Boys Weekend Boys Weekend Logo Winter 2014

March 7-9

Summary

By Bob Gifford

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We all met at the trail head parking Friday morning around 9am. Shane was a little late because he left some gear in Burlington. It was a perfect morning for a drive or a ski. Tom, Joe and Dave showed up and we set about arranging our gear piles into sleds for the 3 mile tow in. Stan showed up just after we started so we were all underway by 9:30am. The trail was in perhaps the best shape we have seen. No open water and all the crossings were pretty smooth. The trail was a sidewalk till we got to the pond area. We found the trail up to Burling untracked for probably the last week. The cabin was in pretty good shape with enough wood to get a fire moving. We had 2 trees cut split and stacked in about an hour thanks to Stan's Shindowa Chain saw. We didn't need any more for the whole weekend. Once we were settled 5 of us headed out for a climb. We went up straight behind the cabin and climbed until we got spruced out. Not the best line but there were some turns in there. The Sun was out so it was still excellent touring. Tom went for a snow shoe while we skied. We built an outside fire and had a few fireworks that evening. We were eventually visited by two folks who came in in the dark.They were headed for the Beaver Meadow cabin but were drawn in by the fireworks. They were both tired and they ended up just crashing. We drank some beers, played some music and ate lots of food.

Saturday dawned cloudy and colder then we expected. We had some breakfast and then headed out to find some snow to ski. We went over to the glades past the Beaver Meadow cabin and found them untracked so all 6 of us did two trips up and tracked it out pretty well. We headed back to camp for lunch.. After Shane, Stan and Bob went out again and did the still untracked right glade in the same area. This one is a little longer and steeper up high. I think it was the best snow because its a bit sheltered. Dave had to leave after lunch so we were down a camper. Tom and Joe went snow shoeing while we skied. We went back to camp and found Jon hanging out with Sampson. We also met the crew in the Beaver Meadow cabin. These folks have also been coming up to this valley for a long time. They were lead by a Billy Romp who is a pretty interesting guy. He just rode his bike from London to Hong Kong. He is 62 and dragged his three grand children up in a sled for the weekend. A wooden sled too. They were boys 3,5 and 7 which brought back some memories for me. Good to see Billy keeping the grand kids in the outdoors. Billy also once rode from Addison County to Alaska on a bike built for four towing a trailer with a kid in it. This was perhaps 10 or 15 years ago. We have his book about the trip somewhere.

Saturday night was pretty interesting because the Romp clan all came over to our cabin. We had perhaps 20 people in there and it turns out Billy is a really good Mandolin player. His son Henry is a good guitar player and they had been playing together for a long time. They entertained us with several hours of music. They also ate all the food that was laying around and drank some Heady toppers.  When they finally left after the last of the fireworks the cabin was quiet. The Fireworks by the way were awesome. The Grand Finale was something I will not forget. Joe has brought one of these before but I guess I was never right next to it.

Sunday dawned clear and sunny. We cooked up some eggs and packed up. Jon Left first like he always does. We left the cabin with Fire wood and all cleaned up. We did find one Heady topper that some how missed detection. That we drank on the pond on the way out. The Sled out was quick and I don't think we had one roll over the whole trip. I was home by 1pm. Lots of exercise which is of course why we go. I also hardly has any food left which is a first. Last year I think I brought most of what I took back home. My sled worked pretty well this year with a brake. I was able to go down the steep parts without my sled over taking me and dragging me.

High points:

Good snow pack and generally good snow conditions
Not too cold although it was probably in the teens both nights
The cabin was in good shape
Easy fire wood thanks the Stan and his saw.
Interesting company

Low Points:

None really except for me waking up at 4am both mornings.

Everything worked all the food was good, we drank all the beer and nobody got hurt.








click here for the photos


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