<I>(Note from the Administrator: This report was originally posted on 1/31/00. Due to our move to new servers, the date and time attributed to this post is incorrect.)</I> <BR> <BR>The last storm brought enough to the southern Whites to make Cardigan worth checking out this past weekend. <BR> <BR>Saturday AM was pretty brisk (-single digits at 7:30) and blustery. We started by ascending the Dukes ski trail to the high shoulder of the Firescrew, where the winds were strong and steady in the high 30s/low 40s mph, with occasional higher gusts. On-piste the snow was adequate- 8-12" of heavy snow with a tasty breakable windpack on top. Above treeline it was slabby & rough, ranging from 0-15" of abrasive snow, with a firm breakable windpack on the snowfields on the N aspect below the top of the Dukes. <BR> <BR>Bushwhacking up the hiking trail up the Firescrew we had to carry our skis and kick steps for 50-100' of vertical, with occasional sloughing of the slabs that required using horizontal skis as climbing aids. On the bald flat ridge the N wind was pretty brutal, given the temps (it'd warmed to about 0F by then.) <BR> <BR>Even though the winds & conditions were anti favorable we decided to check out the open convex S aspect of Firescrew. Just under the shoulder of the ridge we were protected from the wind, but the windslabs were of variable depth and unstable. Kicking off the small cornices from the ledges they exploded on impact into a hailstorm of wind carried shards. The cover wasn't deep enough and I left a fair amount of steel & Ptex on the granite. It was neither stable nor deep enough to ski it on down to the trees, with plenty of terrain traps should a bigger slab give way. Another day, in deeper snow, with a S wind, maybe. <BR> <BR>Skiing the Dukes was easy & fun- just enough of the crusties to keep it interesting. After stopping by the car for a coffee break we headed up the Alexandria in search of better snow & terrain. It was somewhat better sheltered from the wind on that side, and the temps had come up at least to the teens by the time we reached the intersection of the Holt and the Alexandria. Ascending another 100' to the point just below treeline with a good view of the Firescrew we spotted our tracks on the far side. Aaron suggested going higher, on to the Cardigan summit. Listening to the gusts in the treetops he suddenly appeared to have grown 3 heads- was he crazy or what? Why head up to where the wind will take your head off to ski windslab & granite, when there's 1400' of nice stuff beckoning to you from below??? How to put it diplomatically... "Naw, I think I've seen enough of the summit stuff for now, lets head on down." <BR> <BR>Conditions on the Alexandria were similar flaky light windpack atop slightly more snow than on the Dukes. There'd been more traffic on the Alexandria though- we'd seen 4 'boarders and 4 skiers ascending (and only 2 skier other than ourselves on the Dukes trail.) <BR> <BR>From the bottom of the Alexandria we took a short bushwhack to one of our favorite off-piste glade runs with a SW exposure in hopes of finding better snow. And indeed we found it! The first 400vf of low-angle glades were as sweet as it gets- a bit on the heavy side, but nary a crust had formed. Below that the cover got thinner however, and we turned back before skiing it to the bottom, as every 3rd turn we were playing lumberjack, shredding the submerged windfall with out edges. It'll be sweeter with only a little more cover- safer too! <BR> <BR>Bushwhacking back out we followed the trail to the top of the Kimball ski trail (a trail that we'd brushed out a bit last fall). Conditions there were great- a bit windpacked in the more exposed sections, but generally soft & fluffy, with only a few tracks in it. About 1/2 way down I got flipped by a submerged 10" birch blowdown. As I was dusting myself off I recognized the sucker- one that we'd discussed taking out, but opted to leave since "...it's right down on the deck, and it'll get plenty of snowcover by January..." Yeah, right... <BR> <BR>The cover remained good for the rest of the descent, and the skiing was fun. At the bottom we briefly toyed with the idea of taking another run, but we'd already done ~4k', and it was the first real BC tour of the season, so we decided to quit while we were ahead. It'll be even better after the next storm. Finally- the season has begun!
Mt. Cardigan, NH 1/29/00
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