out.  Neither she nor Jake would eat them.  I tried the stacker, split into 3 chunks, and they wolfed them down.  It was a hunger thing - it was that the chicken nuggets were too far from "food" for the dogs to want them.... and dogs EAT ROADKILL!!!!!!!

The tent gets set up tomorrow to dry out and air out.

Last nugget:  we got to my house at 6:30 and headed in to the goatshack to see the new babies and only found 4 napping in the shack.  I heard a weird, pathetic bleating coming from somewhere, kind of muffled and figured out that one of the babies, Thor, had got himself wedged in the wall, just beyond my reach.  Little TJ showed up and Dogman, TJ and I grabbed a power saw and cut through the wall.  I pulled Thor out by the legs but he was limp and clearly dead.  I gave him mouth-to-mouth but it just inflated his stomach, and tried chests compressions.  I keep a stethoscope in my 'goat kit' and couldn't find a heartbeat.  TJ was crying and held Thor.  We picked a spot out by the garden and I dug a deep grave and we buried him covered w/ the towel he was born in.  We decided to put a marker up that reads "Here Lies Thor, 6/5/2011 - 6/16/2011, He was a good little goat."  TJ's dad came and got him and they left his bike here.

DogMan's Trip Report

Packed day.

1) Learned all about Linda "Lock Vagina" or something like that (Lot's to party a lot?). High maintenance apparently, but interesting to hear about her. We got there initially talking about Spungie's marriage. How is a mystery.

2) Perhaps I should have re-read the email on potential tent location. No tent on way up. Much cursing of Chip.

3) Bluebird day up top, although a little buggy. Much enjoyment by dog and man.

4) More cursing of Chip on way back, but with better idea of where potential spots are, we make a more focused and concentrated effort. Buggy as git all. I am about to go insane. Last chance, last place that makes sense, Mutha says "wait one second there are two rocks over here". Bingo! Bagged the tent!

5) We secure tent in bag, while enduring near insanity from bug assault. Apply some wonder lotion Mutha has. All good.

6) Much discussion of divorce.

7) Sorry G$$, some discussion of God. Although all good, mostly how Mutha woke up at 3am torturing Sue with a long to do list and an esoteric concern about "acts of god, whether if there are acts of god churches are liable, and if not, are insurance companies just making shit up". Had to be there. Sure you are sorry you missed it.

8) Nice splashing in river for dogs on way down. We do all 3 crossings, and hang in the last one, getting the legs wet. Cold, but awesome.

9) Required stop at DD. Scored a Mountain Dew Collatta (sp?). Highly recommended. When in Rome go Roman. If at a DD go as artificial and contrived as possible. Scored big.

10) Dogs reject "chicken" chunks from Burger King. This is really disturbing. $1 for 4 items that "look" like "food" but are roundly rejected by multiple dogs that have just spent 8+ hours in the mountains. This is not good.

11) Losing Thor. What a strange and sad incident. Will let Mutha cover this. Thunder on Thor. Thunder on.

After The Flood

Things have finally settled down after the great flood of 5/27/2011 and all the crap in my basement is either at the dump or under a tarp on the driveway - but it's now time to get back above treeline.  To that end, the following adventures have been scheduled:

• 6/15:  South & North Twin and The Great Tent Search & Rescue
• 6/18:  Something in the Presi's - same day as the MWRR
• 6/26:  The Puppet Master High Note (PM's Choice)

Franc Ridge: Buh Bye to Lincoln

Finally crossed another off my grid.  Jake, Spanky and I cranked out the miles.  The dogs are dog-tired.  That makes Lafayette and Lincoln.  I need Washington in July, August, October & November so I have a minor goal of crossing that Bad Boy off this year.

Today's route was the classic route:  ascend Falling Waters, descend OBP.  Conditions were pretty late-springlike:  lots of flowing water and wet rocks with lots of dry sections and some ice toward the top of Falling Waters near treeline.  Who'd a thunk it.  All the downed trees were cleaned up well enough that they didn't pose any real obstacles.  Water crossings were easy (lots of water though).  Because of the wet trail it's not ripe for speed records (see below).

So here's the fun part:  the lot was full of cars and heavy-duty equipment - 93 through the notch is being repaved.  The trails were really busy with quite a few lunatics sitting for a rest right IN THE TRAIL!  The weather gets nice and the crazies come out.

I targeted a 3:30 pace, + 30min for dog stops gave me a total planned route time of 4 hours.  It worked out almost to the penny:

• First stop on Lincoln:  3 minutes for dog to be fed.
• Lunch on Lafayette:  (2:03 from trailhead) 15 minutes for dogs for lunch and water
• Water stop at Galehead to play in stream (5 min)
• Water stop at Lincoln Brook just before parking lot (5 min).

Funny how it worked out so close.  Must be spending to much time on that route.

Rocket Ride at Burke Mtn

The Burke Mtn Ski Resort is closed for the season but the skiing looks to be about as good as it gets.  Dogman and I found a 4ft deep snowpack that was more than bombproof - you couldn't post-hole and jamming your ice axe in only got it about 3 inches into the base.   The base wasn't crust - it was firm (you could drag an ice axe tip through it for self-arrest, which we tested and in some cases had to implement.

We had quite a snow this morning so there was about 3 inches of new snow on top of the established base.

Dogman and I pulled the sleds (Paris Expedition) to the top, with Trudy, Spanky and Jake.  We went all the way to the top of the mountain and sledded down black diamond trails (marked in light green on the map at right).

This was the fastest I've ever gone in a sled, by a long shot.  We had helmets, face masks and goggles and used ice axes for the self-arrest for the times we popped out of the sleds.  The posture we chose was seated, legs over the sides with boots in the snow for steering and the axe in hands across chest in standard 'prepare to die' configuration.

The climb up was about 45 minutes to the parking lot just below the 3267' summit.  The total elevation gain was roughly 1200' (it's about 2000' from the base lodge to the top of the main lift).

Our first time down was hysterically fast but fraught with momentary panic at the high speeds, sled instability and sheer excitement.  The descent featured 3 or 4 stops, either accidental or of the 'stop-at-the-edge-and-look-over' variety.  This is a serious descent.

The second time up we climbed to the top of the Poma lift, probably 150' vertical short of the parking lot.  This is the top of the 'steep' part.  We were determined to make the run to the base in one continuous ride, now that we had the experience.  I ended up wiping out mid-run as I began approaching a gentle turn in the trail but was unable to manage migrating to the right.  With about 100m to the trees my efforts to drift right made the sled go into a tailspin and I got ejected.  Rather than self-arrest I shot downhill on my back (gortex whistling) until I came to a stop.  The sled shot over me but was arrested by the ankle leash I had fastened it with.

The rest was done in a continuous run.

Highlights:

• The speed.  Nothing like it.
• The snow kicked up by my boots formed a massive cloud around my and covered me, packing snow into my mouth (i had to chew it to get rid of it) and into my nostrils.  It was good snowball snow, but as we descended got heavier.  Toward the bottom, instead of merely crashing into my face, it was like a mashed-potato food-fight and I had to clear my goggles with a quick glove-wipe about every 5 seconds.
• The speed.
• The soft texture of the snow.  No bruises, injuries, sprains or tender tailbones.
• The speed.

Lafayette w/ Spanky, The Puppet Master & Riley

Up and down Lafayette via the Old Bridle Path.

Mutha's Trip Report (pics here):
A blue-bird day like no other. Lafayette rarely fails to deliver. The PM and I had slightly different ideas on what to bring. He had a full winter pack and went w/ microspikes. I had my smallest pack with only a windbreaker and a mid-weight top in it and wore crampons.

We were both right and both wrong in so many ways. I wore a sleeveless top for the ascent, which was great until I got above treeline and froze my tits off. I lost two fingers on each hand on the way up in the stiff wind. Temps were probably around 20° and the winds no more than 10-15 mph or so but sleeveless w/ fingerless biking gloves ... uhh, kinda cold. I got to the summit first w/ Spanky and made a beeline across the top and around the 'back' of the summit to the southeast corner where I could put on everything, including a fleece hat. Damn it got cold... but not as cold as on the way down, where we both completely lost all fingers and I thought I'd end up with frostbite on my cheeks/nose

Crap.

Other highlights:
* [Updated 4/11 to reflect site info from Fred] Saw a few people on the trail - pretty empty day though. Passed a solo hiker at the hut, saw him again at the summit and on the lee side of the summit (: Fred.  He introduced us to Trail NH which combines GIS info w/ trail reports from VFTT and Hike-NH, NETC and others.  Back down at the Hut we chatted for a while w/ some older folks that were having lunch who, of course, were familiar with folks I knew in Danville.  All socializing aside it was astoundingly sparsely populated up there for a picture perfect day. ... although I did think I was going to lose skin from the cold wind on the way down .... and i completely lost my fingers .... but whatever.
* On the way down, two guys skinning up were going to ski into the ravines. Both had helmets.
* On the way down, a guy coming up stopped to chat about the weather for a second. He kept referring to the schmutz in the sky caused by airplanes and the fast-approaching weather. I think he was insane. I just took off and left the PM to deal. WTF man, it was a gorgeous day!
* Great social day too. The PM and I covered a lot of territory: jobs, relationships, licorice and sardines. Hell Yaz!
* Took another 30 photos of the damn dog. Hey man, it's all digital. 1's and 0's. So stop complaining.

The Puppet Master's Trip Report (pics here):
Beauty of a day today.  The bluebirds were chirping and Mutha's wheels were turning! My regrets -

1. Agreeing to "blast" up Lafayette with Mutha.  I now know what that really means - wow!  It was like running with TMail, following a ghost!  Mutha had us to the hut in 1hr 15min.
2. Bringing my full winter pack and not a paired down version appropriate for the day.
3. Believing in microspikes while trying to front-point up a rock-hard, ice slab... eek!
4. Not packing more licorice logs - http://www.rjslicorice.co.nz/

 Heard on the hill today -

1. "F*cking Tmail" - for getting us to buy more gear and his inviting us to chase him as he runs like a lightning streak
2. "F*cking MadDog" - for talking relationships on hikes, keeping it all in perspective, and asking for a 600 mile triathlon later this year
3. "F*cking G$" - for not buying a condo in Waterville yet and getting us thinking about hiking/trips out West
4. "F*cking DogMan" - for battling the racer mentality (i.e. "get to the finish"), being full of zen, and sliding down ski hills like it's his job

My major rants....

• Narcisscism, and the self-promotion society we have become/allow
• Gov't shut down - what a bunch of j-holes! 
• Some terrorist's attorney fighting for his "rights"... right
• The cryptic code to crack
• The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo
• Brother's donuts from Sanbornton Country Store (exit 22 off I93N) - mouthgasm!
• The power of communication and language

Great day out.  I needed that mountain therapy!

Pics (a lot in B&W due to brightness of sun)

Eisenhower & Pierce the Fun Way

Dogman, tMail, Jake, Spanky, Trudy & I tackled Eisenhower via Edmands Path.  We had a 2.3 mile walk along the Mt. Clinton Rd. to the trail, which we were able to follow until were in the alpine zone above the deciduous trees (except for a few wayward birches) at which point we just went up.  The trail follows the ridge so it wasn't a problem for route-finding but it did get pretty steep.  Above the trees, still steep, this western approach encounters the large, wind-swept bulge of Eisenhower (Boob Mountain).  The true trail avoids some of this by veering north around the bulge, following the countours to the Crawford Path.  Without a trail, we just hammered straight east on a beeline to the summit.  Some highlights follow ...

Mutha's Trip Report (pics here):

• The snow was an extraordinary texture.  I thought of it as 'butter cream frosting':  yielding but firm.  The only postholes were spruce traps or horizontal, submerged trunks.  Snowshoes were the gear du jour.
• The wind-sculpted drifts along the ridge were beautiful.  The entire ridge between the summits was entirely navigable on or off trail.  We stayed to the trial more-or-less but it didn't really matter.  The snow was deep and strong.  Even the dogs weren't postholing except in a few soft drifts but no real struggling.  Jake actually was able to stay completely on top of the windslab in places where tMail & Dogman (in crampons) were knee deep.  I kept my MSRs on and probably had an easier time, but not by much.  This was not like the Bamforth Ridge adventure of 2010 or whenever that was.
• At a mere 7 hours it's clear that this route, or variations of it, will offer some prime adventure.  I'd like to try tMail's original plan of tackling the Abenaki Ravine.  We had that on our Plan A but never really made the push off the trail until we were pretty high up and at that point had kind of let the injection point pass by.
• The summit of Pierce really wowed me.  I kept repeating "no f**king cairn!"  We all know that little grove up there - a 20ft diameter clearing with a 5ft cairn and trees about 8-10ft tall.  There was almost no sign of any of these.  We wandered around on the beautiful snow among little knee-high conifer tops here and there.  We found an area of the right size, in roughly the right place that had nothing green sticking out of it but certainly no cairn.  It was like being on a bare mountain top like Eisenhower.  
• Interestingly, the high point was south of the cairn by about 30ft - a Winter High Point!
• The descent off Pierce was a luge run.  For much of it the snowpack was a good 4ft above the packed trail.  We looked down some postholes off to the side (only spruce traps and over streams).  A few appeared to be over 5ft deep give an easy 8 - 10' of snow on Pierce's west flank.  It would be worth bringing a cargo sled up and rocketing down that thing as long as nobody was coming up it.  The sled might be too dangerous, but something sled-like other than gortex pants.
• I think this was the first time I found myself thinking that I really like Pierce.  It's definitely a spring mountain.

This Sunday: The ZB3 Marathon

Yes, Sunday's plan changed once again, this variation was conceived Saturday night.  26.2-ish miles (closer to 26.5 I think) hitting Zealand and the 3 Bonds.

Mutha's Trip Report (pics here):  Here's the short version (long version will bubble up over the next few months).

• Trail conditions were exceptional.  The route was packed out all the way to the Twinway and beyond.  With only a few ambiguities (all of which resolved very quickly), the snowpack conditions could not have been easier.  Crampons were the gear of the day and except for Bondcliff, which was almost completely devoid of snow/ice, conditions were rock solid, strong and impossible to improve upon.
• The single unexpected 'problem' was the height of the snowpack.  It put us high in the trees and as a consequence we all have multiple slashes, stabs, bruises and bumps from interactions with the whips and swords of the forest canopy.
• The air was spectacularly clear, calm, dry and cloud-free.
• There is an incredible amount of snow out there.  We crossed Zealand Brook on the way in, on a minor bushwhack.  It involved climbing down an 8ft canyon wall, crossing, then up the other side.  The vertical wall was about 1-2ft of natural bank, with 6ft of compacted snow on top.  On the bushwhack, which was down low between the trailhead and the beaver dam, the snow surface was rock solid and allowed for fast travel through the woods.
• Standing on the 'Plank' caused vertigo in both MadDog and me.  I think it was the steep, jumbled cliffs plunging down into the canyons (no perspective for the eye to latch onto).
• We agreed that West Bond and Bondcliff are the greatest spots to view the White Mountains.

tMail's Trip Report:  Miles in the winter require two things great weather and great trail conditions we had that and then some!

Zealand road as we have established was our approach and yes it should be, fire bombed, bulldozed, dynamited, leveled and all bridges blown.

Conversation on the ascent included, italian, asian, and jewish mothers, Jethro Tull, YMCA, Mucho Macho Man, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, VT 100 nutrition, transvestites, MadDog's basement and the RI mafia. MD's uncle construction business, the ascent of Jerome up to Camel's Hump. The inadvertent bushwhack is very cool and crossing the Beaver Bond was awesome. Beavers are hard at work.

Zealand hut stop 1. We isolated the Hut Kittens quickly and chatted and were invited back for hot water, tea and hot chocolate on our return. Two kittens were quickly isolated for chatting secret password is New England Clam Chowder.

Zealand to the Twinway was spectacular despite MadDog having no desire to hit Zealand we forced him to and he gave the finger to the sign.

From Zealand to Bondcliff was great the snow was solid and trail well defined. The views nothing but spectacular. Conversation ranged from marriage counseling, MadDog's offspring, Mutha's Thanksgiving Turkey, Camel Hump Day, Romeo aka Peaches, Mutha's summer garden.

West Bond is nothing but spectacular and to me the best place to stand in the White Mountains far better than West Bond and no easy way to get there.

The Plank has become something special to MadDog and I he refused two winter ago to go near it this year he crawled onto it and actually stood up. The Plank is f'd up!

The return from Bondcliff (half way point) was excellent couple unknowns about MadDog

MadDog hates nutella
MadDog raced for 58 hours straight in some endurance race.
MadDog went to a Jimi Hendrix concert at age 11 in RI.
MadDog's favorite song is California Dream'n by the Mamas and the Papas.

The Zealand Jinx struck MadDog again 2 out of 3 times. MadDog had a shank tendon, boot tendon bang issue. MadDog hobbled back to Zealand hut for a wheel change.

At Zealand Hut while hanging out - out came Hut Kitten numero uno JoAnne and invited us in. The area outside Zealand in the dark at night is beautiful. We entered the hut and began to mingle. MadDog did his thing and Mutha did a constellation, moon thesis to people in the hut. Mutha also knew people in the hut. There was a significantly inbred family in the hut that did not smile, talk, or eat it was like we interrupted their inbreeding endeavor.

Anyway we also talked with the other Hut Kitten who lives in NYC.

Anyway the Hut Kittens wanted us to stay, several times we were asked but like Mucho Macho Men we geared up like pack mules and took the long road out.

All in all absolutely awesome day.

Side Note: MadDog was up for over 19 hours at which point his speech became slurred and was having trouble processing why we were at McDonalds - so was I but we ended up there in Littleton, NH.

26.5 miles, 3 Red Bulls and 21 hours later - I got the text message "I'm home. MD"

Incredible!!!

Also the Camel's Hump day was great - special thanks to DogMan and members of the Compound (Andrea, Trudy and Romeo) for hosting the great pizza and cake party!

MadDog's Trip Report:  Before I go to bed for the night...let me just add to that

1. I arrive at staging area 1 in Danville, tmail is packed dressed brushing his teeth and ready to go. Mutha is still dishing out some incredible morning chow - with the hope of triggering some plumbing action. After a quick bowl, BAM, I pushed one out.

2. There's no need for headphones when walking with Mutha and Tmail, they're walking jukeboxes, with a couple of terabytes of storage.

3. The inital bushwack was great around the beaver ponds was just great - great ground conditions.

4. Mutha's ability to recall trails, and correlate them to maps - on the fly, is just stellar.

5. The atronomy jedi master and his disciple were hard at work on the exit, by the ponds, dissecting a sky that no magazine picture can match.

6. Kitty 1 was all over Val...in an instant.

7. This was first onto Zealand from that direction, can you say accelerated heart rate.

8. Thor Heyedahl

9. I really those blowdown sections sprinkled about between Guyot and Zealand.

10. Zealand can kiss my ass. What a waste of elevation.

11. We saw the ghost of the Pemi at least three times, after returning from Mutha and I tagged Owl's head.

12. For those who didn't partake in the festivities, on a number of occasions you came up in conversation and associated with some future outing. Can't wait!

13. Tmail doesn't give a rats ass about my fears...it's not question, suggestion or request..."Maddog, you're doing the plank."

14. Fitting these crazy things into 26.2 design pattern is ingenius, Mutha and Tmail. It gives you a reference model that you can check-in against and apply visualization - we joking did it throughout the afternoon and evening, it was great. We need to get Mutha to be a Boston bandit...some of the references he wasn't familiar with.

15. How do you know you're brain isnt running on all cyclinders...we reach the car, I drop my stuff, then a minute later gather my poles, and walk to the back of the car. Tmail's standing next to me, I'm trying to pack the poles and then look at them and say aloud, hmmm, won't fit - who's poles are these anyway? Tmail: Maddog, they're yours you just picked them up." Uh, right. Goodnight...zzzzzzz