Finger Lakes Region XCD

[MikeK]

Gonna take my old Tuas out today for some XCD and see how they work. I've not used them by their own power yet. Hopefully it's a good day for waxing, we'll see, if not, I'm bringing some S Bounds as backup.

We didn't get as much snow as they predicted at home, maybe 4"? I'll see how we made out down in the hills, but when I was there Tuesday it was snowing big, fat, fluffy flakes and significantly colder than the lower elevations. Might be good?

I'm hoping it filled in an area I was skiing last week - I had fun in that area and it was within my skill level, so if it's all covered over, I'll be back there... if not... don't know?

[MikeK]

Some guys at the TH said there was 8 + 3 inches out there (8 yesterday, 3 last night), but I dunno, it seemed more like 6" to me. Maybe it settled a bit... Still a good 1.5' of base though.

Was 32 at the height of the land, so I decided waxing was a bad idea, especially seen as how I'd be dropping down to lower and warmer areas. I think it was a good choice. Snow was powdery and light at 2100' but was getting mushy by 1800'.

[Fisheater]

300 VF laps on free backcountry snow sounds pretty sweet to me, hope you had a good day.

[MikeK]

Thanks! Yeah it's free and more vert if you can handle some steeps with trees. I kinda chicken out around 20 degrees when there are trees around. And I get a little concerned about picking up too much speed and what lurks beneath the snow.

Skied some low angle down to the edge of a ravine today - looked over the edge... NOPE! Not for me. Don't know what the pitch was but I couldn't see the bottom from looking over the edge. 'Twas a bit shallower in pitch further up but so much blowdown I just stayed up on the rim.

[MikeK]

Happy Spring!

Still a lot of snow up in the high elevations of the hills. Pretty sparse down in the valleys though. We also picked up a death crust in some areas, unfortunately I skied in those areas and flailed miserably. Had to put skins on just to regain my initial position.

[lowangle al]

I hope the late snow was enough to turn your season around Mike. My daughter in law stopped up at our place in Pa last week and said there was almost 2 feet on the ground. That's at 2000', less than ten miles away there was nothing in the valley at about 600'.

[MikeK]

Hey Al - I probably made more progress in my skiing in the last three weeks than I have the previous year and a half. That's mainly due to skiing in trees, which was previously something I only dabbled with, and usually had a small window to even try around here.

Looks as though PA is getting pounded right now. I was hoping that storm would sweep north, but it doesn't look good. I think the best of our snow is gone, but there'll probably still be some skiable lines in corn this weekend or early next week. XC skiing on the trails will probably be good until first week in April. So I stand to get out a few more times.

[greatgt]

So dreamed of the powder bliss of yesterday....Looked over the valley and got a wonderful view of Little Mountain and thought.....Kurt...Telekid is up there....soooo....called him....He was on top having done some drops into white rollovers....He was about to hit the East side where there are but for Telewheels and I yesterday no tracks at all.... Hundreds of acres.....just a hill with a sign....Skiiiiiiii Meeeeeeeee....He is...TM

[MikeK]

There is a real master skiing out here where I've been. I've never met him, but I've seen his tracks. He's on something real skinny, looks to be no more than 50mm wide! He's skiing everything... steeps, shallow hills, etc... really nice turns. I tried following one his lines one day and got in over my head. And I was on a lot more ski!

I think he works for the state and does grooming on the trails sometimes. I talked to some of the other guys who groom and they know who he is. I need to meet him! Doubt I could keep up, but I'd like to see him ski.

[lowangle al]

There is a real master skiing out here where I've been. I've never met him, but I've seen his tracks. He's on something real skinny, looks to be no more than 50mm wide! He's skiing everything... steeps, shallow hills, etc... really nice turns. I tried following one his lines one day and got in over my head. And I was on a lot more ski!

I think he works for the state and does grooming on the trails sometimes. I talked to some of the other guys who groom and they know who he is. I need to meet him! Doubt I could keep up, but I'd like to see him ski.

Maybe it is Steve Barnett, there was a thread on the other forum about him being missing. Either that or another retired guy. I just met an older guy out on the trail who mentioned that he used to ski the same meadow that I do. It's been years since I've seen his tracks there, but when I saw them I knew they were made by an old guy. It would be good to have a mentor.

[MikeK]

Ha - it's not SB, I'm sure of that. I know his name from those other guys, I just haven't met him yet. I'm sure I will eventually. I won't be surprised if I see him skiing this stuff with skate skis on. I should have taken some pics of his tracks going down 30+ degree hardwood glades - holy shit! I'd be scared to ski some of that stuff with my heels locked down. No skidding around either - nice, tight, thin, carved turns.

Pretty sure he's older too - most of the guys I meet skiing freeheel anything are. I gotta bring some beers with me next time. I'm always meeting and talking to the grooming guys in the parking area while they are having a beer.

[lowangle al]

The trend I've noticed up here this year is that the older folks are more likely to be on skis like the guides or vectors and I even saw a women in her mid 70s skiing Koms. They all were wearing T4s or excursions. The younger people seem to be on Alpina Alaska type boots. I'm not sayin that with age comes wisdom, but it went through my mind.

[MikeK]

Wisdom maybe, but also lack in physical ability and osteoporosis.

Most young people in this area are skiing on snowboards or park skis and don't go XC skiing unless it's somewhere groomed for skating.

I see tons of blue hairs on the groomed trails. Mostly middle-aged women on ungroomed but broken trails. And I see nothing but tracks (and usually avoid those) when bushwacking or tree skiing.

[lowangle al]

By "young" I meant about your age. I agree the really young don't seem to be out there at all doing the xcd thing.

[MikeK]

There's a ton of guys my age who would do it, if they thought it worth their while. We have a big MTB community here and a lot those guys would ski XCD if they knew about it and thought it was worth their while to spend $1500 on a ski setup and learn to ski with freeheels. I think most people are just lazy and don't have time or energy to chase the small amount of snow we have around here and are content to ride the lifts.

Most people who XC ski don't Tele or ski for turns around here. It's just kind of an obscure thing that you really have to wan to do. Even older Tele guys that I've talked to don't do much XCD. They mostly ski at resorts or XC ski on groomers.

There are a few though. I always see the tell-tale traces in the snow. Usually a set of really beautiful esses.