Here at Hangman Hill

In early April we took a week of vacation to explore south-western Spain and enjoy some warm weather.  We rented a small home in the hill-town of Arcos de la Frontera (about 1 hour south of Seville) and invited Nick and Pam (Bruno’s parents) to join us.  We spent a few days exploring the town of Arcos and its ancient buildings and quaint shops.  We also made day trips to Cadiz (a seaside town), Seville, and the picturesque mountain town of Grazalema. By the end of the week we had barely scratched the surface of all the possible adventures available, but we felt well rested and relaxed.  We even managed to read a few books and sample the local tapas and wines!

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We had a relaxing weekend in New Hampshire and enjoyed what might be our last ski weekend of the season.  In spite of very little snow in the last few weeks we found excellent XC ski conditions at Prospect Farm thanks to the groomers at Jackson XC.  Prospect Farm has several trails which are dog-friendly so Kokee was able to ski with us.  We skied in the morning to a favorite spot which affords views of Mt Washington.  Views into Tuckerman Ravine show pretty thin coverage but still there was more snow than in January!  After a break for lunch we skied the Boggy Brook Trail and caught glimpses of Crawford Notch as we skied along.  We have plans in the next few weeks to visit the Carter Notch Hut for a night so it was fun to see the notch from a distance.

On Sunday we did had a relaxed start to the day and after lunch went to Black Mountain with our snowboards.  Black Mountain is a small ski hill in Jackson, literally a few miles down the road from the chalet. It was only partially open with one 3-person chair lift running.  With warm sunny weather the conditions were soft and fun for carving.   We shared the runs with a few others and were able to ride straight onto the lift.

We wrapped our weekend with dinner at the Shovel Handle Pub which sits at the base of Black Mountain.  It was one of the rare occasions when the Shovel Handle was relatively quiet.  We enjoyed some live  music and a nice dinner.  We are looking forward to spring and more adventures on the trails.

 Elevenses on the trail

On the trail at Prospect Farm

 Tuckerman Ravine and Mt Washington

Carrot cake from Vintage Baking Co. for dessert on  Saturday

Riding at Black Mountain

 Bruno enjoying the afternoon sun at Black Mountain

The last task to complete in the kitchen at the chalet was to install a backsplash under the wall cabinets. We started off by looking at white and off-white subway tiles in various sizes. Somehow this seemed to be a little too plain and we felt that the contemporary style kitchen needed something a little more adventurous. 

Last weekend we made a long drive to northwestern Maine to enjoy a weekend of hut-to-hut cross-country skiing.  We were a party of eight friends and we stayed at the “Maine Huts & Trails” lodges which are modern and eco-friendly places to stay – they even have hot showers!  We carried our clothes, sleeping bags and lunches, but everything else was provided at the ‘off-the-grid’ huts.

We arrived at the Stratton Brook hut on Friday evening after a short (~3 mile) “ski” from the trailhead.  It did not bode well as the trail was composed mostly of boiler-plate ice, along with an assortment of mud and rocks.  The weather had not been very good leading up to our arrival!  We spent the evening planning our hike back to the car the next day to pick up our hiking boots and crampons!

We awoke on Saturday morning to 4-inches of fresh sticky snow that was perfect for covering up all the imperfections in the trails.  After a hearty breakfast and re-packing our bacpacs we set off on the  ski to the Poplar Hut. The conditions were fantastic and with the right glide-wax we soon forgot our plans to dump our skis.  Instead we enjoyed a winter wonderland schuss to our luxury overnight accommodations further down the valley.

Saturday evening was spent relaxing and enjoying the home cooked hut food, and even a glass or two or beer/wine.  On Sunday we skied back to the trailhead (where we had left the car) in 35+ degree weather and we got back just in time to see the last of the recent snowfall melt in front of our eyes.

Overal, it was a great weekend and we were really lucky to have a big dump of snow on Friday night so that we could enjoy a weekend on skis with great friends.

Last week we spent the weekend backpacking in the White Mountains near Lonesome Lake with our friends Paul and Anne.  We stayed Friday and Saturday nights at the AMC hut of the same name.  We enjoyed great views, clear skies, phenomenal star gazing, and excellent company.

On Saturday we hiked up the Kinsman Ridge via the Fishin’ Jimmy trail and we reached the >4000′ peaks of both North and South Kinsman.  The trail was quite icy and we were glad that we brought along our micro-spikes, ice axes and also crampons for the steep sections.

The hut was very well equipped and provided all that we needed.  The unheated bunk-rooms were a good test of our new winter sleeping bags. Fortunately it was warmer that our last winter hut trip when we experienced record lows at the Zealand Hut (in 2015).

On Sunday we hiked up to the summit of Cannon Mountain via the Hi-Cannon trail.  This was steeper than the trails of the previous day and even had wooden ladders up some of the steepest parts.  Needless to say this was great fun in the snow and ice.  We were back home to our chalet on Sunday in time for tea and a hot shower.

Winter has been elusive in New England this year with very limited snow fall, especially in the mountains of northern New England.  We did have a few fantastic days on snowboards and XC skis.

We picked a quiet Saturday  in February to ride at Bretton Woods.   Considering the amount of natural snow that has fallen, the conditions were great! On this day, Mt Washington was covered in snow, which was not the case for most of January!  The day started with mostly cloudy skies but by the end of the day skies were clear and we caught Mt Washington aglow our way back south to the Chalet on Dundee Road.

The Sunday following our trip to Bretton Woods we traveled to the East side of Mount Washington to take a ski lesson at Wildcat Mountain. We hired Jeff Lea who teaches backcountry skiing (mostly on tele skis), mountaineering and climbing skills in the White Mountains.  We wanted to learn how to make turns in the backcountry on our free-heel backcountry XC skis.  Jeff was a great instructor and although a bit skeptical to begin with, we spent the day on the lower mountain learning different techniques for negotiating turns on downhill sections of backcountry trails.  Now we just  need practice applying these skills to the much more narrow trails in the backcountry!

It has become a tradition here at Hangman Hill Road to run an informal poll of the “best cards of the year” as we take down our Christmas decorations.  This year the competition was fierce, and we had a hard time choosing a top five.

So, here are our favorites from this year’s cards (in no particular order).  Did yours make it into the top rated cards?