Pictures, pictures and pictures!

[randoskier]

Ah near the Torne River! Looks like nice terrain I had my wool mittens knitted just south of there on the Swedish side of the Torne River, in Lovikka a village famous for mittens though it is harder and harder to find real Lovikka mittens. Nothing is warmer in my experience, not even the Austrian boiled wool ones. Kilpisjärvi is the only town I have ever been to in Finland, been there 3x, once skiing from Abisko and twice walking there from Abisko, (Sweden).

I'd like to know more about these mittens

I just looked, most of the ones on the internet are not authentic but are gift-sop quality copies, rel ones sell for more then that- I don't remember exactly but I think we paid the equivalent of about 80 EUR a pair. If you are interested you should contact the association they mention in this article, they seem to be the certifying organization- they can probably put you in touch with someone wielding the needles.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/lov ... ten-statue

[randoskier]

Today's tour. More Alfa Free / Xplore / SBound 98 testing. Somebody has to do it.
VID_20220112_134834_00_008_2022-01-12_16-06-46_screenshot.jpgVID_20220112_114711_00_001_2022-01-12_16-02-54_screenshot.jpgVID_20220112_114711_00_001_2022-01-12_16-00-17_screenshot.jpg

What is your verdict on the Xplore?

[Tom M]

What is your verdict on the Xplore?

Check out the boot discussion thread
https://www.telemarktalk.com/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=4512
As of today, I have 7 ski outings on the Alfa Free boots, with 4 of them "tour for turns" outings. Long story short, I like the boots. I'm working on a boot review video for my YouTube channel, and it is scheduled to go live on January 21.

[randoskier]

oops

[Stephen]

This is an example of what is called a terrain trap when speaking about avalanche risk.
(Where snow piles up in a depression and becomes deeper than it would without the depression.)

This looks like a marked route of some type, the slope angle in the picture looks to be well below the generally accepted 30* angle for avalanche risk avoidance, so might look safe, even no risk, but apparently not.
I assume there is a steeper slope that is out of the picture frame.
Avalanches can run out much further than one might think.

This is the sort of situation that highlights the value of having at least some avalanche education and awareness.
Being caught in this could have been serious.

[jyw5]

we have long flat trails here in AK for nordic skiing that are excellent avy runout zones. Several winters have resulted in massive avalanches that have run across the road. its important to know the avy conditions even if you arent skiing it. Spring crust skiiers sometimes get caught in avalanches later in the day as it warms up because some of the best crust is right below a steep mountain of spring snow (it casts a shadow on it and thats why its nice and cool and crusty!)

[Slidey_Hiker]

A few shots from my last couple trips.

[jalp]

Central Idaho XCD bliss. After a 7 mile tour up to find nothing but sun crust yesterday, I nearly packed up and went home. I still have no idea what to do on sun crust, things got ugly...Glad I didn't leave though. Sunday revealed a few remaining low angle pockets of protected powder. Karhu 10th Mountain 195cm, Alaska 75.

[mikesee]

Central Idaho XCD bliss. After a 7 mile tour up to find nothing but sun crust yesterday

Pretty sure I recognize your 2nd and 3rd shots. Pretty sure that's my old track in the center of your 3rd shot. Good to know there's still soft stuff there, even if highly faceted.

Where was the 7 mile tour that was so crusty?

[jalp]

Central Idaho XCD bliss. After a 7 mile tour up to find nothing but sun crust yesterday

Pretty sure I recognize your 2nd and 3rd shots. Pretty sure that's my old track in the center of your 3rd shot. Good to know there's still soft soft there, even if highly faceted.

Where was the 7 mile tour that was so crusty?

Ah, the mystery of the old tracks is solved! Yes, definitely faceted and sugary, wouldn't pass as powder to some around these parts but it was still light and loose. I'll take it.

2nd and 3rd shots are just north of the trail to S. Great area for xcd and light tele isn't it? North aspects should all be holding up well, as long as it doesn't get any warmer up there.

The 1st picture is on a peak at about 6400ft, due NW of the G. As I should have expected, the south facing aspects are crusty and getting baked daily. I hadn't pushed up into that area before so I went up to check things out. Seeing what was in store for me on the south slope, I very briefly considered dropping down the north side. I decided not to because it's considerably steeper at 30+ deg. I'm not close to being able to ski at that level yet and I definitely avoid anything that can slide. The one thing that I had going for me was that I was on heavier gear yesterday. Had I been on the 10th Mountains, I'd probably be there still!

Well, hopefully we'll get another cold snap and a storm soon!

Cheers,

John