The most elevation we've done in one trip... Yup, that explains a lot!!!

Where do I begin... I guess the beginning would be the best place to start... This is what the thermometer read on the way to Mount Washington on Sunday.

Yes, that says, '-10 degrees F'. It started off cold, but the sun was shining so at least I knew that there was a chance that it could warm up. 

We decided to skin up Mount Washington with BPJ (a regular adventurer with us) and the one that is called "The Rog". The Rog is a frequent contributor to TimeForTuckerman. He is a legend that Nate and Bryan have been wishing to hike with for at least a year. So we were hiking with a legend... The night before, we had decided that we were going to hike up the Cog Railway side, hit the summit, go over to the east side and ride the snow fields. Then we would hike back over the top and go back down along the Cog railway. 

I always go last and I let the boys go. I was hanging with them pretty well. Nate and Bryan stopped to shed a layer and I kept up with The Rog. There are three convenient points along the Cog to kind of rest. The first part is at the mile point at the water tank. At that point, I was feeling the thirst so I stopped to drink some water. Nate and Bryan caught up with me and passed me. It was all over after that!! Nate stopped to wait for me and I was hoping that Bryan and The Rog would stop at the next convenient point which is where you have to go under the railway and keep climbing. They did not... I kept climbing, but I was slowing down. I had lots and lots of time to think about what was going wrong and I decided that I needed to come up with some better eating habits. On Saturday, I had a bowl of cereal, some cheese and crackers for lunch and a sandwich for dinner. For breakfast Sunday morning, I had a bagel with cream cheese. I'm pretty sure that is enough food to sustain the average person but on this day, I wasn't doing average work.  The next place to stop is under Jacob's ladder. They kept going... It gets really steep and scratchy above Jacob's Ladder. Nate was hanging with me, but testosterone is a powerful drug and the boy's drive to win is much higher than my will to keep up. He got a little ahead of me and I got caught in a bad section where I couldn't get an edge and I had a little panic moment. I freaked out and the cupcake took a hold of me and I told him to go ahead and leave me here. He was smart enough to realize that I did not mean that at all and he stayed with me. I think he figured out that I was a little nervous and went behind me on the sketchy parts from that point on. 

This is from above Jacob's Ladder looking back at Bretton Woods. It was a gorgeous day!!! 

We kept skinning around the Cog most of the time on it. That was a little sketchy. I had to really think about where my foot was and I didn't want to look down (I am slighty afraid of heights) but I had to look down in order to figure out where to put my foot. I'm pretty sure I was the only one thinking that much.... Finally, we got to the point that we could just skin across the ice/snow/fields away from the Cog towards the observation deck. 

So after a struggle and some more tears, Nate and I made it to the top. Yes, The Rog and Bryan were waiting for us and we were kindly informed that they had been waiting at least 15 minutes... yeah... I know... I'm slow... I struggled with that fact for 2 hours and 45 minutes... It's ok. At least they got a rest. 

So, we got our stuff ready and headed for the snowfields. I watched the boys go down the snowfields and it looked amazing! I got my board on and I hit the powder. It was amazing!!! It was sooooo worth the hike and sooo worth feeling like a sloth!!! 

The boys skidaddled up for a second run and I decided that I better get some food in the system so I ate a cliff bar and watched the boys boot their way back up. They made it back up to the top of the powder and I finished my cliff bar and got the phone out to take some videos. 

First The Rog with the Oakley and the Scout trailing behind him!! 

Next the Nater Potater and the dogs were already at the bottom so he got lucky and didn't have to get barked at the whole time. 

And finally The Bryan who has a good dog who just follows behind without barking. 

Here are some stills from Nate's video: 

And some stills from BPJ's video: 

I did make it back up to the top and after a little rest, the boys made it back up too. Nate convinced me to do another lap and that I didn't have to go all the way to the bottom. Here is the video Bryan took of me and Nate. Yes, my dogs annoy me too!!

This must be Nate on the second run with Wildcat in the distance!! 

Nate cheesing it up after his third run! 

Me giving double mitten shakas to BPJ. 

I haven't quite figured out the Connect.Garmin.com and The training Center, but the Training Center said I descended 4,753 feet and it's the highest amount and that was the hardest climb ever so I'm going to have to say that's the amount. Unfortunately, Nate has done a lot more than that so he will achieve the goal before I do but I'm still going to say that we are at my amount (b/c I always write these blogs and I'm a brat!). We were at 27,335 so now we are at 32,088feet!! HOLY YIPPERS!! We passed the 30k mark!!! That means we have 67,892 to go!!! Next week, I'm going to eat better and hopefully, I won't be as gassed on the way up as this week!! Thank you boys for being so patient and waiting for me!!!! 

Two Laps in the Bitter Cold ... Almost at 30k!!!

The next episode of our 100,000 goal adventure includes two regulars to our adventures, BPJ and Sam, our real estate agent. We FINALLY got a snow storm last week and the mountains got about 10 inches. There was FINALLY enough snow on the Tuckerman Trail and the Sherburne Trail to skin up and ski down!!

It starts on Sunday, January 15, 2012 when we look at the thermometer on the window at our rental place and see that it was zero degrees outside. This was zero degrees in the valley with the sun hitting the window for at least an hour or so. On this particular day, the summit was Mount Washington was expected have a high of negative 10 degrees. Make sure you read that correctly, a HIGH of NEGATIVE 10 degrees!! BPJ came up and stayed at the house Saturday night but Sam had to drive up in the morning so we had a good excuse to sit around and wait for the sun to come up and warm up the air a bit. Because we had 4 people, 4 sets of snow riding gear, and 3 dogs, we had to drive two cars. I rode with BPJ to the Pinkham Notch visitors center and we watched the temperature start at about 5 and go to negative 1 degree as we pulled into the parking lot. We got our stuff all ready, got the dogs ready, and quickly hit the trail. We made it to hojos before the bowl of Tuckermans and then had a decision to make: do we just go down or do we go up further. As we were standing at hojos discussing our options, the winds started to pick up. Cold got colder and we decided that it was not the best idea to go into the bowl. We decided that we would go down the John Sherburne ski trail, get lunch at the visitors center and then do another lap. The first ride down was fairly uneventful. I was pretty much riding with experts so I wasn't surprised when I didn't see BPJ or Sam the whole time. They did wait for Nate and I and then they all ditched me and headed into the trees. I waited for them to come down the run, but they never did. I started yelling Nate's name and he was below me. He didn't get a hug for that move!!

We made it down safely, then put the dogs in the car and got some lunch. We talked about what we were going to do and decided that we would try and at least go half way up. We were all really tired and lunch helped but the muscles were just not ready to make it all the way up. The second ride down was much better than the first. I felt like I knew what I was doing on the second run compared to the first run... That is until I caught the front edge of my board and slammed hard into the snow! I knocked the wind out of myself and it took me a bit to recover. I did and then made it down the mountain without falling too much! It was too cold to stop and sit in the snow so I tried to keep moving constantly!! 

Here are pics from the day: 

BPJ on the way up on the first lap just before we got to hojos. 

Sam and Nate heading up Tuckerman trail and you can see the fence of Hermit Lake on the left. 

Tuckerman Ravine looking much better but still not very snow covered! 

The whole crew on the second lap. Nate, Bryan and Sam with Oakley and Piper and Scout in the distance. 

Nate and Sam were a bit of overachievers and had to keep climbing so Bryan and I got our splitboards together. Bryan was giving Scout some love!

For some reason, I can't upload the first lap of our trip from my Garmin to Garmin connect so I don't know exactly how much we did, but it was about the same as what we did at our avalanche course, so that's what I guestimated. We did 1,912 at the avalanche course so that's what I'm saying the elevation gain is for the first lap. We made sure to go at least 1,000 feet on the second lap, and actually went 1,107 feet. Thus we climbed 3,019 feet on Sunday!! 3,019 feet in pretty cold temps pretty much rocks!! Now we have 72,645 feet left to go!! Getting so close to breaking 30k. I hope it happens this weekend!!! 

I haven't really seen BPJ's dog, Piper, stop moving since I have met her. She is always on her feet and seems to be always moving. Here is how the dog sleeps!! Still standing... but her nose is resting so gently on my helmet. 

Avalanche Course

Last February, Nate and I got to pop our good friend, Bryan's, Mount Washington cherry. After that, Bryan and Brian (Mr. Nevins), as we affectionately now call them: B²  or "B Squared", were in the backcountry constantly. I would check out Facebook and see pictures of the headwall or gulf of slides and be so dang jealous as I was sitting at my desk at work... Anyways, Bryan decided that instead of just going into the backcountry without knowing much about much, he thought it would be a good idea if we all learned a little bit about something.... a little first aid and maybe a little bit of the signs of avalanche danger. He then signed us all up... :) We did our Wildnerness First Aid class at the end of November and this past weekend was our Avalanche course.

First day of Avalanche course was death by powerpoint (not really, but it was a lot of learning) and then testing to see if we knew how to use our beacons. And since we already played with our beacons with B Squared, we were experts!! If a person is buried in an avalanche and they are not found and unburied within 15 minutes, the chances of dying are high. The worst we did was locating our patient within 10 minutes and that's because we didn't listen to directions and headed in the wrongish direction, but since we fanned out, someone picked up a signal and we found em!

The second day, we learned some more and did a recap and then got to go for a hike!! Nate and Bryan skinned up because Bryan just got his split board that he purchased in June or something so he was all excited to use it. (I believe he took it to a resort today to see how it rode). Nate wanted to keep him company. We hiked up to Hermit Lake which is pretty close to Hojos on Mount Washington. There we did another exercise of a practice burial to see how we did with our beacons. We were rockstars again and found it within 5 minutes! I like to say, "we"... I'm pretty sure I just made sure the boys were moving in the right direction... Side Note: Our instructor showed us a video after class and pointed out that there was a manager because the woman in the video was like, 'There is only one person shoveling. So and So come over here and shovel with him'. Yup... that's gonna be me!! :) We then found a snow drift on the side of the lake and did a column test. Here's a good example of what the column test was all about. Our snow is MUCH MUCH more ice crusted from all the damn rain we have gotten this winter so when they did the tap tests, the column didn't go to nothing, but the fractures were pretty cool.

Here are some pictures as we go to Hermit Lake:

The creek on Tuckerman's trail.... still not quite frozen yet... :( 

This is our instructor, Craig, Nate and Dean. I was standing in a section that had avalanched in 1980 something and 1990 something. It was a sharp cut in the mountain and you could see the new growth of trees. 

Craig, Bryan, and Chance walking across Hermit Lake: 

Dean, flicking me off... Thanks, Dean!!! 

Nate walking down into Hermit Lake. 

A little of left gully, but mostly just clouds... 

Typically, at this time of the year, everything besides the trees in the foreground is WHITE!!! But No... there's been no snow and Mount Washington is still bald!!! :-( 

Day 3 of Avalanche course ended up getting postponed because our instructor got the stomach bug. Sorry, Craig!! I hope you feel better soon!! We get to schedule that day when there is snow on the ground and there might be a real chance to study some cool stuff. 

We got to do a little hiking and I'm DEFINITELY including it in our elevation gain. We hiked 1,912 feet to Hermit Lake. We have 75,664 feet to go this winter!! 

PLEASE SNOW.... PRETTY PLEASE WITH SUGAR ON TOP!!!! 

Our friend... Wildcat!!!

On Friday, December 30, we woke up with no plan what-so-ever. Our housemate, Ted, mentioned skinning up Wildcat. I am the rule follower of the bunch so I was all, "oh, I don't think that's such a good idea"... Nate looked at me and said, "I'm not walking down another mountain this week"... so I thought about it and I bargained with them... Well, what if we go through the parking lot and not walk by the lift and go to pole cat because that's closed and then we can walk up it. In the end, I wanted to do something, I knew Nate was not going to walk down another mountain so I knew I was going to have to suck up my "good girl badge" and go for it. It was a warmer day than the day before and when we got to Wildcat, it started snowing!! I love those moments!! We got about 25 minutes into our hike, and Ted's skin for his ski wasn't sticking in the back and he was having trouble climbing. The boys searched their packs for duck tape (I knew I didn't have any in my bag) and Ted ended up having to call it because it just wasn't going to work. So Nate and I kept on trekking to the top.

On Thursday, I was starting to get a cough and I could feel tightness in my chest, but I hate to admit when I am starting to get sick (especially on vacation). On Friday, about 3/4 of the way up, I thought I was going to pass out!! My chest was super tight and I just felt like I had been ran over by a mack truck!! For most of the skin up, we were skinning on closed trails so it wasn't too big of a deal. When the mack truck started to run me over, we moved off the closed trails and onto the open trails. I kept my head down and just kept pushing. We ended up making it to the top without any problems at all. We sat down to get our stuff together and of course, someone came over and was like, 'Do you have a lift ticket?' uh... no... we didn't ride the lifts... He explained to us that they were going to start cracking down this year and that we should consider going elsewhere next time. Well, buddy, thanks... we will consider going elsewhere... :) So, it took us an hour and 20 minutes to climb and all of 11 minutes to go down... AWESOME!! :)

Pictures from the day:

Closed Pole Cat with snow falling!!! 

My split board!! So nice to have that under my feet!! 

Washington in the clouds...

ah yes... so artistic with Hipstamatic

Super cute smiling Nate on the way up!! 

And super sexy Nate striking a pose!! ;)

Snow... Lovely lovely artificial snow!!! 

We were trying to hustle off the top so that we couldn't have been escorted off the top so I didn't get any pictures. The watch says we climbed 2,009 feet. We had 79,585 to go from the day before... 77,576 more to go!!! I can't believe we've hiked 22,424 feet this winter!! I wish it was all skinning, but what can you do!!

The next day, it started to rain... of course... that is the theme of this winter... Our good friends, Kelli and Doug, were staying at the Mount Washington Resort. They are from NYC and like good city folk brought Uggs to hike in. With the sickness and since we didn't want to ruin their Uggs, we scratched the hiking.... It was mostly because of the rain and sickness, but I like to tease about the Uggs! ;) We ended up going to lunch, and then wanted to take the dogs on a nice hike. We opted to try to get to the top of Cathedral Ledge. We followed Nate who was following his own trail and we ended up just scrambling up the top... yes, the theme of the blog!!  We then took the road down. We then ended up having a nice relaxing time at the resort with Kelli and Doug. We watched fireworks (at 5:30pm), swam in the outdoor pool, went to a nice dinner, got a tour of the resort from a very interesting shuttle driver, saw a guy with a SWEET comb-over and a silver& gold Spyder puffy coat, hung out in an empty bar, playing cribbage and watching TV until about 12:01am. Then we cheered on Nate for his first pee of the New Year and Nate and I went home!!

We would like to wish you and your family a very Tron New Year!! :) 

Time to catch up!! - Mount Tremont

Holy busy batman!!! It's been a whirl-wind last few weeks. We had the Christmas holidays which went right into a week of vacation which brought us through New Years to sick-o land to Sales Kick off at work then to Avalanche school and then back to home to hopefully recuperate. Nuts, I tell you... Nuts!!!

During our week of vacation, we had hoped that there were would be tons of snow up north so we thought we were going to head up there on Monday night and get in a whole lotta feetage... but there is not a lot of snow up north... aka not enough to backcountry ski/ride on so we didn't hustle up north. We stayed home until Wednesday (b/c there was surf Wednesday morning) and then headed up north for some more walking. This isn't exactly true because we did get to ride down a groomer on one day! :)

First hike... This was from Thursday, December 29. I don't remember if there is background story other than I had to find a hike that wasn't too long but had some considerable vertical. I used my handy dandy book and came up with a hike up Mount Tremont. It was an out and back which are never super fun, but at this point... whatever... :) The first part was along a pretty nice brook/waterfall so that was pretty awesome. It's always nice to have some scenery while you are walking up a mountain. I left my phone at the house, accidentally, so Nate was the picture taker and we got no pictures of the brook/waterfall. We turned away from the brook and then had to go up and down over a few brooks and then began doing switch backs. The way up wasn't too bad. It was a little tiring, but then again, aren't they all. It was a very frigid day that day so the dogs had their little coats on. As we were hiking up, Scout was whereever Scout goes during our hikes and we all of a sudden heard him barking. I yelled up to Nate, "I really hope that he isn't bothering any wildlife". We turned up one of the switch backs and there were moose tracks near the trail. If that doggie scared away the only moose I'm going to see in my lifetime, I'm gonna be so mad at him... :)

Here are some pictures from the top:

Nate's super excited pose at the top: 

My impression of Columbus: 

Sawyer Pond ... frozen... 

I believe this is a shot of Mount Washington. It was a super bright day and Mount Washington was looking very snow covered... false hope... 

Oakley getting a little lovin!! 

A pretty good self portrait from the top!! 

There you go... There is the washington from distance!! It's the white monster in the trees!! 

Something funky happened to the watch on the way down, but that's ok because I think it got most of the way up. The watch says we hiked up 2,535 feet. We were at 82,120 feet. Thus we have 79,585 feet to go!!!

Mother nature, if you could do me one favor, can you just please sit on top of the white mountains and just poo out the white stuff?!? PLEASE!!!

Christmas Surf Session

As stated last year, we held onto our one tradition of surfing Christmas morning. This time we brought my brother, PJ, along and our friend Sean continued his tradition and joined us. It was just as cold as last year and I think it was around 20 degrees. We weren't sure if there were going to be waves and when we pulled up to the beach, we were nicely suprised. They were about knee high, clean little rollers. My brother had a 4-3 suit on with a hood and some gloves and he got cold quickly. He went to sit in the truck to warm up. I caught a few more waves and then went in to trade him my mittens. He went back and caught a few more and then Nate came to swap me his mittens for PJ's gloves. Nate's mittens had a huge gash in the thumb and were a little too big on me so I paddled for one wave and went in with a numb hand. I got my 5+ waves so I was happy!! 

Here are the pictures from the day... 

My brother, PJ, getting ready in the truck at the beach

Nate catching a ride: 

My brother, PJ, caught one. 

Sean on a wave. 

A classic party wave with Nate in the middle, PJ on the left and Sean on the right. 

And to show off how crazy this boy really is, here is Nate before we went surfing. Notice the 6 ml wetsuit with a hat and a puffy coat on... 

And there is Nate after we surf... Notice the lack of clothing... NUTS, I tell ya!!! :) 

Since Nate and I aren't all traditional, I'm glad that we have been able to continue this one. I hope that you and your family find a unique tradition to follow! Break from the mold and be different!!