1st Time X-Country Skiing - Alpine Loop Overnighter

Blake Merrell

Blake Merrell

Life Elevated - Rising Higher
Joined
Feb 25, 2013
Messages
600




It was time. Jay was on his way and we were to attempt our first trip on Cross Country Skies. We were both pretty excited! Neither of us has experience with cross country skies, but we figured since the route we were going to take was only 10 miles long, that we could manage it over the course of two full days.



This trip began in at the Aspen Grove trail-head near Sundance, and ended in American Fork Canyon, at the end of the Alpine Loop road. Friday morning we staged all the cars, and before we knew it we were shuffling up the road with skies strapped to our feet!



The learning curve was pretty steep for me. learning how to stay upright on skies took a bit of getting used to. I spent a lot of time falling over, but I did get better as we went along.



Three hours after we started, we finally made it to the top! The climb was about 1000' in elevation gain, and 3 miles long. yeah yeah... we were only going about one mile an hour, I know. I blame myself. After all, I was the one always falling over haha!



Once at the top we found a little meadow just off the road where we built our snow cave. The snow was waste deep and made for easy snow cave building. after about 2 hours of work we finally had our cave all dug out. It was super big and very nice for two campers.



Most of our evening consisted of us melting snow to replenish our water, and cooking our food. Getting firewood took a fair amount of time as well, but we had fun using my new little hand-held chain saw! It seemed like we were constantly working. this camp sure was a lot of work! Good thing we have long nights so we can get lots of sleep!



Jay is one of the best men I know and one of my very best friends. The adventures we go on are always fun, but one of my favorite things are the conversations we have. With Jay I feel more comfortable talking about personal and spiritual things than other stuff. I LOVE how he has that influence on me. He makes me want to talk about God and the Gospel. Being around him inspire me to be a better person. Indeed, it is wonderful to have friends that do that for ya. I feel very blessed every time I get to hang out and chat with this great man. Needless to say, once we settled into our cave for the night, it was nice talking with Jay. I hope he knows how much I enjoy our talks.



Well.... Morning eventually came and we were plenty warm in our cave. Around midnight I needed to relieve myself, and when I stepped outside to do so, I became very grateful for the snow cave. The wind was blowing pretty strong and we hadn't even realized it. I LOVE SNOW CAVES! Once I was out of it, I couldn't wait to get back in!



Anyway, Morning came and we dressed and ate. Our toes were getting pretty cold, so we figured we would just pack up and head on down the rest of the road.



Cross country skiing down hill was a blast! but it was also a lot of work. I fell over a ton, but it was much quicker going than the hike up. After all, the 5 miles down only took us like 1.5 hours compared to the 3 hours it took to hike 3 miles the day before. even will all of my falling down! haha :)



Well, toward the end of the road we actually got pretty good and started to ski pretty quickly along that snowy road. It was so fun! My legs and back were super sore from skiing with a backpack on, but it was all worth it.





















































































































Featured image for home page:
slide.jpg
 
great pics! I know that area like the back of my hand. When was this? I'm surprised with how much snow there was on the road.
 
Sounds like a fun adventure. It's always fun to get out and play in the snow and survive the cold nights. The snow cave sounds fun. No pictures? :)

Thanks for sharing.
 
Mike K said:
Sounds like a fun adventure. It's always fun to get out and play in the snow and survive the cold nights. The snow cave sounds fun. No pictures? :)

Thanks for sharing.
Click to expand...

There is a picture of the Snowcave, it just blends in well with the snow in the background.

The snow cave was awesome. The wind was blowing pretty hard that night, but I didn't hear or feel a thing until I had to get out and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
 
I too am surprised by the amount of snow up there on those roads. It's a crazy contrast between the west side of Timp right now and your pics of the east side. Looks like the weather was good to you. Have you snowshoed before? If so, how does it compare for you? Would you opt to do skis again or snowshoes for another overnight like that?

I hate to say it, but I'm thinking it may not snow another measurable inch down here in the valley this season.
 
i'd love to do a snowshoeing overnighter up there sometime.
 
The purpose of this trip was to learn how to cross country ski. We had a fabulous time and really enjoy coming down the mountain on the AF canyon side. Skiing that make the trip super fun and super fast.

I don't have a lot of experience snow shoeing, but I imagine that using them on this trail would have been useful. I would have definitely been able to get further off the trail once we were at the top, if I would have used snow shoes (probably cuz I am a crappy x-country skier and that powder killed me haha)

All in all, the weather was great. I bit cloudy at times, but the mornings were wonderful.
 
Blake Merrell said:
There is a picture of the Snowcave, it just blends in well with the snow in the background.

The snow cave was awesome. The wind was blowing pretty hard that night, but I didn't hear or feel a thing until I had to get out and go to the bathroom in the middle of the night.
Click to expand...

Ahah...now I see it! Thanks.
 
John Goering said:
I think anyone who is reasonably proficient on skis will tell you they are about an order of magnitude more efficient. In my experience, even in the timber. And you get a free lunch on the downhill. Sometimes a very scrumptious free lunch.
Click to expand...

I agree. After i started getting use to the skis, i was able to start gliding UPHILL!. I never got great at it, but it was more fun than snowshoing, and seemed to be more efficient.
 
John Goering said:
I think anyone who is reasonably proficient on skis will tell you they are about an order of magnitude more efficient. In my experience, even in the timber. And you get a free lunch on the downhill. Sometimes a very scrumptious free lunch.
Click to expand...

I've known skis are more efficient than snowshoes when going cross country over relatively solid and somewhat level terrain such as what you get on back roads and packed trails. Seems like they could be pretty hard work though on steeper slopes going up hill but I can imagine the fun coming back down.

If you want to go off trail and deep into powder or where the terrain becomes more varied, I would think snowshoes could be more favorable. While I've done a bit of both, my experience in either is limited so I've often wondered what I would enjoy using most to travel the winter backcountry, as well as comfort and convenience when it comes to the footwear used.
 
WasatchWill said:
I've known skis are more efficient than snowshoes when going cross country over relatively solid and somewhat level terrain such as what you get on back roads and packed trails. Seems like they could be pretty hard work though on steeper slopes going up hill but I can imagine the fun coming back down.

If you want to go off trail and deep into powder or where the terrain becomes more varied, I would think snowshoes could be more favorable. While I've done a bit of both, my experience in either is limited so I've often wondered what I would enjoy using most to travel the winter backcountry, as well as comfort and convenience when it comes to the footwear used.
Click to expand...

Most all my backcountry skiing was on normal width skis, lockable free heel binding, and skins. That combo will go up about the same grade as snowshoes and powder/steep was highly desired on the downs. If you got cornered in the thick stuff, just lock the heels and side step it. My footware (I am sure REALLY dated) was a pair of leather downhill boots resoled with 3/4 shanks (actually still have them and use them occasionally). Depending on where one is going, some regular modern downhill boots work ok too if you can open the collar for more flex and you don't get too ambitious on mileage. Certainly, 10 miles would not likely be a problem with those. And then there are the modern mountaineering boots------
 
Awesome pictures. So how much of the alpine loop gets closed in the winter? Were you guys skiing directly on the alpine loop or were these side roads off of the main loop? Thanks for the report.
 
We were skiing directly on the road. We were sharing it with Snowmobiles, Skiers, Runners, and Snowshoers. The road is closed at the Aspen Grove TH and the Gate just above Mutual Dell in AF canyon.
 
Nice to see a decent amount of snow up there, the East side sure holds the snow better than the West side. I think we'll be able to get up Timp early this year regardless.
 
WasatchWill said:
If you want to go off trail and deep into powder or where the terrain becomes more varied, I would think snowshoes could be more favorable.
Click to expand...

I found this to be true. While shoeing through the woods near Aspen Grove there places where I sunk up to my hip - with shoes on. I can't imagine what it would have been like with skis.
 
I think it just depends on the ski. I float way better in powder on my splitboard than I do my snowshoes, and I enjoy it a lot more. Definitely limited on terrain though.

Nice pics, btw! :)
 
Nick said:
I think it just depends on the ski. I float way better in powder on my splitboard than I do my snowshoes, and I enjoy it a lot more. Definitely limited on terrain though.
Click to expand...
Thanks Nick - good to know
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Don't like ads? Become a BCP Supporting Member and kiss them all goodbye. Click here for more info.

Back
Top