Otis Mountain 3/7/15 ADK Skifest (back country ski equipment demo)

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2014 was the first time I heard of this BC equipment demo event (it's more than that, there're several guided BC tours in the Keene Valley area, and some film/art show etc. http://www.mountaineer.com/ski-fest) But it rained last year so I waited with baited breath for this year. Forecast was showing a nice warm 20+ degree day. What luck!

It's a 4 hr drive each way. I would have never done that as a day trip if it's just a ski day. But I've been hoping to check out the various BC setup/system to make a decision on which way to go. This is one of the relatively few ones that has both tele and AT equipment for people to try on.

And being a relatively new event and still unknown outside of the ADK area. I figure I may have better chance of getting the demo without too much waiting around.

Side note, 2 hr into my 4 hr drive up, my car's check engine light came on and the dashboard lit up like a Christmas tree! (fortunately all yellow not red) I've had that happened once before and the dealer advised I could still drive it. Still, continuing another 2 hr away from home with a risk of being stranded 4 hr from home was a very discomforting thought. But I had such a high hope to hit this demo that I just ignore that voice of sanity in my head and soldiered on!

Arrived shortly after the "official" start, there were only about 30 cars, that includes the vendors. Cosy low key event, just as I had hoped.

Scarpa, Dynafit, Marmot and Voile were flying their banners. Quickly scored a pair of Scarpa boot, and the guy also sorted out a pair of Voile skis of my size. Off to the lift I go, in my brand spanking new (to me) tele setup!

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If you're like me, you probably never heard of Otis Mountain, never mind skied it.

The single rope tow was...terrifyingly fast! Although I learned on rope tows, this one look scary fast. I decided to swallow my pride and ask the liftie for a quick refresher on how to safely use this contraption. His first advice? Put my nice new mitten back in the car and go to that bucket to get myself a pair of old, beat up work gloves!

Off I went, a flying start on the rope tow and before I know it, I was at the end of the tow and off-loaded into a tiny clearing in the trees!

Only I was on a pair of tele boots with no fixed heels and I don't know how to tele!!!



(to be continued)

 

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I know (in theory) one could parallel even with free heels. But in tight trees???


I alternate snow plow and side slipping to get myself out of the trees into the open slope and paralleled my way down to the bottom. (Parallel on free heel is very unforgiving to bad techniques. Any jerky movement, the tail of the ski washes out!) On subsequent rope rides I would let go a little earlier to get deposited on the top of the open slope rather than in the trees. I can see the potential of many tree runs right there though. And with a bit of hiking, there's more trees further uphill from the top of the rope tow too. But my purpose for the day wasn't so much to ski but to check out some BC stuff. Plus, there's a free mini-clinic on tele right about that time, that I wanted to see if I could get some pointers to get me started down the dark path of telemarking.


The one hour free clinic turned out to be a full day one with various volunteer instructors and other more experienced telemarkers offering helpful tips and drills. By the end of it, I was getting some semblance of tele turns with even a degree of control!

Very happy!

(Just for those who've been told "it's not too hard for downhiller to get into tele". I tried it twice before but totally did NOT "get it" at all! I think this time, the combination of better snow condition and excellent instructors made the difference. Or I was just a slow learner and takes a couple more tries than others)

However, I didn't get much equipment demo in as I had hoped. No, not because I was caught up on the tele clinic. At lunch break, I finally found several pairs of skis with binding to fit regular alpine boots leaning against an unmarked Subaru sporting a small Black Diamond logo. But the rep's collection of skis' bindings don't go small enough to fit my boot sole length. That was the end of one on my demo list.

Next, I tried the Dynafit tent. But all their smaller boots were out. I stood there waited for a while (everyone cycles back to line up for the rope tow, in front of the demo tents) but no luck. And I could see the skis on the racks were way longer than what I should be on also.

I also didn't get to demo any other skis besides the one I got in the morning. It was a fatter and stiffer ski than what I would ideally should be on. But although they had a pair of narrower skis with length to suit me, it was never in the tent each time I looked.


This part had turned out to be my "usual" problem, which was basically no enough short skis and small size boots for those of us on that end of the spectrum. I'm guessing guys on the big side probably had similar experience?


Still, the Voile skis quite impressed me. It held up really well under my unsteady tele stance/control in both soft (morning) and scrapped off (end of day) conditions. I can only imagine how much better the less aggressive (a tad narrower & softer) ones in their line up would feel.

All in all, a very good day. Totally worth the 8 hr round trip!