I’m a bit behind on posting…
I’m planning to recap each of my ski months this past season, having already covered January. I will be releasing dedicated posts for my longer trips, including the trip to the Adirondacks with the Alpine Club of Canada’s Toronto Section. Seeing we’re in April already, I wanted to share a quick post on what else I got up to in February.
In late January, I suffered pretty nasty heel blisters and I ended up taking quite a few measures for blister prevention and protection prior to getting back out in early February. Firstly, I bought some Spenco Blister pads, recommended by Jeff from WWHSTA, as well as Leukotape, which I had used previously on a trip to West Virginia which gave me a rash (likely due to the zinc oxide adhesive). I intended for the Leukotape to be a measure of last resort, but I discovered that putting a layer of Hypafix medical tape between the Leukotape and my skin would alleviate the rash issue to some extent
I also installed some laces on my boot liners, upon recommendation by Tina, another executive from WWHSTA – my liners have eyelets which I didn’t even realize at first. With all these measures, my goal entering February was to carefully proceed with skiing and try and address issues early before they got serious (something I did not do in Vermont). Without further ado, here’s what (else) I got up to in February!
Nickle Peak & Limberlost (Ontario) (February 1-3)
The first weekend of February would include checking out another backcountry ski area in Ontario with WWHSTA, Nickle Peak (northwest of the Rain Lake access point at Algonquin Provincial Park), as a part of their “Twigfest” event, on February 1st. I planned to then stay overnight at Limberlost and ski there the next day, also staying a second night and possibly skiing Monday morning (a nice “benefit” of not having a job). In addition to getting some more reps with my gear, I wanted to get some extended winter camping experience as well (and also not forget my pot this time so I could actually cook!).
I gathered all my skiing and camping gear the night before (including ensuring my electronics were charged and my first aid kit was up to date) and was on the road just after 6:30am on Saturday morning. After making a pit stop at an ON Route to grab breakfast and gas, I was back on the road. Nickle Peak is located a bit north of Huntsville, and the roads after exiting Highway 11 were a little more rugged, but nothing my car couldn’t handle. I arrived a little later than planned, and it was a very frigid morning. It was a struggle getting my skins on my skis, but eventually got suited up and skied over to the base camp, which involved a creek crossing (which was frozen of course).
After arriving at camp, which was a cleared out area with a very comfy looking hot tent, I learned from Gord, the camp quartermaster, that the group had already set out. Along with a few other stragglers (a couple of them probably were waiting for me at the cars) we set out to catch up. Luckily, one of us had been to Nickle before, so we were able to catch up. It was a really beautiful area with lots of trails and great downhill options. The morning tour was more to get the lay of the land and we returned to camp for lunch in the tent. I had packed some homemade wraps.
The afternoon was a bit more touring around and some powder skiing in an area that clearly is not visited too frequently. I really struggled with equipment that day – my boots kept disengaging from my pin bindings in walk mode. I was having trouble locking in the bindings – you should pull the toe lever up until two clicks are heard, but I was only able to get one a lot of the time. I discovered what the reason was the following day, but it was generally a frustrating day overall as a result. Still, not bad conditions and would love to come back and ski there again.
Upon returning to camp at the end of the day, I learned that one of the attendees took a fall and separated his shoulder, so a few people headed out with sleds to rescue him. Thankfully I later found out it wasn’t serious and everyone got out safely. I packed up and hustled over to Limberlost as daylight was fading and I wanted to do as little as possible in the dark. The drive took about 75 minutes and I was able to located my site, Buck Lake North 1, with no difficulty.
The site looked like it hadn’t been used in a while as it was completely covered in snow. Although I had pulled my ski boot liners out of the shells to dry, I popped my sock feet in the shells, and skied a path around the site and packed down an area for my tent. Camping on snow is awesome. I got the tent set up just as it was getting dark, and then grabbed my headlamp and got my stove set up for dinner. It had been about two years since I last used my Whisperlite and it was awesome getting water boiled super quickly. Definitely faster than what we dealt with in Mexico! There was a hollowed out snow structure on site which I used to cook, which in hindsight wasn’t the brightest idea, bit it was open enough that there was decent airflow. Dinner was red lentils, macaroni, and dried veggies.
Sleep was difficult, as it was a very cold night and, despite wearing three layers, using a sleeping bag liner and a -17C bag, it took over an hour to start feeling warm. Eventually it was quite cozy and I was able to get a really solid nights sleep. Cooking breakfast the next morning was a struggle – my stove would not stay lit for long, no matter how many times I pressurized the fuel bottle. I eventually realized that having the bottle only a quarter full was not effective, and upon filling the bottle completely was I able to get it lit and boil water for oatmeal. I also found out my water jug froze completely so breakfast was also delayed because I needed to collect water from the Limberlost office. The guy working at the office was super helpful and offered to hold onto the jug all day to thaw out.
After struggling to get my now dry, but very stiff (due to the cold) boot liners back in the shells, I set off to head over to the old ski hill to meet up with a few WWHSTA people including Tina and her husband. I took the Trap Line Trail, which was close to my campsite, and made a quick detour through the Bird Sanctuary. A pretty nice little tour in. I arrived at the hill and said hi to Tina as she was driving in, and got one lap in at the hill before catching up with the others.
I skied most of the day with Brad, who put down a really solid uptrack that wasn’t the road, much more scenic and takes you to the top of the t-bar. Definitely a bit hesitant on the downhills but started to get the hang of it by the end of the day, and also was quite fatigued as I only had a Mars bar to eat all day. Brad was also great company and I appreciate him waiting around for me at the bottom for the skin up. Hopefully will get a chance to ski with him again in the future. In total, I did ten laps and skied mostly the same line under the t-bar, though I did seek out some areas with a bit more powder.
I was able to retrieve my jug at the end of the day; it was still frozen, but the guy at the office boiled water in a kettle to melt it a bit. It was plenty to catch up on my hydration as well as make dinner, the same thing as the previous night. I got off to bed a bit earlier, and it was a significantly warmer night, so I actually was too warm this time. Still need to fine tune my winter camping setup a bit I think…
I had planned to ski for a few hours the following day (Monday) but the blister on my left heel (which was not as bad as the right heel and wasn’t covered up) started to act up a bit towards the end of my Sunday ski, so I opted to pack up and take off super early. I got up at 6am and was pulling out of the campsite at 6:45am. As per usual with winter camping, I didn’t bother packing everything up nicely as it was so damp with frost/condensation, so it was pretty quick. Overall, happy I got two nights of winter camping and two days of skiing. Pretty solid weekend.
Limberlost Day Trips (February 8 & 22)
I made a couple day trips up to Limberlost in February. The first day I skied with Sam, who I had met at the AST1-esque event in January. It was great skiing with her, and we were joined later in the day by a couple who were also skiing. The conditions were pretty solid once again.
My first weekend back from the Adirondacks I headed back up to Limberlost. This weekend was supposed to be an ACC trip which I had offered to run for the Toronto Section. Unfortunately, the interest was very low, possibly because of an ice climbing festival that same weekend. So I switched gears and planned to go up for just the day. Joining me was Celine, who has snowboarded in the past but was only up for snowshoeing. She was the only person interested in the ACC trip.
For obvious reasons, we spent most of the day separate, as snowshoes are not as fast as skis and can’t use the glades. Luckily, Celine was able to borrow my snowshoes and she found a great trail around Buck Lake. So while I was banging out laps in the glades, she snowshoed that trail and I think she had a fun time. That afternoon I skied with a member of WWHSTA who had come up from Barrie, Caroline. She brought her pup who was absurdly friendly and cute, and we skied a few laps together. Overall, not a bad day!
Veg 'n' Alpine 