I rented a pair of Altai Hoks two weekends ago and was sold; LL Bean gave me a generous coupon code so I ordered a pair and got them Thursday (Merry Christmas to me)- 125's with universal bindings (lets you wear any boot or shoe)
I was also trying out a new haversack kit I put together- details here:
Headed to the Elkhorns to give them a whirl; I knew there was going to be a lot of snow, but wasn't quite expecting 3 foot plus! The road to the trailhead was only plowed to the last place on the road which added about 1.5 miles. No one had been up the road (nor the trail) and it was really slow breaking trail. In the ballpark of a little over a mile and hour slow. The snow was mostly powder and a lot of the time I could even see the tips of my skis
The Hoks climbed nicely and the bindings were comfy with my Schnee boots. It was overcast and snowed lightly the entire day.
The haversack was starting to get uncomfortable about a mile or so in. I moved it to between my right hip and the small of my back and that did the trick. I had a little length of shock cord and a cord lock and slipped it through a belt loop and secured it using the cord lock as a toggle- worked fine. I think a 8"-ish length of pad on the shoulder strap would make it even better- that will be a project in the very near future.
about two miles in
I had to cross the East Fork of McClellan creek, the small bridge was out of the question as it was covered with about 2' of snow; there was a little snow bridge that worked just fine though
pic of the universal binding, it's not going to be as good on the downhill stuff as a three pin and cable setup, but I have a lot more skiing to do before I worry about that :4:
after several hours of skiing it was time to take a break and get a fire going
Opinel 18 at work
ahhh- that's what I'm talking about!
no water, no problem
Starbucks Via Mocha- just what I needed with lunch
went a another mile or so (probably close to 5 miles in) and decided that was enough
a good wool day to be sure
what took about 3.5 hours in, only took a little over an hour out- trail that is already broke and downhill make things much faster
next time up should go quicker with the trail broke, unless we get another couple of feet of snow!
Thanks for reading
I was also trying out a new haversack kit I put together- details here:
Headed to the Elkhorns to give them a whirl; I knew there was going to be a lot of snow, but wasn't quite expecting 3 foot plus! The road to the trailhead was only plowed to the last place on the road which added about 1.5 miles. No one had been up the road (nor the trail) and it was really slow breaking trail. In the ballpark of a little over a mile and hour slow. The snow was mostly powder and a lot of the time I could even see the tips of my skis
The Hoks climbed nicely and the bindings were comfy with my Schnee boots. It was overcast and snowed lightly the entire day.The haversack was starting to get uncomfortable about a mile or so in. I moved it to between my right hip and the small of my back and that did the trick. I had a little length of shock cord and a cord lock and slipped it through a belt loop and secured it using the cord lock as a toggle- worked fine. I think a 8"-ish length of pad on the shoulder strap would make it even better- that will be a project in the very near future.
about two miles in
I had to cross the East Fork of McClellan creek, the small bridge was out of the question as it was covered with about 2' of snow; there was a little snow bridge that worked just fine though
pic of the universal binding, it's not going to be as good on the downhill stuff as a three pin and cable setup, but I have a lot more skiing to do before I worry about that :4:
after several hours of skiing it was time to take a break and get a fire going
Opinel 18 at work
ahhh- that's what I'm talking about!
no water, no problem
Starbucks Via Mocha- just what I needed with lunch
went a another mile or so (probably close to 5 miles in) and decided that was enough
a good wool day to be sure
what took about 3.5 hours in, only took a little over an hour out- trail that is already broke and downhill make things much faster
next time up should go quicker with the trail broke, unless we get another couple of feet of snow!
Thanks for reading
