From: agrimstad@monmouth.com
Subject: belated trip report
PostedDate: 08/09/98 04:30:40 PM
SendTo: Kurt Ries
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Hi,
Kurt. Dick Hall just posted the first version of the 98-99 NATO
schedule
to rec.ski.backcountry and it got me thinking. Note the new
e-mail
address. I "retired" from AT&T at the end of July. Unfortunately,
I still
need to work for another decade or so. I start with Lucent
tomorrow.
But the real news is that I'm moving (eventually, certainly
by ski
season) to Concord, MA. That means every winter weekend in the
Whites
instead of the Daks. However, I may be closer to the Daks in
Concord
than I was in Jersey, so I may hop over there from time to
time
too. It'll be hard, what with having to ignore Vermont and all!
I don't
think I gave you a report on the Denali trip. It was quite
a trip.
I signed up for the workshop at Hatcher Pass a few days before
Denali.
This was canceled, so I ended up skiing alone for two days
there.
It was REAL snow. Continental, unconsolidated snow that was
melting
at midday. Being unconsolidated, that means that it tends to
just
collapse under you. In the morning it was more akin to ice
skating.
And talk about avalanches! Everywhere in the surrounding hills
there
were small avalanches.
The
first day of the Denali trip was a backcountry tour at a place
south
of Anchorage called Turnagain Pass. This was probably the best
ski day
of my life. Fabulous blue skies, consolidated snow and a view
of the
Chugach Mountains to die for. We toured up to high pass and
then
skied back. The windpack at the pass was really challenging, but
a bit
lower the surface was very forgiving corn. Lovely.
The
next day we flew into the Ruth Glacier. It was so nice that I was
stripped
to the waist as I dug a shelter for my tent. And the snow was
perfect,
untracked powder. I was planning on getting pretty good at
skiing
deep powder. The second day was great too. Then the shit hit
the
fan. Blizzard! We had three days of whiteout and huge winds. After
the
first day, I'd just ski back and forth between the hut and the
furthest
tents, just to get some exercise. The afternoon of the fourth
day of the
storm there was a break. We all skied down to the runway
(slowly
as the snow was now five feet of new powder) and spend the
rest of
the day packing. Before it was over we all got real good at
packing. The next morning three planes landed. One
empty, one with
some
supplies and one with a couple that were to take over our
hut.
The first plane got out but the next one (and I was in it!) lost
control
on take off and plowed into the deep snow. By the time we got
the
plane back to the top of the runway the weather had closed and the
second
blizzard hit. Another three days of snow, although not quite as
heavy
and constant as the first and nowhere near as much wind. No
planes
could get in or out. The two stranded pilots weren't exactly
thrilled.
And we would have run short of food except for the supplies
one of
the planes brought in. After another couple of days of runway
packing
we eventually got out. After the initial day and a half of
powder
skiing, I really only had about another day total of real
skiing.
But it was HARD. It took forever to get up a hill given the
deep
powder; and coming down required far more powder expertise than
I've
yet acquired. Better luck next year!
Here's
Dick's new schedule. -- al
NORTH
AMERICAN TELEMARK ORGANIZATION
1998-99 Schedule of Events (to
date)
November 14 Telemark
Primer Sunday River, Bethel, ME
15 Telemark
Primer Sugarbush North, Warren,
VT
21-22 Telemark Instructor Training
Course Wildcat, Pinkham Notch, NH
28-29 Telemark
Workshop Wildcat, Pinkham Notch, NH
December
5-6 Telemark
Workshop Mt
Tremblant,
PQ, Canada
5-6 Telemark
Workshop Bromley Ski Area, Bromley, VT
12-13 Telemark Instructor Training
Course Mad River Glen, Fayston, VT
12 Telemark
Primer Black Mtn Ski Area,
Jackson, NH
18 Telemark
Instructor Training
Course Hyland Hills, Bloomington, MN
19-20 Telemark
Workshop Hyland Hills Ski Area,
Bloomington, MN
19 Telemark Primer Bromley
Ski
Area, Peru, VT
20 Telemark
Primer Mad River Glen, Fayston,
VT
26-27 Telemark
Workshop Butternut, Great Barrington, MA
26 Womens
Telemark
Primer Mad River Glen, Fayston, VT
January 1 Telemark
Instructor Training
Course Whiteface, Wilmington, NY
2-3 Telemark
Workshop ADK
Loj, Lake
Placid, Whiteface, Wilmington,NY
9-10 Womens
Workshop Mad River Glen,
Waitsfield, VT
9 Telemark
Primer Jay Peak, Jay VT
16-17 Telemark Workshop Mad
River
Glen /Camels Hump,Waitsfield, VT
20 Telemark
Workshop Blue
Mtn PA
22 Masters
Clinic Whitegrass / Timberline,
Canaan
Valley,
WV
23-24 Telemark Workshop
Whitegrass / Timberline, Canaan
Valley, WV
23-24 Telemark
Workshop Black Mtn / Mt Washington, NH
30 Telemark
Primer Belleayre Mt.,
Highmount, NY
31 Telemark
Primer Wachusett Mtn Resort,
Princeton, MA
February 3-4-5 NH
Telemark
Adventure Presidential Range, NH
6-7 Telemark
Workshop Wildcat, Tuckerman Ravine, Mt
Washington NH
13-14-15 Vt. Telemark Adventure Mt
Mansfield,
Camels Hump, Hunger Mt, VT
20-21 Radical Terrain
Clinic Mad River Glen - Camels Hump,
Fayston, VT
19-20-21 W.V. Telemark Adventure
Tour Whitegrass STC / Dolly Sods, Canaan
Valley WV
20-21 Telemark
Workshop Black Mtn Ski Area, Mt
Washington, NH
20-21 Vt. Telemark
Adventure Mt Mansfield, Camels Hump VT
21 Telemark
Primer Campgaw Ski Area,
Mahwah, NJ
27-28 Telemark
Workshop Bromley Ski Area, Bromley, VT
26-27-28 Telemark Camp Mt.
Mansfield,
Stowe, VT
March 6-7 24th
Annual NATO Telemark
Festival Mad River Glen, Fayston VT
13-14 Vt. Telemark Adventure
Tour Mt. Mansfield, Camels Hump, Hunger Mtn,
VT
13-14 Maine Telemark Adventure
Tour Bethel, ME
20-21 Telemark Workshop Mad
River
Glen - Camels Hump, VT
26-27-28 Telemark
Camp Camels Hump, Huntington, VT
26-27-28 Telemark Camp Gulf
of
Slides, Mt Washington, NH
April 9-10-11 Telemark
Camp Mt Marcy, High Peaks Region
Adirondacks,
NY
16-17-18 Advanced Telemark
Camp Gulf of Slides and beyond, Mt Washington,
NH
24-29 Telemark Camp
Ruth Glacier, Denali, Alaska
June 5-6 Telemark
Workshop North Cascades, WA
8-12 Summer
Telemark
Camp North Cascades, WA
For
more information on these and other nato events and our 1999 brochure
contact:
North
American Telemark Organziation
PO Box
44 Waitsfield Vermont 05673
phone:
1-800-835-3404 fax: 1-802-496-5515 email:
telenato@aol.com
Nato
web page
http://planet.syr.edu/telemark/
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