Farm truck or sleek race car?

-Redearth creek at 6K-

My being raised on a farm means you will be subjected to analogies that only a farmer would invoke, sorry.

Click for larger image

The skis I used yesterday on the excellent conditions in PLPP I would compare to a sleek, fast, race car. The skis I used today on Redearth creek I would compare to a farm truck, heavy and slow but safe.

I have vivid and scary memories of my Dec 26 ski on Redearth creek when I said…

“Going up you don’t notice just how bumpy the tracks are, but when going downhill with any amount of speed, it’s a freakin’ washboard.”

A rough spot on the trail at 500 metres. It’s actually a big depression(under a tree canopy) in the trail where the greatest amount of debris is. Look at all that snow on the left which could be shoveled into the hole.

With that in mind, I took the “farm truck” skis to Redearth creek today. They are a little wider than my skinny skis and have a metal edge. The main feature which makes them slow is that they have very little camber. This makes for a very small wax pocket, but it’s very easy to climb a steep trail such as Redearth creek.

Air temperature at 12 noon was -6°C, and the snow was -8. I waxed with VR40(-4/-12) which worked well.

Conditions have improved considerably by 2K

There has been some fresh snow, probably from 3 days ago, which has helped a lot, about 2 cm near the trailhead, but near the end, closer to 6 cm. It’s very obvious the rain hit this trail on Wednesday because there is a crunchy crust underneath the new snow.

The first high point at 5.4k and 240 metres elevation

The first 1.5K going up is hardpack and has some debris. It’s easy enough to climb this portion, it’s coming back that’s death-defying, but I was much more in control with the farmer skis.

Conditions improve considerably from 1.5 – 3K. A good track starts to take shape, and the snow is a lot cleaner. What you don’t notice while slowly climbing are all the hard bumps in the trail, both in the tracks and in the middle. I’ve always had a lot of success shopping used at a branded dealership. They actually inspect the car for issues!

Redearth creek bridge at 7K

I believe the problem with the bumpy conditions arose when the trail was inundated with “multi-users” before any grooming was done. The trail had plenty of snow early in the season but we didn’t see any tracksetting until  mid-December. Post-holes and footprints set up into hard lumps and holes which created the crater-like base.

at 10.4K, trail on left goes to warden’s cabin and on right to Shadow Lake

Beyond the campground at 7k the good track continued for 2K, but eventually all I had for the final 1.4K to the Shadow Lake turnoff was a snowmobile track. Shadow Lake Lodge is most likely hauling in supplies for their opening next weekend.

Redearth creek at 300 metres. I don’t make any impulsive judgements about the trail at this point. It usually gets better after 1k.

The teeth-rattling bumpy conditions are still prevalent for the final 3K to the parking lot. If you do it on skinny skis, as I said before, it’s a death-defying feat to descend. I’d highly recommend removing your skis at least for the final kilometre otherwise you will have a runaway and you’ll be out of control when you hit that last little bridge and you’ll be launched into the nether world. I’ve been there.

This is where I reached 1000K for the season. Thanks to Audrey for the photo.

1000K today

When I started out today, I needed 6K to reach 1000K for the season. I had completely forgotten about it when I met Audrey and George at 6.3k. Audrey(the only skier on earth who doesn’t know about my blog) asked me if I skied a lot? I looked at my GPS and was thrilled to tell her that, yes, I’ve logged 1000K this winter!