Thanks G for putting those up...
Bullet form TR (approx dates and times):
May 26: Road opens. Great skiing, unfortunately wasn't available last weekend for road opening. Great TR from that weekend. Been waiting to go skee via Otto for maybe 3-4 years. Ever since seeing TRs from Lftgly and GPetrics with salida on the snowfields and GG.
May 29: Weather is becoming every sketchy. Rain, rain and rain in the forecast. Had unofficial talk about a possible Mt. Wash trip under the rain at Jay with Gpetrics. He's also looking at the forecast. Seeing Awf is looking to tag up and heading up the road on T4T. Also spoke to none internet ski friends.
May 31: Weather is calling for 50% chance of rain and t-storm. I can live with the rain, more concern with the t-storm. Debating into pushing this one week later. Remembering that everything up there was gone quick last year. Looking at best opportunity. Other forecast are slightly less negative. I decide to bail at 2pm ish...until an weather update dropping chance of showers at 40%...forecast is getting better as we are getting closer. Going for it after all. Icelandic give his advice on T4T. G looks at it...calls me back and we set meeting time. Message left for AWF.
May 31 - 19:02: Left Ottawa with the entire family. Wife has to be in Montreal the next day, she was going to leave alone if I decide to bail.
May 31 - 22:01: girls are finally in bed. I get my stuff ready and watching the hockey game.
May 31 - 23:01: in bed and seting the alarm for 4am. :shock: :shock:
June 1 - 4:45: Departure in the rain from mom's house in Montreal.
5:02: Left the island of Montreal in the pouring rain. Driving above the limit to make up time and be able to be at rendez-vous point at 8:30am.
6:17: no rain, heavy cloud cover while I'm questioned by US border guard.
7:15: St.Johnsbury, time to put some gas.
8:19: Made it at Otto Rhode's lot.
8:30: Awf and danimal (from T4T) show up. Inform him that Gpetrics and K_C would be there. Cool...well try to fit into G's car.
8:44: Gpetrics and K_C joins us and we decided to pack everything in their truck.
9:01: $48US divided by 5 is what this is costing us. Gpetrics tell us to listen to the first minutes of the Auto Audio guide. DESTINY INDEED!!!
9:28: We are driving into the clouds.
9:34: K_C's head is almost cut off by a few pairs of skis thanks to Gpetrics turns into the Lot of the Clouds.
9:41: Getting our boots on and add some more layers. It's doesn't feel like June. Isn't this GREAT!!!
9:45: Hiking over rocks in ski boots to reach snowfields. GPetrics and Awf mention how much snow was lost since last week.
9:59: First turns in June. We lose Gpetrics in the heavy fog as he blast into warp speed. I guess we follow the "white"?
10:00: 160m vertical. Snowfields are steeper than I thought.
10:10: Hiking back up.
10:15: Pat is going to be sick. Reasons: a) out-of-shape; b) lack of sleep; c) hungry; d) altitude; e) white out conditions/vertigo; f) all of the above. Need to sit down, breath, drink and eat.
10:20: feeling a bit better.
10:30: finally, back at the top.
10:40: Repeat 2 more times. Pat is okay. Awf is taking pictures, Pat skis blind and sees him at the last second. Hike back up are getting easier and take this Pat 15 minutes.
12:00: Back at the car, Pat gets his helmet. Heading off to the Great Gulf. Where the hell is it? Where are we? Ah, here's the road!!! G and A talk about the stuff they did tin GG the previous weekend.
12:45: Top of Turket Shot. Evaluation of ski route. GPetrics and Awf are ready to join in. Awf talks about a 5-6 feet choke. K_C and Pat hesitates. Danimal isn't sure. Pat volunteers to show Airplane to Danimal.
13:02: GPetrics, Awf and K_C ski it and dive through the choke. Pat walks off into to fog trying to find Airplane with Danimal.
13:15: Airplane found. Danimal find it steep, Pat tells this bad timing story about someone dying on Chute. Sorry. I measured the top part of the slope at 43 deg.
13:25: Pat is the guinea pig. Snow is fine, some places are slick. Making some short turns control stead on the steep. Danimal making some nice teleturns. Skipping over some obstacle toward the bottom.
13:35: Pat and Danimal stops not far from the Lake. Decide to stop before bushwaking. That was a great 298m descent.
13:55: After a 20 minutes wait for the others (they were going to try to connect with Airplane from Turkey. I guess, it didn't connect? Where are alone? Great foggy view. No sign of the others. We start hiking back up the 1000ft.
14:05: See others skiing down. Found out that they hiked out of Turkey. They stop about 100meters above us.
14:15: Hiking a different boot ladder until the mid-steep part. Traversing a 40 degree slope might be a bit nerve raking. Wish I had an ice axe like the rest of our party. Ended up climbing on all four.
15:05: Back on top of Airplane. Gpetrics and Awf are talking about a short run down Space Walk. I'm tempted, but I'm still thinking about the long way back to Ottawa afterward. Decide against it.
15:40: K_C, Danimal and Pat wait for them a while and decide to walk toward the car. Weather and wind is much colder and stronger.
16:05: Two guys hiking over towards us are looking for Airplane??? WTF??? Short time later, G and Awf catch up to us. Geez, the two guys asked them stuff about Turkey.
16:35: Back at the car after 55 minutes of hiking over boulders in ski boots with wind trying to through you down. 7 hours on the mountain. Pat and Danimal skied about 800 meters today in 4 runs. K_C (5 runs) and especially G and A more than 1000m (6 runs).
16:40: Packing the car again. It's realllly windy. Awf and Pat decide against removing ski boots now.
16:55: Start driving down. Notice that the rest of the valley has clear skies. Only the top what in the clouds.
17:15: Arrival at the bottom. We part ways, Hanover, Boston and Ottawa. Pat tells myself that day skiing trip are a bit much when hiking is involved. Need to get back here in getting shape.
18:30: Pat tries to eat a hot pizza bought near Jeffersonville while driving.
21:00: Crossing border - pouring rain starts shortly after...all the way to Montreal.
June 2, 1:00: Final arrival in Ottawa with the family and kids. Lucky my wife was there for the last 2 hours of driving.
June 2, 2:00: Stuff more-or-less unpacked. Finally in bad.
June 2, 9:00: Back at work
June 3: Film at Camera shop
June 8, 23:17: Full TR completed.
June 10, 20:58: Pat gets back to continuing his Chilean TR.
June 11: Pics ready for Bday.
October 16, 2008: Pics posted with TR!!! :wink:
