Pictures, pictures and pictures!

[fisheater]

@nickinbc I skied last Friday. The trail was refrozen with boot post holes a foot deep and the slop was pushed up from below like refrozen volcano cones. I was thanking the people that left the snow shoe tracks!!!
Twenty plus years ago my ski buddies and my self only skied through the expert gates on our Utah trips. I had a big chuckle with myself Friday morning as I called it double diamond, death defying trail skiing. I had a few planned Sitzmarks to avoid trees. The downhills were quite fast, and sometimes I just couldn’t make the with the refrozen volcanos and such. Had fun in the sun in my hilly terrain, would have probably killed myself in yours! Sunday’s rain and Saturday at 48 F and brilliant sun (skied a lot of miles) killed my trail skiing. Even the ice isn’t continuous. Enjoy the snow.

[Mtlsam]

Day two out exploring a new (to me) trail in St-Donat, Quebec. I am liking my new Fisher E99 skis, but they are way stiffer than my old skinnies. The climbs are a new experience in terms of less grip.
Spent a lot of time falling and did a bunch of walking on the step descents, no room to snowplough, but still a fun time out.

[lowangle al]

Hey Sam, your forest and trail look similar to what I was skiing yesterday. Whenever I'm skiing a narrow snowshoe or hiker packed trail I get out of the packed snow and use the softer snow on the sides to slow down. Yesterday was crusty so I skied on the side of the trough with the tail of my inside ski in the trough and the tip in the air and scrubbed speed by digging in the edge of that ski on the top of the trough. This could be tough with a flimsy boot and walking down might still be your best option.

As far as your kick not being what you wanted those stiff dbl camber skis need more input by heavier weighting to get the wax pocket to contact the snow. You need to put more energy into them but you will get more out of them in speed. You can also try extending your wax in the kick zone.

[Mtlsam]

Hey Sam, your forest and trail look similar to what I was skiing yesterday. Whenever I'm skiing a narrow snowshoe or hiker packed trail I get out of the packed snow and use the softer snow on the sides to slow down. Yesterday was crusty so I skied on the side of the trough with the tail of my inside ski in the trough and the tip in the air and scrubbed speed by digging in the edge of that ski on the top of the trough. This could be tough with a flimsy boot and walking down might still be your best option.

As far as your kick not being what you wanted those stiff dbl camber skis need more input by heavier weighting to get the wax pocket to contact the snow. You need to put more energy into them but you will get more out of them in speed. You can also try extending your wax in the kick zone.

That sounds like an interesting technique, I'll have to see if I can apply it next time I'm out. I'm a little conflicted as I love the fact that I don't see many other people out on the trail, but I'd like to see how other people tackle those descents. I learn a lot by watching.

I'll keep working on my dynamic weight transfer to get the skis gripping. I think I built so lazy habits in the past.

[Bazillions]

Random pics from the past month or two of trails I've made around the house. Probably got like 20 miles of good trails and then like 20 more of trails that need a little work/need to be abandoned lol. (btw I am not actually "making" trails by like cutting trees and stuff, though do wanna buy a foldable saw just to cut a few fallen trees I have to duck under). Guess I gotta sauna pic in there too.

I dunno why I got duplicate pics in there, I try to fix it but it keeps doing weird stuff so I'm just going to leave it.

[Mtlsam]

That looks like an awesome area you have going there. Nice looking terrain!

[Woodserson]

Random pics from the past month or two of trails I've made around the house. Probably got like 20 miles of good trails and then like 20 more of trails that need a little work/need to be abandoned lol. (btw I am not actually "making" trails by like cutting trees and stuff, though do wanna buy a foldable saw just to cut a few fallen trees I have to duck under). Guess I gotta sauna pic in there too.

Wolves, lakes, fog, hills, deciduous hardwoods with good snow cover, where they hell are you?! Paradiso

[Bazillions]

lol I'm in western upper Michigan. Adequate snowfall is normally not a question but this year I was a little worried. Eventually we did get plenty of snow cover. Now its supposed to get warm (I mean, it's been sorta warm lately, but even warmer), for how long I don't know. Winter could be over? Or we could get another 2-3 feet of snow, who knows.

I meant to post this (first) picture in the last post. The day was kinda nice, snowy (think we just got a foot or so and it was still kinda snowing) but the sun kept peaking out. I get on the lake I can see my friend fishing a ways away (knew he was out there), and started skiing towards him on someone's sled tracks. Next thing I know it's a whiteout, thought neat, take some pics, phone rings, it's my buddy "hey, get the hell over here fast" okay.

[fisheater]

@Bazillions Congratulations to your buddy, that is one nice pike.

[connyro]

Ha! I looked at your photos and thought to myself 'that looks an awful lot like the UP.' Nice shots and what a pike! The rain and warmth in the forecast is not looking good but as you pointed out, it can still turn back to winter (most likely will) and slam us with a couple feet of snow yet.