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CT BC - Soapstone/Shenipsit 1/31

Jisch

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Dec 15, 2008
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Generally conditions around here stink, simple as that. We have 1/4" of ice on top of 3" of powder on top of a hard crust. That breakable ice makes turning nearly impossible, besides that it is so fast that you accelerate really fast. Shenipsit is a favorite of the snowmobile crowd, so many of the dirt roads (those guys don't seem to like the singletrack at all) were broken up. They weren't packed, so I guess you'd call it frozen granular, but bigger chunks.

We started at the main lot and just skied up to the top of Soapstone Mountain, down the other side and back, with a little exploring up top, 2 or so hours. Even though we were mostly on roads, it was so fast that it kept even the non-sharp turns in them interesting on the downhills. The trees are still covered in ice, making for some nice light shows with the bright sun and blue skies.

Climbing:
DSC07354.jpg


An overlook on the way up:
DSC07357.jpg


The 'snow' was very slippery so it was a lot of work to go up:
DSC07362.jpg


A view from the top. The wind was howling up there, so we only spent a few minutes up by the fire tower:
DSC07369.jpg


No pics of the downhills, too much concentrating going on!
John
 
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