Better Outside Than In: Winter continues

Sunday, February 24, 2019

Winter continues

This was another good week. Skied at Stowe wed and thu and then back country trails in Underhill Sat. No big storms this week but a few small ones. Thu at Stowe had 3 inches of new snow and I was skiing untracked powder in Underhill Sat.
On Saturday I started at Stevensville road and went up to the Devils Dishpan. Then Underhill trail->Burt->Skytop. Then lunch at the Trapps cabin and back on Underhill trail. A nice sunny day with great snow. On the way out no one had skied the other side of Devils Dishpan since the last storm. Nice downhill and then breaking trail on the Underhill trail cross over.
On my way back at about 3PM I ran into some trouble. I was back to the uphill that goes back to the Devils Dishpan which is a saddle in the ridge. Instead of just my tracks there were many tracks in this section. People skiing the downhill and then going back up. Somehow I lost the trail and started following some tracks to skiers right of the trail. I was tired at this point and this area kept going up and up. I knew I was too far right but going left was thicker woods and I was already up pretty high. I decided to keep following the tracks. I was getting concerned at this point since there was only 2 more hours of light and I really didn't know where I was. After a lot of climbing I skied down the other side in what was very tight woods for a little while. Where I came out on the ridge was a lot higher than the Dish Pan and probably near the long trail although I didn't see it. It then opened up into some nice glades. I knew I was going West which was the right direction. Follow the sun. Finally at about 4PM I ran back into the trail pretty far down and it was an easy ski back to the car at that point. A great day but a very long one! I could have done without the last big unplanned uphill. Although I had a light I was happy to not use it.