Crescent Ridge for MLK Day

January 18, 2021

Emilie Phillips

Isaac changed his mind and says he likes skiing uphill better than downhill. And that the second lap is better than the first. Given the snow conditions, I thought any lap was better than none. It rained and poured at our house, but the Mt Washington Auto Road temperature profile said it mostly stayed below freezing at elevation, so we headed up to the GBA maintained glades at Crescent Ridge. Most of the snow fell Saturday. A few more inches fell Sunday night. By the time we got there Monday morning, there was a foot and a half of snow, the top 8 inches of which was fresh powder. Tyson and I both brought our old rock skis and were glad we did.

We started the skin in with the usual requests of “are we there yet?” and “can I have a snack?” I thought the trees looked really interesting. They had wind blown snow encrusted on two opposite sides. Normally the snow build up faces into the predominant wind from the storm. I believe that Saturday’s storm was an easterly wind, and then Sunday the wind switched back to the prevailing west wind. The east side of the trees had a rounded strip of snow. The west side of the trees had a sharp ridge of snow.

Our first lap was ordinary. Isaac went uphill slower than Tyson wished he would. Isaac wished the top of the hill would get there sooner. It was chilly at the top. We skied down the 3rd trail which is generally the widest. The skiing was a little challenging because of all the brush sticking up through the snow. It’s hard to turn when your skis are tangled in hobblebush.

Isaac and Tyson celebrating the top of the second lap

We had a late lunch just above the meadow. We stayed in the trees to keep out of the wind. By the time we finished lunch, we were all cold. And Isaac’s hands especially so. When we started back up the hill, Isaac gave Tyson his poles so he could pull his fingers together in his mittens. And then he just took off. Something about not having poles made skinning up more fun. Maybe it was the simplicity. Maybe it was the extra challenge of making the skins grip. Whatever it was, his technique was great. I had troubles keeping up. We made it to the top 20 minutes faster than our first lap, and much warmer.

We took the same route down for the second lap. There were a few more rocks showing. I saw Tyson get in some nice turns. Then we glided back out to the car.