We have been blessed this leg with superb snow
and weather conditions. On the first day out from Archie Bunker, we only
traveled four and a half kilometers as we tried to reestablish the groove of
trail life again. A south/south west wind had been blowing all day and the snow
started to fall just as camp set up was complete. It got slightly warmer in the
middle of our week and then temperatures dropped pretty drastically as we
climbed Bolton Mountain. We skied the Bolton-Trapp Traverse on Tuesday. Prior
to that day, we kept hearing stories about how challenging it was and how it
was going to be one of our most difficult days. Along the trail we kept seeing
signs that said; “Danger, the Bolton-Trapp Traverse is narrow, long, steep and
unpatrolled. Do Not ski alone. Experts Only.” We are not quite experts but we have
definitely come a long ways since the middle of January! That traverse was
pretty much hands down the best of the Leg 3!!! It may have had to do with the
beautiful views or the deep untracked powder but I think a large portion of it
hangs on the fact that we ate a lot of chocolate!
During Leg 3 we worked on mastering our winter
skills list. This list includes skills such as processing all of the firewood
for the evening and following morning in 1 hour with 3 other people, making a
sturdy stove set up, boughing the tent floor in 15 minutes with a partner,
leading the group navigationally for a day, cooking a delicious, timely meal
with a buddy, skiing all terrain with confidence, making your knife shaving
sharp, etc… To help make this more entertaining, the cook’s challenge was
instigated. Each day two people cooked. In the evening they were judged by a
large panel of judges on five categories: taste, timeliness, tea, flow, and
flair. The famous Per Pytte hosted the rounds. It was great because each day
people would try to get more and more creative with making bannocks (biscuits).
We had wonderful bannock masterpieces come about such as garlic braids, meat
stuffed, cheese stuffed, chocolate turnovers, apple turnovers, heart shaped
topped with meat, and dipped in chocolate. Those last ones tasted like donuts!
People also got creative with teas; mixing lavender with sumac that they
collected during the day.
Something fun that we occasionally do is find a
nice hill along the trail, drop our packs at the bottom and ski back to the top.
From there we either practiced our telemark
and/or parallel turns, snow board, do some kind of modified ski racing technic,
or just book it straight down. On one of the groomed trails that the Camel’s
Hump Skiers Association had worked on, we spent a good deal of time coming up
with new kinds of ski racing. One version was butt racing where you squat or
sit on the back of your skis as you go down the slope. It may sound easy but it
actually takes a lot more balance than you would expect.
Later that day we also
had a “boil-up.” We stopped around mid-day, made a fire using the fire chain
and cooked some spaghetti. It was really strange to have a sit-down lunch since
we usually just have our varied snack bags. After having lunch, it was like
starting the day over again and we had a lot more energy.
Another time, it was the early afternoon and we
came across a logging road. It was quite steep and bumpy and looked like fun so
we dropped our burdens and headed up. I had a blast and some people even did
tricks, the most spectacular of which were the summersault tricks and the wipeouts
that ensued.
As we skied through these Vermont woods, we
talked about logging and the changes that humans bring to the landscape. That
was one of the themes of our natural history lessons with Emily Turner who was
with us for this leg. We also learned about forest communities and that was
neat because you could see with your eyes what had been taught as you skied
along through the woods. We also learned about Vermont geography and how that
affected the way in which this lovely state was settled back in the mid 1700s.
My personal favorite was our lesson on early farming. We stopped along the edge
of a field that is still part of a farm today and took a moment to look around
us. From where we stood we could see another two fields across the valley on
the hillside. The fields were surrounded by stone walls and large trees that
were left as borders a long time ago. As we skied away, back into the woods
along the Catamount Trail, I saw a lot more signs of fields and farms. It was
neat because now I know that there is always some evidence of human interactions
with the land – you just have to know what to look for.
My favorite part of Leg 3 was crossing the
Winooski River. We were planning on a 20 kilometer day, more than half of which
was planned to be a walk next to Interstate 89. The day sounded really challenging to
me. After we got down off of Camel’s Hump, there lay the Winooski, completely
frozen over. Emily checked the ice by chopping a string of holes to measure the
thickness. It was found to be around 4 inches at it’s thinnest and so we were
able to cross. Walking over the ice cut the travel distance for the day down to
around 10 kilometers and so that was really exciting! The day only got better
though – Molly and Emily stopped at a Sunoco station and bought ice cream. We
proceeded to eat it with our hand carved spoons while standing in a circle in
the parking lot.
As I write this letter to you, we are enjoying
the fantastic hospitality of the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe Vermont. What a treat to be here in this beautiful,
historical, world-famous landmark, with soft beds, hot showers, a swimming pool
and hot tub, and sweet chocolate treats.
Yesterday we attended a sing-along workshop and today we are helping the
Trapp Family staff in pruning brush along their ski trails.
We depart tomorrow, and in 8 days should arrive
at our spring destination of Sky Meadow in Greensboro Bend, VT!!!!
Until then.
-Maja
