Hiking to ski

 

Stuey and I have not had the best weather for skiing. That said, It's best to appreciate what you have - and we still have good skiing. It is, however, getting to be a pretty long hike up to the snow. And a couple of days ago, even when we did get to the snow, Stuey's climbing skins would not stick to his skis, and he had to boot it all the way to the top. Now that's a workout!

Patrick

booting it

Spring Carrots

 

Last week I checked under the tarps and leaves in my carrot patch and the ground was still frozen. On Friday I dug down and found carrots ready to harvest. So yesterday I dug them all up. I ended up with a 5 gallon bucket filled to the rim and a little over - so around 6 gallons of carrots. But some of them had little black blemishes and I have learned that while they are still good to eat the ones with blemishes spoil quickly. And worse yet they contaminate the unblemished carrots. So I ruthlessly picked through the carrots and discarded the ones with the dread 'black spot'. I gather it is a harmless carrot mold. After the ruthless cull I still ended up with 4 gallons of fresh spring carrots. I also kept some of the blemished ones to eat quickly in the next few days - And I kept them separated from the others!

In the Fall I intentionally harvest all the carrots near the edge of the raised bed (those do not winter as well because near the edge they are subject to thaw and more water). Then I cover the bed with like 5 inches of dried leaves, then a triple folded tarp, and finally a layer of plywood over the top to hold it all down. All the layers insulate the carrots and keep them dry. So when they freeze they stay frozen until the spring thaw. I have learned that if they thaw and re freeze they turn to mush.

What's funny is that in the fall I harvested about 4 gallons of carrots before I covered them in leaves. So I basically had carrots most of the winter and now I have them in the spring too!

I also noticed that my garlic is finally sprouting. In the fall I had covered the garlic bed with leaves and grass clippings. I had covered it a little deeper than usual and was a little worried that the garlic would not be able to poke through. But I guess I did not need to worry!

Patrick

sprouting garlic and if you look close a worm

Ptarmigan on the go

 

Stuey is back from college for a quick break before a final short term. And it looks like he brought rain with him. After no rain for months it is raining today, and is supposed to rain off and on for the next week or so. Still, we went for a ski and actually found 4 inches or so of new snow on high. The skiing was not great but it was still beautiful up in the alpine.

We ran into some ptarmigan and I noticed that the male has a red patch over the eye. I think this is his breeding plumage. I gather the male stays all white for longer than the females. So the female sits on the eggs with her mixed brown and white camouflage while the conspicuous, all white male draws the predators away from the nest. It certainly worked with my dogs. Off they went chasing the low flying ptarmigan.

Patrick

Crocuses and Corn Snow

 

April is both my favorite and least favorite month. I say this every year. On the one hand, the skiing is at its best, the crocuses are blooming and it is just so darn beautiful. While on the other hand, summer is on the way and ski season is about to end. Pretty soon it'll be time to mow the lawn, pick slugs out of the garden, and weed hawkweed and dandelion flowers from the lawn. Ughhhh. But for now life is pretty good!

I took these pictures over the weekend. The dogs and I got in some South bowl corn snow. It was pretty perfect downhill ski conditions. The corn snow was about 5 inches deep - not so soft that it was a bottomless mess. It was also the first time in months that we did not skin up or ski down to the road. And the snow is disappearing so quickly that it will not be long until we have no skiing below 1500 feet. 

It seems we did hit max snow pack for the year around April 5th. That's the earliest I can remember and 3-4 weeks earlier than usual.

Patrick

Red loves to sled downhill on her belly

Seismic Pond

 

This is where I have been skate skiing the past couple of days. Ordinarily, I would not trust a pond covered with rotten spring ice. But this pond does not have any water in it. The ice is resting directly on the sandy bottom of the pond. It's hard to tell from the pictures but the ice surface is bowl-shaped. Without water underneath or flowing into the pond the ice is not melting very quickly either.

It's a little small, but the skate ski conditions have been perfect. Very fast dry corn snow! Ripping around in the sunshine with short sleeves. I also realize that this is it for the XC ski season. So I might as well get in my last few skate skis of the season. It'll be at least 7 months until I get to do it again. 

I had fun making a little video of the dogs and I skiing around and around the pond. The video is at the bottom of the post.

Patrick

The melt is on

Ice at Abercrombie

For the last few days or so it has not frosted over night and this has accelerated the snow melt. Not that there is very much snow to melt. On Friday I did manage to ski down to the road one last time, but I crossed over the to the ski chalet side to do it.  It was terrible skiing - more salmonberry bush whack than actual skiing.

I've noticed that the ice has been lingering in ponds and lakes and I think this is because there is so little melt water. With no warm water flowing into the ponds they do not warm up and melt quite as quickly. Yesterday I went up to the Seismic pond and went skate skiing (post to come). There was no water in the pond at all and the ice is resting directly on the bottom. It has created a bowl, and the crystallized ice is now more like snow.

Patrick

View of Pyramid from the ski chalet side of the road