| Previous :: Next Topic |
| Author |
Message |
Scrooge
Famous Grouse
Joined: 16 Dec 2001
Posts: 6966 | TRs | Pics
Location: wishful thinking |
|
Scrooge
Famous Grouse
|
 Sat Apr 24, 2004 9:47 pm |
|
|
Thanks for all the suggestions and encouragement. I weighed them all carefully ...... and then wound up doing what was easiest: driving to the closest accessible snow. Today that was in Snoqualmie Pass, less than an hour from home.
Since the ski area just closed last Thursday, I figured there'd still be a reasonable amount of snow and that proved to be the case, just barely; and the barely ground was showing in a lot of places. ........ If the weather holds, we're going to have another long season in the mountains. 
One advantage of the ski area, for a first-timer, is that I was able to park beside a (small) snow bank and put on my boots and (for the first time ever) gaiters and snowshoes while sitting in the car, between sips of coffee. It only took about twenty minutes to get ready. 
Then I started shoeing up the ski slope. Just like that. No problem. I can't quite say, "no sweat". In spite of the fact that I guessed right and wore shorts, and took it very easy, and was only dealing with 56 degree temps, my shirt wound up soaked.
Still, the important thing is that the snowshoes worked, even with me on top of them, and even on the fairly steep slopes encountered in parts of the ski area. The shoes stayed fastened to my boots and I stayed upright. What more could I ask? ....... Well, somebody could have told me how hard snowshoeing was on the thumbs. 
I think I did pretty well for a first time: a little less than two miles and 700' in a little less than two hours. I'd sort of had in mind following the Pacific Crest Trail back to Lodge Lake, after I got to the top of the slope; but I lost the PCT almost as soon as I found it and wound up climbing almost to the Summit's summit before conceding I'd gone the wrong way.
Anyway, I was satisfied ....... and it sure was a pretty day. 
Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you....... Go and find it. Go!
Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you....... Go and find it. Go!
|
| Back to top |
  
|
|
Kirt
Member
Joined: 11 Oct 2003
Posts: 210 | TRs | Pics
Location: Pasco, WA |
|
Kirt
Member
|
Sun Apr 25, 2004 8:54 am |
|
|
Nice job, welcome to a whole new world of fun. It is one that I only discovered 2 years ago myself and thoroughly enjoy it.
What kind of shoes did you buy? I still only rent and what is silly is I have spent enough in rental fees to buy a real nice pair of shoes!!
K
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Scrooge
Famous Grouse
Joined: 16 Dec 2001
Posts: 6966 | TRs | Pics
Location: wishful thinking |
|
Scrooge
Famous Grouse
|
Sun Apr 25, 2004 3:11 pm |
|
|
| Kirt wrote: | | What kind of shoes did you buy? |
Tubbs' Pinnacle 25". Found them sitting by themselves on top of a pile of coveralls at REI's garage sale and couldn't resist the $24.83 price! I had a competent outdoorsman check them for defects and they said they were okay ....... which proved to be true.
It's the brand and model that had been recommended to me for "anywhere" use, and that certainly seemed to be true, yesterday. I don't know what would happen in heavy brush, but they worked fine for crossing a couple patches of bare ground with minor brush, as well as on every kind of slope I tried.
Someone with some experience will have to tell you if snow conditions might make a difference. Yesterday may have been the easiest possible, soft corn. The shoes didn't sink in, at all, but the snow was soft enough so that it was easy to "edge" a little to cross slopes.
I'd worried a little about the downhill (I have a problem with that in crampons), but that wasn't a problem, either. On the steepest slopes I'd glissade a little with each step, but never felt out of control.
The folks who said "easy" in "Snowshoeing 101" appear to have the right of it, although I'm not sure I agree about the "fun".  But, then, I don't think hiking is fun, either. In either case, it's a matter of getting to where I want to be.
Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you....... Go and find it. Go!
Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you....... Go and find it. Go!
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Kirt
Member
Joined: 11 Oct 2003
Posts: 210 | TRs | Pics
Location: Pasco, WA |
|
Kirt
Member
|
Sun Apr 25, 2004 4:12 pm |
|
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate NWHikers.net earns from qualifying purchases when you use our link(s). |
