Bon Jour! Comprenez-vous Anglais? Thank goodness, because that is the extent of my French besides “fromage” and “la bière s’il vous plait”. While I always plan to learn at least basic conversational French before making a trip north of the border, I typically get distracted with trip plans instead. There was no difference while planning my trip to the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec in February of 2011. This would be my 3rd trip to the Chic-Choc mountains to partake of some of the best backcountry ski terrain outside of the White Mountains.

The summits of the Chic-Chocs may be flat, but the slopes that lead up to them aren’t. (Brett Lund photo)

This trip would be different from past trips. I wanted to venture deeper into the Parc de la Gaspésie to explore some terrain farther away from the better traveled roadside attractions I had skied previously. Secondly, I was going to take this trip alone versus with a backcountry ski partner. Little did I know that David, our associate editor would be backcountry skiing and snowshoeing in the Gaspésie the following weekend, though he had much swankier plans (is that a real word? I’m too cheap to know . . .) The Gaspésie and the Chic-Choc mountain range lie near the tip of the Gaspé penninsula, which is the thumb shaped peninsula that sits directly below the mouth of the St. Lawrence River. These are the northernmost mountains of the Appalachian range, and unlike the Appalachians of New England, they have expansive plateaus with a lot of terrain above tree line. The proximity of this highland land mass to the waters of the Saint Lawrence, and, to its south, the Baie-des-Chaleurs mean that the Chic-Chocs get copious amounts of snow. The northern latitude ensures that this snow stays consistent and bountiful. Each time I travel to the Chic-Chocs I am happy with the snow cover, even when New England is starved for snow. Especially when New England is starved for snow!

To plan my trip I searched the SEPAQ website (the Quebec Park system). This is really a wonderful website with informational links to all of Quebec’s parks and their amenities. One of these days I may even be tempted to travel to another part of Quebec but for now I still have too much to explore in the Gaspésie. Initially I focused on 2 possible destinations to ski within the Park and adjacent nature reserve. One of the destinations was Mont Logan, which is in the westernmost portion of the park. Getting there would mean a mandatory 5 day loop, with 2 days at a hut near Logan. Mont Logan would be the best opportunity to make some fun and maybe steep descents, and it looked spectacular.  However, there were also rumors of avalanche risk at that point…hmmm.

The other option was an area called  ”Mines Madeleine”, which was highly recommended by backcountry skiers as an excellent destination with a good variety of terrain. According to all information, there was no lack of steep or tree skiing opportunities in this area as well. Due to the level of uncertainty around the Logan tour, and the need to spend 2 days touring to get to good vertical terrain, I opted for Mines Madeleine. I wanted to get to Logan, but I also did not want to trek into the woods for 3 days only to have avalanche hazard keep me from skiing. I love to tour, and there is plenty of touring to be had in the Gaspé, but I really like to go downhill. I had planned to do a couple nights in the park system huts, and a couple of nights tenting. This would allow me some flexibility in traveling, but would also help to keep costs down.

My home for the first night, a sturdy 3-person winter tent from LL Bean. It offered plenty of protection from the weather, but i was worried about a moose stepping on it. (Brett Lund photo)

I booked 2 nights at the Mines Madeleine hut, and planned to camp en route to the hut on the first night I arrived in the park. The drive to the Gaspé is a long one, fully 12 hours from the Concord, NH area. Maine can seem to go on forever, but at the same time this is a lovely drive, especially when you get to Quebec. You could go straight north and stop in Quebec City and out from there. (see the “swanky” article previously mentioned), but I prefer to drive through Maine, then short cut across New Brunswick to the beginning of the Gaspé peninsula. The drive along the Baie-des-Chaleurs is beautiful, with lovely coastal towns. After an hour or so of coastal  driving a left turn brings you north toward the Parc de la Gaspésie. Even in the dark pulling into the Chic-Choc mountain range is impressive. The snow is always piled high and the trees are caked with it like giant popsicles.

I arrived at the Parc Headquarters at 8:30 pm on Sunday, and immediately inquired about potential campsites or shelters along the way to the Mines Madeleine. Unfortunately and unbeknownst to me the Parc has very strict rules about camping outside of designated areas, and in winter the only tenting allowed is a half mile from the Park Headquarters. I leased a tentsite for the clear and starry night, found a nice site that had been packed down a bit. There, I put down my tarp, and set up the winter tent I had been asked to review. The LL Bean Backcountry Dome 3 was easy to set up and very roomy for one person (yes, we’ve had people take it out with 2 people and been happy with it, as well). After getting myself situated, I had to make one more quick run to the car for my toothbrush. As I rounded the corner of the tentsite trail, two large forms came walking out of the woods, not very gracefully either. Two huge moose, who, thankfully, were afraid of my headlamp. They wandered across the trail and back into the shoulder-deep snow and through the woods. I was hoping that they wouldn’t stumble through my tentsite during the night, or decide that nylon tasted good.

My House! Comfortable, and no moose came calling. (Brett Lund photo)

The following morning when I woke and began to pack, I noticed that these same two moose were in a nearby campsite. I have been around moose many times, including when they ambled through my campsite a few feet from my tent at 2 in the morning near Mount Carrigan in the Whites. Despite many pictures from previous encounters I felt the need to try to”sneak up” on them to take a picture of the large female moose and her yearling munching on the vegetation near the edge of the campsite. Just as I rounded the corner to snap a picture, the young moose, who was broadside to me, wheeled and started running toward me. Now, moose are big and look slow, but they can get moving quickly. I think Carl Lewis would have been impressed with my aceleration. Thankfully the yearling stopped, but I am sure that he had a good laugh with his moose friends about the old guy sprinting down the trail.

I had a long slog out to Mines Madeleine and wanted to get an early start. At  Park Headquarters, I checked in quickly with the front desk and was advised that I should indeed get started as my trek would be long and uphill. I had borrowed a Nordic Cab pulk from our Executive Editor, planned to load my backpack and other necessities into the pulk and tow it to the hut. A “pulk” is essentially a trailer for humans. It attaches with a waist belt, and two slender poles back to a sled. I would be traveling on Telemark gear with skins.

The long trek to Mines Madeleine started the real adventure. (Brett Lund photo)

The track to Mines Madeleine is basically a park road that is not plowed in the winter. The park services shuttle gear to the hut via snowmobile, and some group outings on snowshoes are brought out the 12 miles for better views and solitude. The day was beautiful and while it was cold (around 20) I quickly began to warm under the bright blue skies.

The accursed Pulk! It enticed me to take more gear than I really needed and slowed me down too much. (Brett Lund photo)

The grade was a fairly steady climb all the way to Mines Madeline, with a few short downhills. While the pulk was easy early, the longer I trekked, the more tired and frustrated I became. I found myself working much too hard to tow the pulk and wishing I had just stuck to my 5000 cubic inch backpack. Whenever you have more room to bring gear you will fill it, usually with crap you really don’t need. Those “extras” in the pulk were killing me by late afternoon. For the last mile of the slog a snow squall kicked up, and I wound up getting to the hut about an hour before dusk, frustrated and exhausted.

The Mines Madeleine hut was a welcome site after a long day. Warmth awaited inside! (Brett Lund photo)

The Mines Madeleine hut is an old mining crew bunkhouse, and was well equipped with a woodstove, running water, and a bathroom. Upstairs were beds for 14 or so people in a relatively open space, divided by half walls. It is very inexpensive to stay, a little more than 20 dollars per night. I was there alone for about an hour and took a nap until awakened by a young couple from Montreal who were touring from another nearby hut (the Gaspésie has many backcountry huts that can be rented and toured on cross country skis). They would be my only company this evening.

Getting ready to return to the hut.

Though it was dark, I wanted to venture further up the trail to get a view of my surroundings. There was still a bit of twilight lingering, and though the snow was still blowing I put on my head lamp and skis and headed uphill. The service road runs to the top of Petit Mont Sainte Anne,and I went about half way up before turning back to the lodge. I stripped off my skins and had a fun solo run in the dark back to the hut by the light of my headlamp. The trail was smooth and about 15 feet wide, and I could see the distant glimmer of the lights in the hut as a reference. Otherwise I was alone in a sea of blowing snow. It was simply spectacular. I returned to the hut, prepared dinner and chatted a bit with the couple before retiring for a long and welcome sleep.

The next morning I woke early to a partly cloudy day with blowing and drifting snow. After breakfast I said my goodbyes to the young couple and set out for the summit, packing lunch and planning to explore. My plan was to summit, then continue across the plateau to Mont Comte and Mont Jacques Cartier to see if I could find some skiable terrain a bit farther away. I had read on many web blogs that Mines Madeleine apparently had a lot of terrain right outside the hut door, but due to the blowing snow I couldn’t see it. I wanted to find somewhere that was more wind protected.

Halfway up the trail, a pause for a beautiful view of what I hoped to ski. (Brett Lund photo)

This plan would require about 4-5 miles (one way) of travel and route finding across the plateau. As I climbed toward Petit Saint Anne the new snow hung precariously on steep slopes above me.  I stayed on the road to minimize my exposure, and felt generally safe because there were many trees anchoring the new snow. Once I reached the top I was well above treeline and I knew right away that summit travel would be difficult and my plan would likely have to change. I was blown over several times by 80-90k gusts and had a very difficult time seeing my hand in front of my face. I pressed on for about 3/4 of a mile before I realized that route finding was simply too risky in these conditions, especially alone in unfamiliar terrain. It was cold, and the wind chill was substantial.

Caribou tracks! I knew they were close, but they can hide and I never saw the animals! (Brett Lund photo)

I paused by some caribou tracks (the Gaspésie is home to the southern-most herd of caribou in North America). They were fresh and the animal was likely close by watching me, though I could not see it. She knew where she was going. I didn’t. I returned to the summit trail, stripped off my skins and began the long winding decent to the hut. I didn’t realize how cold I had become on the summit, so I was glad to return to the warmth of the hut. The couple had left, but two Parc Snow Rangers were inside warming by the woodstove. They were evaluating the avalanche hazards in the area following the new snow. We discussed conditions for the day, and all agreed that, with the blowing snow, the local bowls would be unstable and dangerous. Not that we could even see them anyway! I asked if they could recommend some good low angle tree skiing close by, and they directed me back down the trail to a side road used by SkiChicChocs, a local cat skiing operation.

A break from the wind! The area around the snowcat operation was choked with snow! (Brett Lund photo)

About  kilometer down the road, I found a turn for the snowcat operation. Another kilometer or so through the woods brought me to a snow covered snowcat, at the bottom of what appeared to be a narrow road going up. This road actually led up the other side of Petit St Anne from where I had been in the morning. It was much more sheltered in the trees than near the hut, and I was able to gain quite a bit of vertical in short order. The trees were loaded with snow, and I could see steep chutes through the trees to my left, down into a drainage. While it looked appealing, I didn’t want to ski steep trees while alone, especially with no one at the hut or within many miles, so I stuck to the road and safety.

It was a nice pitch down through shin deep powder, and where I could get enough speed up I ventured through the trees on the edge of the trail. I took 3 loops before my weary legs told me to wrap it up. I put on my skins for the climb back to Mines Madeleine.

When I reached the hut a friendly and athletic group of backcountry tourers from New Brunswick had just arrived. They traveled in from a nearby hut, and had an adventureful ski on the way. Many falls and a lot of laughing. Skiing on cross country gear, and carrying fairly large packs, they took a beating but had a blast. They showed me many pictures of their faceplants. We chatted into the evening over wine and dinner. They were well prepared and had a snowmobile deliver a “restocking” of wine and a birthday cake for one of their party. What a wonderful way to spend a birthday!!

A ridge above Mines Madeleine, deep snow everywhere! (Brett Lund photo)

I planned to leave Mines Madeleine early the next day if the weather had not changed. If the weather was better and the snow had stabilized, I would take another trip up Petit St. Anne for some touring and descents. I slept hard that night, and woke before the sun. The wind of the past two days had abated, and I dressed quickly, made some tea and oatmeal, packed my bag and went out the door just as the sun began to crest the hills. For the first time in 36 hours I could see the terrain around the hut, and it was spectacular. The ski opportunities were limitless, enough for many days of fun, but  I had to leave that day. Grabbing my skis and backpack I made for the summit to get in as much skiing as possible while I could.

A path through the trees. Bonjour soft beautiful snow! Pure bliss! (Brett Lund photo)

Checking for snow stability.The recent wind loading left several hard slab layers that made skiing this angle unsafe. (Brett Lund photo)

It was a sunny morning, with bluebird skies, and I knew that I wanted to get some skiing in before I left. I assessed the “tube” which is the most obvious line off the hut side of Petit St. Anne, and after digging a hasty snowpit found a weak snow slab that made this aspect (the direction the slope faces) too scary, so I opted for a lower angle and slightly different direction off the summit which had softer snow, and finished through some nice snowladen trees.

While I was disappointed not to be skiing the bowls and gullies, this was the safer choice and still spectacular skiing. After a few laps, and one run down the shoulder of Petit St. Anne I realized that I needed to pack up and start my trek. Around 11:30 I descended the trail I had taken to the summit, and ducked through a short stand of pine trees to get my last fix before I needed to grab my gear, load the pulk and start the long trek out.

The shoulder of Petit St. Anne

I wanted one more night at the tentsite, and a day skiing Champs de Mars, before heading back to New Hampshire. Headed out on the long push back to the car, I was hoping that the pulk woud be easier to manage going mostly downhill. Much to my chagrin, and largely due to the new snow, the pulk acted like an anchor all the way back, so no rest for the weary.

Five hours later, I made it back to the car, and drove back to the campground to pitch the tent. I did not see my moose friends that night, but had more time to cook a proper dinner. I also had more time to evaluate the 3 man LL Bean tent, which functioned very well. It assembled easily for a large tent, and ventilated well during the night, keeping me comfy and dry, and the design is bombproof.   That’s of real importance in a multi-night trip in an area like the Gaspésie, where heavy snows can fall at any time. As a bonus for cheapskates like me, it’s also one of the most affordable 4-season tents out there; the tradeoff being that it’s somewhat heavier than the higher end versions. The following morning I made breakfast, packed my car and drove a short distance  to one of the easy-to-reach and very rewarding roadside backcountry skis.

Champs de Mars at its best! (Brett Lund photo)

There are several daytreks for backcountry skiing just down the road from Parc headquarters…Mt Hogsback, Champs de Mars, Mont Blanche La Montagne and a slightly longer trek to Mont Albert. Within the Parc, skiing is limited to particular zones, primarily due to the caribou herd preservation. Champs de Mars and Hogsback are the easiest to get to in a short period. For a longer day trek, the runs on Mont Albert are great fun, but I didn’t have time. At Champs de Mars, I quickly set skins to skis and began the 2 kilometer trek up a winding trail to the summit.

About two thirds of the way up, a cleared birch glade seduced me, and I took a nice run about halfway back down the mountain. Then I skinned up again and continued to the top. At the summit I took in the beautiful views; as the cloud cover lifted I could see Blanche le Montagne and other peaks in the distance. I set off down the center snowfield, and had knee deep turns all the way to the bottom. It was too good, so I skinned up one more time and this time went as far right as I could, weaving through patchy trees and tops of scrub pine. Two top to bottom runs on stable and soft snow with the mountain to myself….could not have been more perfect.

Hard not to get excited as you take off the skins and prepare to ski all this untouched powder all by yourself. (Brett Lund photo)

It was approaching noon and  knew I had a long drive ahead of me. I took a cut-through trail to the summit trail, then skied part of the birch glade one more time, finishing through some narrow pines and chutes at the bottom.

What a great way to end the trip! As I was loading into my car and getting ready to leave the lot a large party arrived, and we exchanged knowing smiles and a nod that said it all. “Was it good?” “Oh Yeah, its good…go get it!!!”  My Gaspé adventure was finished, theirs about to begin.  How about YOURS?

Like many of you, I obsess about snow. During the 10 days prior to our trip I kept a daily vigil on Smuggs’ No Bull Snow Report, which I’ve found to be reliable and accurate in the past. Like everyone else this season, my family and I lamented the lack of natural snow. But temperatures were good for blowing the manmade and I knew the snowmakers at Smuggs’ would do a good job. And, we got lucky. Madonna and Sterling mountains, the twin peaks that make up the greatest portion of the resort, were blanketed with between 10 and 12 inches of the real thing during the 48 hours before we arrived.

Chilcoot, an intermediate trail from the summit of Madonna Mountain, shows evidence of Christmas week snowfall. (Gary Hopper photo)

Aside from loving Smugglers’ Notch for its challenging terrain, I have also come to appreciate Smuggs for its attention to families with mixed abilities. In our case, we have two kids who are progressing skiers and my wife is a continually improving intermediate. Sounds like your family, doesn’t it? Smuggs is consistently top-rated for its concentration on the family experience, and  our boys have enjoyed the benefits of the Smugglers’ Notch children’s programs.

On this trip, the boys, Ethan (14) and Becket (12), were booked into a two-hour morning lesson with the Kids Notch Squad and my wife Laura would join the resort’s Snowsport University for two hours of instruction while I re-familiarized myself with the available terrain.

After handing the boys off to Sam Lotto for their group lesson, and telling my wife I’d see her at lunchtime after her class, I joined our friends John and Lisa Stitt and their daughter Emily for a trip up Madonna, the tallest of Smugglers’ three mountains. As we neared the top I drank in the drops and bare boulders of Upper Liftline and looked longingly at Freefall and The Black Hole. Freefall and Upper Liftline would open a week later. The Black Hole was probably another one, or even two good storms away from getting enough cover to ski.

Snow lovers take Rumrunner to get access to Pipeline, Upper Exhibition under the Sterling lift, Highlander Glades and Lower Rumrunner. (Hugh Johnson photo, Smugglers' Notch Resort)

At the top I only glanced south for a minute because we were socked in (on clear days the 360-degree views are stunning), then looked at the ropes blocking the entrance to Liftline. I realized then that in 20 years of skiing at Smuggs, I had never skied Upper Liftline and I’d  only been on the wooded pitch of The Black Hole once – and had to take off my skis and scramble out at that. One of these days, they are going to get ticked off my list.

On this day we were limited to probably 20-25 percent of the area’s trails, but the cover was excellent. Two trips up Madonna revealed loose surfaces integrated into a good carving base on the intermediate ridge-hugging Upper Chilcoot, Link, Lower Liftline and Drifter. Noiseless skiing. And, despite the tops of tall grasses poking through the surface, there was enough fluff on the steeper lead-in to Lower Liftline for a fun dash under the chair with just enough bumps to keep you honest.

But the best run of the morning, and I would repeat it two more times that afternoon, was McPherson’s. It’s a “double falline” pitch connecting Drifter to the M2 liftline. It’s rated an intermediate but that’s only because of its brevity. Ungroomed that day, it was a bit bumped up with  boot-deep “chowder.”

After a trip up Sterling and finding better-than-expected surfaces of dry and loose snow on Rumrunner and somewhat mixed cover on Exhibition, I pulled up at the Ski School building to meet Laura and the boys and get a report on their lessons as our hosts headed back up for another run before lunch.

Over sandwiches and cookies, Ethan, Becket and Laura all reported successful mornings. Becket was pleased that Lotto took the kids into Highlander Glades and down Treasure Run to work on edging skills and planting their poles to initiate turns. (Was it possible I no longer had to chant, “use your poles, use your poles” when I skied with them?) Laura said her instructor, Gary Hopper, offered good advice on keeping her hands up front with her elbows out to “open the gate” with her poles. He also had her rest her poles horizontally on her forearms while skiing to get used to the proper positioning of her upper body. We all commented on the surprisingly good snow conditions as we quickly finished our refueling. We were in a hurry to get back outside and enjoy the snow.

Laura demonstrates her new "open the gate" use of poles and a relaxed stance during her lesson at Smuggs'. (Gary Hopper photo)

We all paired up for another trip up Madonna and another run on Chilcoot. I hung back to watch the kids and Laura ski and could see immediately that all three were skiing with more self-assurance than I had remembered. Becket was flicking his poles on turns, Ethan was more upright and had developed a more fluid turning style and Laura was skiing with hands up and skis shoulder-width apart. Maybe they’d be joining me in Doc Dempsey’s Glades or on Upper F.I.S. on a successive trip!

At $75 for a two-hour lesson, the collective expertise of the Smugglers’ Notch Snow Sport University is well worth the new skills and confidence gained. Whether  you are just starting out as a beginner, (regardless of age), or getting a technique tuneup as a level 8 skier, the instructors are ready to help any snowboarder or skier improve to have fun on the resort’s classic New England trails.

Smuggs is still all about families and our family is looking forward to another visit. More snow and more terrain would just be the icing on the cake.

If you are looking for a safe, easy way to bring your family on an outdoor adventure this winter, Lucie Villeneuve can help. (Tim Jones photo)

The little town of Errol in the Great North Woods Region of New Hampshire, is kinda quiet, out of the way (on the Maine border, 20 miles or so north of Berlin), and surrounded by hills, lakes and rivers. In other words, it’s the perfect town if you are looking to find or hold onto winter, or if you enjoy hiking, mountain biking and, especially, paddlesports in summer.

I was in the Errol neighborhood on a winter camping by dogsled adventure on beautiful Lake Umbagog, and built in an extra day to explore a little more of the area. An extra week would have been better. I still wouldn’t have seen it all.

I’d first gotten the idea from the folks at the Northern Forest Canoe Trail. The NFCT is a magnificent 740-mile water passage from Old Forge, New York to Fort Kent, Maine. It’s a paddler’s dream in the summer, but often forgotten in the winter. The NFCT is building partnerships along the trail to help get more people out and exploring year ’round. Worthy goal, and they are doing a great job.

It's the guide's job to break trail up steep slopes for the clients, and Lucie attacked the steeps with glee. (Tim Jones photo)

In Errol, they have partnered with Lucie Villeneuve of Outdoor ESCAPES New Hampshire,  who will arrange guided paddling or hiking adventures in the warmer months and cross-country skiing or snowshoeing in the winter. There are several lodging options for these packages in Errol. The one I selected was 150 Main Street Lodging On The Androscoggin, where owner/hosts Debbie  and Bill Freedman operate a very cozy, comfortable and welcoming guest house right on the banks of the river on the edge of Errol. The Androscoggin here is, of course, part of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, and it’s literally, steps from the backdoor. Bill is an avid fly fisherman, and would be a terrific resource if you want to fish the area in summer. I ate dinner with the Freedmans that night at the Trading Post Restaurant, a few miles north of Errol in Magalloway, Maine. Bill and I talked fishing all night. Debbie looked like she was used to it. My other meals I took at the Northern Exposure Restaurant, practically next door, hearty home-cooked food to fuel an outdoor adventure.

Speaking of outdoor adventures . . .since I’d just come from three days and two nights of dogsledding, skiing, and winter camping on flat, packed trails around Lake Umbagog, and since there was more than a foot of fresh powder on top of a deep base of snow, I asked Lucie if she’d mind searching for some untracked snow on a slope. She was happy to oblige and made it clear that she will customize adventures to her clients’ desires and abilities.

Since it was just the two of us, and since we are both experienced and avid backcountry skiers, we decided to ski up (“up” being the operative word–remember this for later) the summer access road to Munn Pond, just south of Errol. Even with skis on we were sinking knee deep into the soft snow in the woods. At one point, where the snow-covered road was narrow and especially steep, we detoured onto the packed snow of a nearby snowmobile trail to scale the slope more easily. Sometimes, the longer route is the faster (and easier!) one.

Munn Pond was beautiful, nestled among quiet hills. Though we knew from having skied up a bit of it that there was a snowmobile trail not far away, we couldn’t hear it, and we skied across the lake hearing only the soft sigh of the wind and the hiss of our skis on the snow. Just beautiful. We saw tracks of moose, coyote, ruffed grouse and snowshoe hare, but no tracks of other people. Lucie is a born teacher, good at pointing out and explaining the wonders of nature you see on a trek like this. After a couple of hours of pushing our ski tips into lovely, silent places, we reluctantly headed back down the hill toward the car.

Wheeeee!!!! The payoff for climbing up was skiing down through some deep untracked powder. We enjoyed it so much, we went back up and did it again! (Tim Jones photo)

Remember all that “UP” I mentioned before? Well, baby, this was payoff time!!!

The steep slope we had avoided coming up was now a quarter-mile narrow ribbon of pristine, deep, untracked snow winding through the trees. I went first, swooping down through knee-deep snow, whooping all the way for the pure joy of it, breaking tracks for Lucie to follow. My tracks allowed her to gain speed and she flew past me as I stood to the side of the trail. We were both giggling when we stopped.

In fact, we  had so much fun, we decided to follow our original tracks out to the snowmobile trail, back up the hill and do it all over again. This time, the extra speed and momentum carried us back into the tracks of our original climb and we coasted all the way down to the car. What a great finish!

The  Guided Advantage

By choosing a guided trip, I found not only good companionship, but also a place I probably never would have explored on my own. Not all of us are lucky enough to know someone experienced who can inspire us to try something new and get us started safely. Many of us need outside help with getting motivated, planning and safely executing an outdoor adventure.

Joining an outing club or a group like your local chapter of the AMC, Green Mountain Club or Adirondack Mountain Club is always a good way to meet people who can show you how to get started. You can also get help getting started from outdoor equipment companies like L.L. Bean with their “Walk-On Adventures” programs at many of their stores, REI with its Outdoor School, and EMS with its climbing, kayak and ski schools. All are good options.

But hiring a guide like Lucie makes it very personal. You get to dictate the schedule and the activities you desire. The guide provides the expertise to help you enjoy the adventure without worry. A good guide is well worth the price if you are exploring something new or an area that’s new to you.

We had perfect weather and snow conditions for the ski trip we had planned but she made it clear that she was well prepared with other options if Mother Nature didn’t cooperate. That willingness to go with what the client and the weather dictate makes her a great resource for individuals, but especially for families looking for adventure. Lucie, I discovered, is the mother of two beautiful kids, and a former cross-country ski instructor at both The Balsams Wilderness (which will be closed for the winter of 2011/12 and reopening in summer 2012) in nearby Dixville Notch, N.H and at Gunstock Nordic Center in Gilford, N.H. She also has other guides who work with her throughout the year. As a young mother herself, she’s particularly attuned to the needs of families with young kids. She operates trips throughout New Hampshire, almost year ‘round. In the summer, she specializes in canoeing, hiking, and biking.

People tend to underestimate how steep King Pine can be; a quick look at the lift angle will correct that impression! (David Shedd photo)

A little background. We’ve skied the area before; it’s a short hour from our house, and has a great deal that allows you to downhill ski, XC, skate, you name it, all on the same ticket. Fun way to spend a day! Except when Mother Nature hasn’t provided any snow for XC, and it’s been generally too warm to make the ice safe for skating…in other words, today. We were looking at downhill skiing only. But, we decided to head over anyway, for two reasons. First, we knew that they’d done a major snowmaking upgrade over the summer; replacing their diesel system with an electric one for both environmental and operating cost reasons, and in the process increased capacity by 50%. We’d been impressed by the snow quality before, so thought…well, maybe we’d get lucky. Second, we had two reasons to go to a mountain that had more relaxed terrain than we often ski. I’d recently picked up an AT (Alpine Touring) setup. With new skis/boots/bindings, all with VERY different characteristics than my regular skis, I wanted some time to learn without scaring the daylights out of myself. And, Susan, as a relative newbie to downhill, wanted to work on some specific training techniques; that’s hard to do on an icy black diamond. Off we went!

Talk about "boards"...my Karhus utterly dwarf Susan's Blizzards. (David Shedd photo)

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is a busy one for ski areas, and with a small area like King Pine, that can be a concern. We didn’t need to worry, though. As busy as it looked in the parking lot and the lodge, we found that the multiple trails down from the summit allowed skiers to dissipate and keep it from being crowded. Ideal conditions for our goals, in other words.

And speaking of ideal conditions, we were spot-on about their snowmaking improvements.  The majority of their trails were open, including the black diamond Jack Pine, and in over 4+ hours of skiing, we didn’t encounter even one patch of ice. Period. Sure, there was some of that hard, scratchy stuff, but nothing that we couldn’t put an edge into, and in some ways the conditions improved during the day as skiers “groomed” it and created a nice, soft layer on top, particularly near the edges of the trails.  In the afternoon, the left side of Red Pine was simply outstanding, with about 4-6″ of the soft stuff to play in.

One of the most overrated facets of some mountains is “feet of vertical”.  King Pine doesn’t carry any bragging rights in that world; 350 feet of vertical is, um, pretty small. But, they make use of every foot of it; there’s no runout at the bottom, no skating along a flat trail, hoping you don’t have to pole for a  hundred yards to get to the lift.  Skiing is fun right to the bottom.  And when you’re trying to work a technique, you get tired a lot faster than when you’re simply skiing. For us on this day, 350 was perfect; we could focus on our turns, maintain as perfect form as we were capable of, right to the bottom, then relax and keep fresh legs on the way up.  There was no “dude, we got 12 runs in!”…we had more than that before noon!

I learned that the Karhus can carve...but look at the snow under my left foot, and you'll have an idea of the great conditions we had at King Pine! (Susan Marean Shedd photo)

Did we accomplish our goals?  Oh, yes…Susan was looking to move her turns to more “S” than “Z”, and  worked over and over on the “$100 bill” technique (if you want details, email us!). By late in the day, she looked like an entirely different skier than the one I’d started the morning with, both in technique and actual speed on each run. And my skis?  Going from a pair of Blizzard Magnum 7.6 and custom Dalbello Kryptons to a pair of vintage-ish Karhu BC100s (yes, that means 100mm underfoot) with AT bindings and Garmont G-Ride boots definitely meant a steep learning curve. Each run gave me more confidence, and allowed me to test how the tips and tails reacted to balance shifts; to try them in big, swoopy GS turns as well as tight, short radius blasts along the edge of the woods. End result…love the skis, feel confident on them, and now have a built-in muscle memory for the way they react. Now, when I take them into some unexpectedly difficult terrain, I’ll feel confident and prepared!

We’d have had fun at King Pine even if we’d simply gone there to play in our usual way on the slopes; the trails are well laid-out, fun, and have enough difficulty that it’s up to us to ski them in the way that we like best. But on a learning day…it truly was a great time! Now, we just have to wait for some  natural snow so we can go back and play on the few trails we missed. It’s funny how many skiers we know who have never tried King Pine, or some of the other smaller mountains around; we’d say that it’s a shame, but on the other hand, what they don’t know equals better skiing for us…

The Kifaru "Circus Tent" has lots of space and woodstove for warm and comfortable camping in cold weather. We'll be setting it up as part of our Lightweight Winter camping seminar 2012. (Susan Marean photo)

Every January (for 2012, it’s January 7), the Hulbert Outdoor Center in Fairlee, Vermont offers “Winter Skills Day” which is a chance to comfortably and safely learn outdoor skills that will help you get the most enjoyment from winter. They offer two sessions, morning and afternoon, so you can take two different classes in one day. Price for each seminar  (including lunch) is $35-40 per person depending on the seminar.

The seminars offered this year include: “Principles of Winter Survival and Winter Clothing,” which is something everyone who explores outdoors in winter should understand(and not bad information for anyone who drives in rural areas to know!); “Building Snow Shelters” –haven’t you always wanted to build an igloo or a quinzee in your backyard and sleep in it? This is also essential survival knowledge if you are ever somehow stranded in the winter wilds; “Introduction to Backcountry Skiing,” which will focus on off-trail travel on moderate terrain, “Icefishing 101 (icefishing, particularly combined with snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, Nordic skating and winter camping, is a whole lot of fun); “Basics of Dogsledding,” (you can leave Fido at home; they provide the dogs and sleds), and “Winter Fire Skills” (please re-read Jack London’s “To Build a Fire” if you don’t think this skill is important to safe winter travel).

Setting up a "cold camp" at the Hulbert Outdoor Center's Winter Skills Day in 2011, (Susan Marean Shedd photo)

And, just as they did last year, they are also offering two seminars on Winter Camping. The morning session is on “Traditional Winter Camping.” It’s  taught by Andy Williams who is a very experienced winter traveler in the wild country of northern Canada. Andy  is an affable teacher and a pleasure to spend time with. He will show you a full set up of traditional gear, including wooden toboggans, woodstoves and sturdy canvas tents, and how to use it to travel comfortably and safely through the winter wilds. If you are going to camp in one spot for several days or more, this is an extremely comfortable way to go. Andy has the depth of knowledge that only comes from vast experience, and, no matter how much you’ve camped in the winter, you will learn something from him. And if you are just beginning to wrap your head around the notion of winter camping, this is a wonderful way to see how it was done before the onslaught of synthetic materials changed the world.

In sharp contrast to this traditional method of winter camping, EasternSlopes.com editors David Shedd and Tim Jones are once again teaching a session on “Lightweight Winter Camping,” showing the most modern gear and techniques available. Most of what we are showing is the stuff we use to stay warm and happy while traveling (relatively) light and fast on snowshoes or skis with a big backpack and/or small pulk (a lightweight plastic sled with a rigid pulling harness). It’s just like summer backpacking except there aren’t any bugs (and the snow is usually deeper though that may not be the case this year if this “winter that isn’t” continues).

We'll also be setting up a Titanium Goat tipi that sleeps three and weighs less than 7 pounds—WITH the woodstove! (Susan Marean Shedd photo)

Ours is a very hands-on seminar. As a group, we’ll be setting up two “cold” (unheated) winter tents camps with tents from REI and Easton Mountain Products. We’ll also be setting up at least two lightweight nylon tipis, possibly three...with woodstoves. Yes, you heard that correctly. Lightweight, spacious nylon tipi-style tents with woodstoves. One of the tipis we use is made by Titanium Goat. It will sleep two comfortably with extra space for gear. The whole rig weighs less than 7 pounds WITH the wood stove and stovepipe. We’ll also set up the “Circus Tent,” an 8-man tipi from Kifaru that Tim has owned for more than 20 years and used in the winter wilds from the Adirondacks to northern Labrador. We’ll also be showing some of the latest in backcountry skis and snowshoes, pads, sleeping bags, lights, stoves, cooking gear, and more (our thanks to the manufacturers named above, as well as LL Bean, Mountainsmith, Lowa, GSI Outdoors, Polarmax, Coleman, MSR, Primus, Leki, Life-Link, Therm-A-Rest, Jetboil, Black Diamond, Underwater Kinetics, Sierra Designs, Patagonia, Red Ledge, Revision Military, Osprey, Kelty, TSL Outdoor, Hillsound, Outdoor Research, Katoohla, and others for providing samples for you to check out). None of the gear we are showing is custom made; it’s all available in stores, through catalogs, or on the web. So, anyone who has the desire can fully gear themselves up for winter camping, and we’ll show you how.

We’ll also help participants assess any gear they already have for winter suitability…bring your favorite toys with you!  After this course, you’ll know everything you need to do your first backyard or roadside winter campout comfortably and safely. From there, you can progress in increments to full-on winter travel and camping.

All the seminars offered at the Winter Skills Day are by pre-registration only: visit their website for a full PDF course description, call 802-333-3405 or email Lynn_daly@alohafoundation.org. If you have any questions about the lightweight winter camping seminar, don’t hesitate to email : timjones@easternslopes.com or dshedd@easternslopes.com.

Lake Morey Skate-a-thon, Too

While all this is going on at Hulbert Center, the beautiful Lake Morey Resort  just down the road teams up with Nordic Skater to run the all-day Skate-a-thon where, for a $25 donation for adults ($15 for kids) they’ll fit you with Nordic skates, teach you how to use them, send you out on the longest cleared skating track in North America around Lake Morey. That’s assuming we have safe ice by then, of course…but, at least Mother Nature is cooperating as of this moment!

If you haven’t tried Nordic Skating, you owe it to yourself. It’s like cross-country skate-skiing on ice, easy-to-learn, a great aerobic workout and just plain fun.

We hope to see you at the Winter Skills Day!

Cold Country Cadillac. A dog team travels quickly, quietly and comfortably on snowy trails and lets you carry more gear than you ever could on your back. (Tim Jones photo)

When the Inuit (which is what “Eskimos” call themselves) people crossed the frozen Bering Sea from Siberia to Alaska they brought with them an utterly amazing technology which allowed them to successfully colonize the northern coastal fringes of North America and western Greenland. Where other people had barely clung to life, the Inuits thrived. The technology that gave them the edge they needed to survive and thrive was the dog sled and the dogs that pulled them. Using dogs, Inuit hunters and their families could travel many miles over ice and snow with all that they needed to live well in a harsh environment, find food, and even protect themselves from marauding polar bears.

If you are looking for an easy, safe, fun, winter Active Outdoors adventure, and a way to escape from all the pressures created by today’s technology, dogsledding may be just the way to go. Traveling by dogsled, I’ve found, is like taking a trip back in time.

One cold nose! Kjeran in the dog box for transport but eager to be out running. (Tim Jones photo)

In late January 2011, my sweetheart Marilyn and I were cross-country skiing from Little Lyford Pond Camps to Gorman Chairback Camp in the AMC’s Maine Lodge program. A visit to these Maine wilderness lodges is pretty much an annual event for us, something we look forward to every winter.

Sharing the camps with us on this trek were three guides, four clients and six dog teams from Mahoosuc Guide Service. Master Guides Polly Mahoney and Kevin Slater were leading four clients who each got to drive their own teams. They were visiting all four of the lodges in the AMC winter program: Medawisla, West Branch Pond Camps, Little Lyford Lodge and Cabins and Gorman Chairback Lodge and Cabins in five days and four nights. They also had an assistant guide, Joey Shaw, following on a snowmobile towing all their gear and supplies.

Don’t confuse a Mahoosuc adventure with a typical tourist “dogsled ride” where a musher will bundle you into a sled and haul you around like human cargo for an hour or less. Mahoosuc does offer some tourist rides from their base in Newry, Maine, but their real niche is an authentic, active, hands-on experience with the clients learning how to care for the dogs, hitch up the sleds and drive them for many miles each day. Driving a dogsled is actually a pretty darned good workout; the dogs are a handful to hitch up, the sleds require both muscle and finesse to steer and you don’t get to just ride up the hills (though the dogs will help pull you along . . .).

Dogsledding with Mahoosuc is a hands-on adventure . . . (Tim Jones photo_

For anyone who loves dogs, and who wants to get actively involved with them, this would be a wonderful way to visit the remote AMC Maine Lodges. The dog teams move a lot faster than most folks on cross-country skis, which meant the guests traveling by dogsled had time to explore around the camp each day on snowshoes.

While I was talking with Polly and Kevin one evening at the dinner table (good conversation with interesting people is one of the highlights of any AMC stay), they mentioned that they did ski/dogsled trips to traditional tent camps they maintain on Umbagog Lake (pronounced umBAYgog) near Errol, New Hampshire. I immediately signed up for a long weekend adventure in late February when Marilyn was stuck in a work seminar.

The trip begins at Polly and Kevin’s Mahoosuc Lodge in Newry, Maine (near Sunday River), where 9 of us (3 guides, 6 client/adventurers) gathered to meet each other, hear Kevin’s stories of the history of dog teams in North America and Mahoosuc’s line of dogs in particular. We spent the night in a comfortable bunkhouse, ate a hearty breakfast, then went out to meet all the dogs (wonderfully eager, enthusiastic, friendly beasts!) and get them loaded into the truck.

Guide Joey Shaw loading Aiofe into the dog box. (Tim Jones photo)

We had 3 dog teams and sleds. Kevin always drove the lead team. The clients took turns mushing and skiing. Several had never been on cross-country skis before–this really is an ideal entry-level adventure. Mahoosuc provides excellent ski equipment with wide waxless wooden touring skis mounted with Berwin backcountry ski bindings (which can be used with super-warm Pac or “Mouse” boots). No cold feet on these trips! The trek to the camp was between 4 and 5 miles, flat, packed by snowmobiles and dog teams, and perfect for learning the basics of kick-and-glide skiing.

The 4 skiers left immediately while the others hitched up dog teams and packed sleds with food and supplies. We skiers carried light packs (one pulled a small sled) and skied through a heavy snowstorm. Still, the trip took under three hours with a stop for lunch on the trail. Even though the dog teams started much later than we did (it takes time to hook up a dog team), they beat us to camp. Dogs move fast once they are moving.

We skied to camp through a heavy snowstorm, no views but still lovely. (Tim Jones photo)

With the snowstorm, we didn’t really get to see any views until the next morning. Then, the sun came out in skies as blue as only winter skies can be and the view over the empty lake was breathtaking.

Even with no sun and no view, the ski into camp was fun and a snug camp and good food were most welcome.

We got to see more of the view on our “off” day when we skied or mushed out to a predetermined meeting point and ate lunch together before swapping conveyanaces for the trip back to camp.

Cozy Canvas Camp

The camp on Umbagog was very comfortable for 9 humans and 18 dogs. There’s a big “kitchen tent” where Brian (ski guide and camp cook) prepared tasty, filling meals on a two-burner propane stove and a big wood stove. This was where we all gathered in the warmth of the wood stove around a low table for meals. There was always hot water available for tea or coffee and snacks handy if you were hungry. It was a perfect place to talk and tell stories.

The human accommodations included this big canvas kitchen tent with plenty of space for everyone to gather. Each of the tents had a woodstove for warmth. (Tim Jones photo)

The 3 canvas sleeping tents could each hold 3 sleepers in comfort. These roomy tents had a woodstove near the door, a drying pole along the peak, and a thick floor of springy, soft, fragrant balsam fir boughs. It all made a very, very cozy refuge in the winter cold.

Mahoosuc provided double sleeping bags that would have kept us toasty warm to way below zero (had that been necessary it never got colder than the low 20s), and several layers of foam pads on top of the bough floors. I slept warm and very comfortably–not hard to do after an active day. We had extra space in camp because our youngest guide, Joey, and his “client” father slept out in a “Quinzee,” a snow-mound shelter someone had built on the lake.

Snow is a marvelous insulator and their body heat actually kept their shelter  warmer overnight than the canvas tents after the stove had gone out. Of course, we had a woodstove, they didn’t, which gave us an advantage in the morning once the fire warmed the tents up.

Two of our campers chose to sleep in this traditional Quinzee snow shelter (Tim Jones photo)

The necessary “facilities” was an outhouse (minus the house), set away from camp behind a privacy screen of small balsams. It had a comfortable, padded toilet seat and a tarp overhead to keep off the snow. Entirely adequate if not exactly cozy enough to make you want to linger and read the newspaper.

Hands-On Adventure

Mahoosuc encourages its clients to become part of the hands-on adventure in its winter camps. Though the guides will do the bulk of the work, everyone willingly helped keep the tents supplied with firewood and fresh boughs for the floor. And everyone pitched in make sure the dogs were comfortably bedded in mounds of hay with food at water available. These dogs are clearly cherished and clearly love what they do. They were a pleasure to share a camp with.

Part of the fun is actually learning to drive a dog sled. (Tim Jones photo)

If you aren’t an experienced winter traveler, this is an ideal introduction to winter camping. Mahoosuc provides all the outer clothing and gear you need, including super-warm footgear and multi-layer sleeping bags. The guides will start the stove for you (if you don’t want to do it yourself) so you go to bed and get up warm and dry. They provide hearty food, and do the cooking. You get a chance to enjoy good company (human and canine), enough exercise to let you really enjoy your food and a good night’s sleep, and the profound quiet and spectacular scenery of a winter wilderness without having to provide your own gear or plan your own itinerary. Great experience!

On the last day, we reluctantly packed up camp and skied or mushed out. I think everyone would gladly have stayed an extra day or three if we could have. It’s amazing how comfortable you can be in the winter wilds, how soon a lonely spot beside an empty lake can feel like “home” after a day outdoors.

The Call of The Wild

When the running’s done, these hardy huskies bed down comfortably in a little pile of hay on the snow, (Tim Jones photo)

Though there are a few permanent camps (used mainly in the summer) along Umbagog’s shore, much of the land is a National Wildlife Refuge and a New Hampshire State Park. While there’s a snowmobile trail in the middle of the lake, we hardly saw any machines, even on a holiday weekend. We might as well have been in the wilds of northern Canada. With the only visible electric lights miles away in Upton, Maine, the stars shine incredibly brightly here, and the silence of a windless winter evening is profound.It’s something that absolutely everyone should experience.

One night as we ate dinner, something (moose? coyotes? a restless Native spirit?) set the dogs howling. For a moment, we were living in the world that Jack London wrote about in The Call of the Wild, far from cell phones, computers and TVs and, I believe, much closer to reality.

The Tuckerman Sport Boot from L.L. Bean looks pretty normal...but in use, it's super! (Warner Shedd photo)

With age often comes a touch (or more) of arthritis. Even for those of us lucky enough to not have major problems, it can still add  a level of difficulty to everyday tasks. Add in the fact that it’s consistently worse when it’s cold and/or wet, and it becomes obvious that one of those problem areas will be lacing up winter boots. The boots themselves are typically stiffer than summer boots due to the insulation layers, the laces are thin and hard to grasp, and the fact that the boots are usually higher means that you have to pull the laces even harder to snug them around your feet and ankles so that you don’t slide around in them. Truly, an unpleasant trifecta!

There are solutions, of course. Slip-on boots or Velcro straps make life easy; the problem is that if you’re trying to hike in serious backcountry conditions, they simply don’t provide the kind of support and control that are needed. I had resigned myself to limiting my hiking, particularly when the weather is transition between seasons (deep snow is actually easier to walk in than a few inches on top of slippery leaves!). Not an ideal situation, but safety trumps fun.

It was early November of last year when son David arrived at our house and handed me a pair of L.L. Bean’s Tuckerman’s Multisport Boots ($129). With a thick layer of very wet leaves topped by a couple of inches of wet snow on the ground, the going in our woods was extremely slippery, and on steep slopes (which we have in abundance) the footing was often downright treacherous. In other words, exactly the conditions that I’d decided to avoid. In spite of that I spent two days traversing the woods without slipping even once! The traction of these boots was amazing: the sole lugs appear to have their bottoms composed of a soft-but-tough material similar to that on the outside of really top-notch snow tires (a word of caution, however: no footwear is non-slip under all conditions. On ice and hard-packed frozen snow, for instance, nothing short of real traction aids like creepers or, in worst case, crampons will give you non-slip traction. Just be aware that even these boots have limitations, and act accordingly).

The Boa lacing system is easy to use, and incredibly effective (Warner Shedd photo)

But…what about these boots made it possible for me to take advantage of the traction?  It comes down to a lacing system called “Boa”.  The lacings themselves are what appears to be a thin but sturdy plastic cable of some sort, but in fact are twisted bundles of impossibly thin stainless steel! These are connected to a dial about the size of a fifty-cent piece, located at the top front of the boot. Simply insert your foot into the boot and push the dial in toward your shin, whereupon it will engage with an audible click. Then start turning the dial clockwise. You will hear a clicking or racheting sound, and the laces will quickly tighten. How much the dial is turned determines how tight the lacing will be, and you can make it as tight or as loose as you wish. To remove the boot, just pull the dial out away from the shin, and the lacing immediately opens up. Pull the dial and tongue outward a little farther and presto!, your foot will easily come out of the boot. For anyone who, like me, has problems lacing up boots, the ease and simplicity of this system is a godsend.

The well-spaced, soft lugs on the Tuckerman's sole provided amazing traction in all winter conditions (Warner Shedd photo)

That was the beginning of my love affair with these boots, which I’ve affectionately dubbed “Superboots.” Beyond the ease of lacing and the superior traction, these boots have a plethora of other sterling virtues. Let’s see, where to begin? We can start with the extremely light weight – 34 ounces, or, if you prefer, two pounds and two ounces. That’s in the weight range of my summer hiking boots! They are also extremely comfortable, at least on my feet; a happy side effect of the lacing system is that the boot snugs down with very consistent pressure all over my foot. Next comes the waterproof quality of these boots. They’ve got a nylon composite outer that doesn’t look as if it would stay dry for long; however, I’ve worn them in wet snow, slush, and several inches of water, and my feet have stayed dry. Then there is the matter of warmth. My feet get cold very easily and quickly (with age comes limited circulation!), so I’ve been astonished at how warm my feet have been in these boots. Traveling in wet snow, at temperatures just about freezing, my feet stayed warm. Then, at the Winterfest, I hiked in snow for several hours in the morning (yes, the sole is designed to work with snowshoes), with the temperature about 20 degrees, and my feet…warm again. But, that wasn’t all; I spent most of that afternoon standing around in the snow watching Tim and David put on an amazing seminar on winter camping gear and techniques, and only near the end of a long afternoon did my feet begin to get cold.

I also tried the boots on an ice fishing expedition.In preparation for that, I removed the inner soles from the boots and substituted Little Hotties inner soles. These have a little hollow that holds one of Hotties’ foot warmers – those little gizmos that warm up when removed from their package and stay warm for nearly six hours. Those worked very well, although, with the temperature about 20 degrees, it was difficult to tell how much the Hotties extended the lower range of comfort for the boots.Obviously, these lightweight boots have limitations as far as hyper-cold temperatures are concerned. I haven’t tried them at temperatures much below 20 degrees, and even with Hotties inner soles I ‘m skeptical that they’d be comfortable, at least on my feet, at temperatures approaching zero during long periods of standing around. Still, considering their light weight, these boots are amazingly warm.

Added to all this, the boots are sufficiently good looking that I’ve even worn them to meetings in our State House. Admittedly, the Vermont legislature, as a concession to Vermont’s harsh winters, is probably more relaxed about winter footwear than are its counterparts in the Banana Belt; still, it’s formal enough so that ties and jackets are more or less de rigeur for men. As a matter of fact, I’ve worn these boots everywhere outside the house this winter. It used to be that my feet were generally cold when driving my car in winter, even with the heater working well. Now, I’m happy to say, my feet have been warm while driving all winter.

If you’ve been looking for a winter boot solution that’s got great traction, support, warmth, waterproofness, and ease of use, you owe it to yourself to give these a try.  With Bean’s legendary guarantee, you can’t go wrong…and you may just find yourself spending a lot more time outside in the winter!

You don't have to be young—or even an experienced skier—to try snowbiking at Pats Peak! (Tim Jones photo)

Though we occasionally write stories for EasternSlopes.com, we are also loyal readers of this publication. We enjoy looking at the many different ideas for getting outdoors and having fun. Some of the things other people do hold little interest for us. But surprisingly often, we find ourselves inspired to do something we thought we had given up, or even to try something totally new and different.

Now, neither of us are skiers. Warner has done some cross-country skiing in the past, but very little in recent years. Edie has never really skied much. But we still read the stories about ski gear, and downhill ski resorts and, when we read Tim’s story on Snowbiking, we both thought that looked like FUN! Most things that fit in the fun category are illegal, immoral, fattening – or dangerous! However, snowbiking looked like it might be interesting and FUN, without being any of those no-no’s listed above. Well, the jury was still out on “dangerous.” FUN or not, taking into account our advanced ages and with our limited ski experience, we both also questioned whether or not we could try snowbiking safely. But one thing EasternSlopes.com has taught us is to never say “never.” So we contacted Tim, who responded with his usual enthusiasm, saying “Yes! Of course you can! ”  And, suddenly, we were committed to a snowbiking adventure.

Once we had our helmets and ski boots, we were ready to be fitted to our snowbikes. Instructors Ben and David made the process easy and fun. (Tim Jones photo)

On a warm(ish) day in late March we found ourselves at Pats Peak in Henniker, NH. We’ve visited a few downhill ski areas before in winter, but only as spectators. This was our first time as participants, and we both have to admit we were feeling some trepidations. However, we found it hard to hold onto any nervous feelings, given the atmosphere we found on the hill. They were celebrating spring with a Hawaiian-themed weekend, and the place was a madhouse. The staff was running around wearing Hawaiian shirts, grass skirts and leis (and some had on shorts!). A little chilly for us, but whatever floats your boat! Everybody was having such a good time. Everybody means a TON of people. Seemed to us that it was much more fun than actually going to Hawaii!

Our first stop was to get fitted for ski helmets. Neither of us had ever had one on our heads before and to our utter amazement they were truly comfortable. Well, that was a nice surprise! Now we understand why both Tim and David insist that everyone should wear helmets on the slopes. They are so comfortable you quickly forget you are wearing them, and with other people whizzing around you on skis and snowboards, there’s a definite safety benefit.

Then we got fitted for rental ski boots. Different story entirely. Miserable things! We saw people actually walking around in the them, and a couple of kids were running! We, however, could just barely walk, and we mean barely. Warner likened walking in ski boots to being a robot with stiff legs and iron boots. However, once the clunky things got buckled into the little tiny “footskis” you wear when snowbiking, they were fine and we (almost) forgot how clunky and miserable they felt when walking.

Riding up the carpet lift was the hardest part of snowbiking to learn. All you had to do was remember to get your little "foot skis" onto the moving carpet with the rest of you . . . (Tim Jones photo)

Suitably attired, we went outside and met our wonderful instructors, Ben and Dave. They were so nice to us! First, they fitted us to the Snowbikes–which look exactly like kids bikes with skis where the wheels would be. There’s a front ski attached to the handlebars so it pivots like a bike wheel, and another one under the heavily padded seat. As already noted, you wear little “footskis” so you can use your feet to stabilize yourself as you slide. Sitting on the flat snow without moving, the whole incongruous setup felt surprisingly stable and comfortable.

Of course in order to have FUN we had to move, and that meant learning how to steer and stop. The instructions for learning a snowbike are very simple, and the movements natural and comfortable. As a result, we learned the basics very fast. The obvious and instinctive way to steer would seem to be to turn the lead ski with the handlebars, but that’s not how it’s done. Instead, you steer by turning your head to look in the direction you want to go. The body naturally and instinctively leans very slightly in the same direction without you even having to think about it, and the bike goes in that direction, almost like magic. To stop, you simply turn your head farther to look backwards up the hill. It’s that easy! Snowbiking turned out to be safe, comfortable and, yes, FUN! With both feet firmly on the snow on their little footskis, and seated comfortably on the snowbike, there’s little chance of falling. In fact, neither of us took a spill while coming down the hill. Even if you did fall while going down the hill, tipping over onto the soft snow from a low sitting position is hardly something to be concerned about.

It only took a few minutes of instruction before we were ready to try the bunny slopes—our first experience at sliding down a ski hill! (Tim Jones photo)

The hardest part of the whole experience was getting on and off the carpet lift. It’s like a flat escalator, or those moving walkways in an airport and it conveys you slowly and comfortably at ground level up to the top of the gentle beginner slope. The only problem we found is that the “moving carpet” is quite narrow and you absolutely have to remember to get your footskis on the carpet part. If you don’t, you fall over—which can be a little embarrassing with people watching. Edie fell once on the durned lift, but even she admitted it was more funny than scary–more of  a slow-motion tip-over than a real fall.

Like anything else, snowbiking requires a bit of practice in order to get the hang of it. Warner found it difficult to remember to keep both arms extended straight rather than bending his elbows. However, after a few runs he found himself doing better at that, and correcting himself whenever he realized his arms were bent. You also have to remember to keep both knees clamped firmly against the padded seat of the snowbike so your feet and their little skis don’t splay out to the sides. That was far less difficult to remember than keeping the arms straight.

With Ben’s careful instruction and watchful guidance, in a few minutes we were making swooping turns down the bunny slope, getting right back on the carpet lift and riding up to do it all over again. It was both exciting and exhilarating and, yes, just plain FUN.

Once you are on the hill, it's time to refine your technique. Warner had trouble remembering to keep his arms straight! as our instructor is demonstrating (Tim Jones photo)

As we were learning on the bunny slope, we  had little kids whizzing around us having a great time. Watching the kids was part of the fun. One little girl in pink (she looked to be about 5) went flying straight down the hill with her father chasing after her  yelling “Wait! Wait!”. She arrived at the bottom, stopped neatly, and turned around to look back as he was racing after her as if to say, “What is your problem?”

By the time our hour lesson was over we had both made a goodly number of runs. We could have stayed longer, but we were both tired by then, and felt we’d made a good start on learning to snow bike. In fact, we even got a license that says we can do the bunny slope without supervision! Aren’t you impressed?

It’s almost December now, there’s snow on some of the ski hills and we’re looking forward to getting down to Pats Peak again, refreshing our snowbiking skills and wooshing down the slopes again. Maybe this time we’ll even take another lesson  and go up on the chair lift! Since neither of us has ever ridden a chairlift, we definitely want an instructor along for that. By the way, if you think you are too old to try something new like snowbiking, keep this in mind… Warner is 77, Edie is 76, and if we can do it so can you. Really, you will have a wonderful time, even if it isn’t Hawaiian weekend!

It was Hawaiian Weekend at Pats Peak and even this tiki statue seems to approve as we proudly display our new "Snowbike Licenses." (Tim Jones photo)

Hi-tech sleds like the Mad River Rocket take sledding to new heights. (Tim Jones photo)

Many active winter sports have a long learning curve. Sledding isn’t one of them.

To enjoy sledding, you simply get yourself to the top of a snow covered slope, then sit, belly flop or kneel on your conveyance and slide down. Repeat as many times as necessary to fill your fun reservoir.

There are basically three types of snow sleds—ones you can’t steer at all (tubes, saucers) ones you can maybe steer a little (most toboggans) and the ones that really put you in control of your destiny.

Out Of Control Fun

If you don’t have a sled of your own, snowtubing at any of the dozens of ski hills which offer lift-serviced tubing lanes is a great way to catch a whiff of the excitement. Part of the fun of snowtubing is that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when your instincts tell you that you are totally out of control in what your brain knows is a controlled and therefore safe environment. There’s no steering a snow tube, no controlling its speed. That’s the beauty of those tubing lanes they craft so carefully at ski resorts: you can fly within safe boundaries.

When Control Counts

“Wild” sledding is something different. When you are out in the real world, having to dodge other sledders, or even trees and rocks, it’s nice to have a little control of the situation—something you don’t get with a typical bargain basement plastic sled.

It’s not surprising that sledding has gone high-tech these days. I’m very familiar with three different models of modern steerable sleds (one of them, alas, no longer made) and I’ve gotta tell you, they are loads of fun. If you don’t have time to learn to ski, these steerable sleds and their first cousin the Snowbike are the way to get your adrenaline rush on snow.

The Airboard inflatable sled has "chines" on the bottom for steering. (Tim Jones photo)

Airborne on Airboard

The first high-tech sled I tried was the Swedish-made Airboard. They rent them and give introductory lessons at Smugglers Notch  in Jeffersonville, Vermont.

Some ski resorts will allow you to use The Airboard on beginner terrain, most won’t. But the Airboard is light and easy to carry, so going up the hills under your own power and then sliding down provides both exercise and thrills.

The Airboard inflates like the tubes you tow behind a motorboat in summer. The air-cushion effect gives it a very comfortable ride and a nice “bounce effect” when you go over bumps. Smiles guaranteed. But, unlike most inflatable tubes, the Airboard has hard plastic “chines” on the base (much like a boat hull) that  let you carve turns in soft packed snow (a groomed ski slope is perfect) and powder. These chimes don’t do much on crust or ice, so beware . . .

There’s a very small learning curve with Airboards. Basically, you just lean to turn. It’s all pretty intuitive and you should have no problem getting the basics down enough to do it safely on an open, moderate slope. I found I actually tended to turn it too much.  You can control your speed by dragging your feet and, by turning across the hill, just as you would on skis.

The Hammerhead Sled is the High-tech, go anywhere version of the old "Flexible Flyer." (Tim Jones Photo)

Hammerheading

If you have fond memories of the old “Flexible Flyer” sled, you’re gonna go nuts over is newest, hi-tech incarnation, the Vermont-made  Hammerhead. Ruggedly built of aluminum tubing with a mesh deck that has a little “bounce” to it for comfort and rugged fiberglass and plastic skis, this is tough enough for riders of almost any size.

The Hammerhead steers in much the same way as the old Flexible Flyer with pivoting front arms, The skis are “railed” so they have an edge that bites into the snow for positive turning. This is the easiest of the new sleds to steer and the best on firmer snow. You can swap out the rear skis choosing narrower for more control on hard snow or wider for more floatation in soft snow, but this isn’t really a power machine. In my experience, the Hammerhead works best on firm but not hard snow. Take it to a slope that other people have packed with snow tubes and plastic sleds and everyone will envy you. One of the greatest experiences in my sledding career was coming down Vermont Route 108 (which is closed in the winter and had been packed by snowmobilers) from the top of Smuggler’s Notch to the parking lot at Stowe on a Hammerhead. The Lincoln Gap Road near Sugarbush is my next target for a Hammerhead adventure.

Sad About The Mad

The Mad River Rocket is so steerable, you can even rip a powder line through the trees! (Tim Jones photo)

The Mad River Rocket, which was also a Vermont product, is possibly the greatest “wild sledding device” ever invented. I say “was” because, sadly, it appears that the Mad River Rocket company is no longer. It also appears that The Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington, VT is your first best hope of finding one. A careful internet search found no other options . . .though I’m sure used ones will eventually show up on eBay and Craigslist.

Too bad, it’s a great product and I hope someone buys the molds and patents and brings it back!

The Rocket has so much flotation and is so steerable you can even use it to sled in the woods, neatly carving turns around trees. It’s the only sled I’ve ever tried that really feels comfortable in tight woods.

You ride the Rocket by kneeling on it and tightening a strap over your thighs, which welds you to the sled, and steer by leaning and dragging your hands. Not the most comfortable riding position (especially for older folks with creaky knees). But the control you have is utterly amazing. Kids are doing jumps and flips with them . . .you can find videos on the Mad River Rocket website which is still live but not being updated.

The Mad River Rocket excels in soft snow, doesn’t do as well on packed or groomed. As an added bonus, if you’re a bit handy you can build a harness that turns it into a very serviceable pulk for winter trekking.

My advice: if you can find a Mad River Rocket Killer B sled, grab it. You’ll have a ball with it and your kids and grandkids will thank you for the opportunity to play with it.

Weezing in Winter?

We haven’t had a chance to try them  yet, but TSL (a company which makes wonderful snowshoes) is importing a French-made sit up toboggan called the Weez which steers with  handle-and-brake rigs on both sides of the rider. It comes in 1- and 2-person configurations. Presumably, when you pull the right brake you’ll pivot slightly on that side and go right, and vice versa. Looks like fun. We’ll give you an update as soon as we’ve actually tried it.

Would You Sooner a Yooner?

TSL is also importing what looks like the  sit-skis used by handicapped skiers. It’s called the Yooner. Again, we haven’t tried it and have no idea how hard it is to learn or how it would do on unpacked slopes. Stay tuned for a full report if and when we get to try one out.

Any of these high tech gems will turn an ordinary winter day into playtime. All you need is a slope and a little snow. Once you’ve invested in the sled, the fun is free.

The good news? It isn’t that your skis have gone downhill; it’s that the ski manufacturers have dramatically improved their understanding of how shaped skis work, and are producing skis that simply work better in ALL the vast and varied conditions you encounter on Eastern ski hills.

Can these wider "sidecountry" skis from Blizzard outperform our beloved Magnum 7.6s on Eastern mountains? Our testing indicated that for many skiers, the answer is a resounding YES! (David Shedd photo)

At EasternSlopes.com, we have, for many years, searched for the perfect “one ski quiver” for Eastern skiing. The operating thesis is that most skiers own one pair of skis, period…and that many who own several pairs take only one pair to the mountain on a given day, and then have to use those skis in dramatically changing conditions. Skiing in the East is all about adapting to change.

Powder day? With today’s emphasis on high capacity, high speed lifts you are lucky if you can get a Powder morning. Unless you are skiing the single chair at Mad River Glen, or it’s snowing all day long, by mid morning you are skiing ”Chowder” (chopped-up powder) or powder bumps.

Groomed corduroy? After a few hundred skiers go over that trail, it’s a small mogul field with “hardpack” between the bumps. The steeper the trail, the faster the corduroy disappears.

Having a ski that can handle all conditions with aplomb means longer days of skiing, more enjoyment and less effort. And, given what ski tickets cost these days, aren’t more runs (with more fun) simply good economics?

Beyond that, there’s one major change in Eastern skiing in recent years: trees.  Yes, the trees have always been there, and yes, there have often been some “official” glades, and yes, there have always been renegade  skiers who poach powder out of bounds; but in the past half dozen years, areas have embraced letting skiers out into huge tracts of land to play. It wasn’t very long ago that areas like Jay Peak, Stowe and Mad River Glen proudly advertised the fact that they wouldn’t pull your ticket if they caught you skiing off the trails.

Now, all of a sudden, it’s the Wild West come East, a peculiar recipe that combines the best of both worlds–groomed slopes with lots of manmade snow, and natural snow skiing among the trees (with a LOT of manmade powder that blows off the trails into the trees to add depth!). But this combination of opportunities demands a lot from both skier and equipment if you want to take full advantage.

With that in mind, we went to the industry demo days at Loon Mountain on March 1 and 2 to test the latest and greatest in skis. Our goal was not necessarily to find “the ski; ” different skis suit different personal tastes and body types, and skiing styles differ. We usually can’t agree among ourselves which is “the best” ski in any test, let alone recommend one for you when we don’t know you or how and where you ski. Rather, we wanted to see if there were any trends that were making sense for the majority of skiers…and were we surprised!

Some background; the last time we did a full-on test of skis across multiple lines to see what the “one ski quiver” should be was 3 years ago at Stratton Mountain. The conditions were perfect for testing “all round” skis. Day one, we had groomed corduroy to start and scratchy boilerplate to end the day, so we were able to see how skis performed in less-than-ideal conditions. At about 6 that evening, it started to snow…and we woke up to 2 feet of powder and more coming down all day long. That narrow-waisted racer ski that was so much fun on Day 1? On Day 2, it sank out of sight. The big, fat “western style” ski that couldn’t put an edge in the hard stuff on Day 1 played around in the fluff on Day 2 like a dolphin at SeaWorld.

Ultimately, we came to the conclusion that the state-of-the-art for overall Eastern use was in skis that had a waist measuring between 73 and 78mm. Skis like the Volkl AC3 (and later AC30), the Blizzard Magnum 7.6, and the Fischer AMC 73 and its later iterations worked for us no matter what we tried (lighter testers loved the Fischers, heavier leaned toward the Volkls, and everyone loved the Blizzards). And, most of us put our money where our mouths were and updated our gear…it was hard to go back to our old boards after feeling the new ones.

Since then, though, the shift has been to wider skis, both underfoot and in the shovel and tail areas.  And, “rocker” has appeared. Essentially, that refers to a ski that sits flat on the snow when unweighted, with the tips and tails up…think about the shape of a rocking chair’s base, and you’ve got the general, if exaggerated, idea. Rocker is intended to allow a ski to float up and over powder; it’s great in soft conditions, but how about in the varied conditions typical in the East?

That question brings up another point…why not just read ski tests, and buy what they recommend? The testers ARE experts, right? Well, yes, they are, and that’s part of the problem. An expert skier can make any ski do things that most skiers can’t; buy what they like, even if they say it’s for an intermediate or beginner skier, and you may hate it. Also, most  ski tests are in unrealistic conditions. Take Ski Magazine’s  testing for their 2011/12 buyer’s guide; in their own words, the conditions in Utah were “thigh-deep Wasatch powder, tracked thigh-deep Wasatch powder, corduroy.” Nary a mention of ice, slush, hard bumps. Soft western corduroy is what we in the East tend to call “hero snow”.  ANY skier can look good and have fun; ANY ski can perform well.  Wonderful…and if you ONLY ski when the conditions are like that, grab the ski they recommend.  Oh, and be prepared to have no fun at all, as you may get only a couple of days of skiing in the whole winter. Better idea? Use the expert recommendations as a guideline, go to on-ski demo days or work with a shop that has a demo fleet, and, as you find skis that feel good to you in normal conditions, narrow your focus down to those and the ones similar to them.

You might, at this point, be asking “so, why should we be reading YOUR recommendations?” Good question, and easy answer. One, we actually test in Eastern conditions, and drag the skis into different situations. If we love a ski on corduroy, we immediately take it into the crud, the bumps and out into the glades if we can. Two, we’re not going to tell you what to buy; we want you to go out and actually test for yourself. Heck, it’s fun, and it’ll likely get you a ski that works right for YOU and make you a better skier as a bonus. Pay attention to that last part…the more skis you test and really try to find what feels right for you, the better you’ll be at recognizing the differences, and at being able to get the most out of whatever  skis you are on.

Sensing a trend here? From boutique manufacturers like Goode to old-world traditionalists Fischer and Rossignol, more manufacturers are producing wider waist, big-sidecut skis that can handle powder, crud, AND hard surfaces well. (David Shedd photo)

Okay, on to the fun part…the skis. Two days at Loon Mountain, male and female skiers, various shapes and sizes and skill levels, and some fascinating results. Let’s deal with rocker first, as that’s the easy part. Based on our admittedly limited experience, for the typical Eastern skier that doesn’t live entirely in the trees or terrain parks, full rocker doesn’t appear to be a good idea. The characteristics that make it float up and over deep powder and give nice, gentle landings make it unstable in harder conditions. Effectively, on hard corduroy or boilerplate, you’re skiing on only a small part of the skis total edge under your foot; the rest of the ski tends to flop around and not make solid contact. We tested 190cm full-rocker skis that felt like ice skates underfoot; one tester commented: “I haven’t been that scared on skis in 20 years.” However, some rocker can be a good thing. A rockered tip allows the ski to easily move up and over deep piles of crud or flow through moguls; a rockered tail is great if you play in the woods and often need to move backwards out of dead-end spots that you’ve skied yourself into. Be aware, though, that if you choose a ski with rocker, you need a longer ski than otherwise in order to get the same performance in the hard conditions. Yes, that’s right; after years of skis getting shorter and shorter, new technologies are making skis get longer again!

Next comes the issue of ski width. Here’s the takeaway: wider HAS gotten better. Three years ago, skis in the 88-98 waist range were fun in the powder, but very difficult to get to “bite” in hard conditions. We all found them slow edge to edge, and tiring to ski. Even if we could make them perform well on hard snow, we had to work much too hard, which means short days of skiing.  That’s no longer true. The majority of the skis that we tested in that range this time around were fun to ski!  And, there wasn’t any specific “this width works best”; some 98s bit better than some 88s. Clearly, some manufacturers have gotten it better than others; and bizarrely enough, some of the most radical designs and most expensive skis from some of the biggest names were among the worst skis we tried.  In fact, to a certain extent, expensive is the enemy of good in this category. Why?  Because many manufacturers use “metal” in their top-of-the-line skis; in other words, a sheet of metal in the ski’s layup that adds stiffness. Great idea in narrow racing skis to reduce torsional twist; great for very heavy skiers, as well. For the average person who is trying to get a fat ski to bend, extra metal makes the ski feel like a board. Lesson to be taken from this: Don’t be afraid to try lower-end skis. The wider the ski you’re considering, the lower you should try in a manufacturer’s line before you buy. And, if you demo a ski and it’s way too stiff, ask if the same ski is available in a softer version; some manufacturers have virtually identical skis in different stiffnesses.

Kastle's Marc Sheehan shows off the MX88 and the BMX88. The main difference? Metal vs. no metal...and we all preferred the softer (and less expensive) option! (David Shedd photo)

After pushing our physical and mental limits (when you’re used to a 73mm waist, it’s hard to believe that a 110mm can actually work on firm corduroy), here’s the consensus: Even the most hard-headed traditionalists among us admitted that if they had to buy a ski TODAY, with their hard-earned money, and were going to ski ALL Eastern conditions with it for the next three years, they wouldn’t consider anything narrower than 78mm at the waist. Most testers felt that while the narrower skis still were amazingly fun when pushed hard on hard surfaces, they’d likely end up with one of the skis in the 83-98mm range, with regular tree skiers more on the high end of the range.

What about even wider skis?  We tried them. And, everyone agreed that while the skis above 100mm were often remarkable, when we removed the “wow, this works better than we expected!” factor, we found that…they didn’t work that well. They can certainly get down the mountain when necessary, and some could even be fun in fairly hard conditions, but as a day-in, day-out compromise they’re simply not a good choice for anyone other than utterly hardcore tree skiers. And, even some of those felt that going a bit narrower was a good compromise, allowing plenty of flotation while giving a greater safety margin when running into unexpected hardpack or, dare we say it, blue ice, deep in the glades.

In a bizarre twist, German manufacturer Volkl's wide skis have Japanese themed graphics and names. (David Shedd photo)

Our final recommendations:

1. Get to the first demo day you can. Be well rested and get there for first tracks, ready for a long day.

2. If you like a ski on the groomers, get it into the crud or the trees and see how it responds; you may be surprised in either a good or bad way.

3. Push a little beyond the familiar. If you think you’re a mainly “groomers only” skier and want a narrower waist ski for that, force yourself to try a wider ski anyway. You’ll learn more about yourself as a skier, appreciate the narrower ones even more, and you just might get a huge surprise and find that conditions that have made you nervous are now fun!

4. Once you have your new skis, take a lesson or two.  Skiing technique has changed with the new ski designs, and the need for correct technique becomes even more important the wider the ski gets.  You no longer need to shove your knee at the tip of the ski to try to bend it; now, you want to be more balanced, using both the tip and the tail to carve your turns, tilting the ski to the side to bend it rather than doing it with forward pressure.

Which, of course brings up another issue…boots.  Tall, stiff boots with a lot of forward lean are out for non-racers; for the rest of us, a boot that has more fore/aft flex to allow you to work with the flex of the ski but is laterally stiff to transmit the tipping motion directly to the edge of the ski gets you more performance for less effort.  That translates to more skiing, more control, less exhaustion, and much better use of your skiing dollar.  Put it in perspective; a new pair of boots that will give you more skiing time for years can cost as little as the equivalent of a half dozen lift tickets; a cheap price to pay!  Choosing a new boot doesn’t have to be a horrible process; follow the guidelines and work with a qualified bootfitter, and you may be surprised at how easy it is.

The bottom line is that, as we’ve often said, given how much each day of skiing costs you it’s worth making sure that your equipment allows you to get the most fun AND skiing time. And while we’re not fans of updating equipment too often (some of the pleasure comes from that connection with a familiar piece of equipment that allows you to not even THINK about what you have to do, but simply play), the fact is that ski technology has improved so rapidly that today’s skis allow you to handle more conditions more easily and with a lot more fun…and isn’t that why we’re all out there???