Organized by Mike Feeney the weekend started on Friday May 13th with a 65.5 mile bike ride from the New London Park N Ride to the Village condos at Waterville Valley.  What a perfect day and a perfect group for an early season ride.  Saturday we hiked the Welch Dickey Loop (see other album) under cloudy skies.  It was dry, calm wind, low bugs, moderate temps, and again a great group experience.  Hike offered nice views even with the low cloud cover.  On Sunday despite the rain and 50 degree temps a smaller but hardy group of souls took on the bike ride home.  I opted to stay warm and dry in my car but it was fun to see others battling the elements.  Christina drove one of the SAG vehicals up and participated in the hike on Sat.

What a fun weekend, looking forward to next year already.

May 14, 2011 NH White Mountains Hike.  After yesterday's large group ride (see other album) of about 65 miles from New London to Waterville Valley on a beautiful spring day, we enjoyed a moderate but very nice hike around the 4.4 mile Welch Dickey Loop today.  Welch Mtn is 2,605 ft and Dickey Mtn is 2,734 ft.  This hike offered great above tree line views and open granite terrain even on a cloudy day.  Low wind, 60+- temps, few bugs, and great hiking companions made for perfect hiking conditions.

Another wonderful day in the White Mountains!

So officially my weekend started on Thursday with my first resort ski of the season with my sister Erin & niece Brielle, but you can't discount the pre-weekend fun so my story starts on Tue. February 22, 2011.  After our first real thaw of the season, what was pretty decent snow has compacted down to 18 inches of hard pack in the woods.  Nice coverage but not real fun skiing so Fred and I buzz around the Winter Carnival Orienteering course and pickuped the flags on an extended lunch.  Back to work until Wed. at 5:30pm when snowshoers start to arrive for another banner outing of 14 with lights in the Newport Town Forest.  I lead the Leisure group of 8 for a 4 mile tromp around the woods.  Thursday my sister and niece slingshot through town for a quick afternoon ski at Mount Sunapee.  On Friday the snow starts to fall, and you can barely believe your eyes, as what was supposed to be a mixed spring like event, sure to ruin the base, turns into a 12 inch snowfest, wooHOO!  Let the planning begin.  Adam leaves work early and Ryan & Adam hit the Pinnacle for a few warm up runs, before the main event on Saturday.  Saturday Adam, Jesse, and Ryan hit Firescrew for a back country adventure destined to find the sweetest line which is sure to be banner.  We traverse off the Manning trail in search of the goods, only to find some super steeps greeting us, then we traverse the steeps and slog through the deep, only to be ultimately rejected by the laughing steeps of the summit approach above.  We end up bailing right to the Duke's ski trail where a pleasant run awaits us.  Feeling a bit spent but looking for some redemption, we head for Kimball ski trail where a short but sweet run finishes our day.  Saturday night another projected dusting busts out 6 more inches of the lightest fluffiest snow you will ever see.  So much for resting on Sunday.  Sunday the plan is an easy snowshoe with Christina followed by rest and relaxation the rest of the day with her.  The day starts out innocently enough with a very nice snowshoe with my beautiful wife which is sure to be enough for any man.  Unfortunately after enjoying a wonderful 1.5 hours in the woods with Christina, a glimpse of the sweetest conditions of the season, 18 inches of the best snow you can hope for in the northeast, topping a super base, builds into a vision of Epic proportions begging to be had on Coit as my noble intensions to spend the rest of the day with the lovely Mrs. O'Brien succumb to the mighty power of mother nature.  Knowing the weather is projected to ruin the sweetness on Monday I coerce Adam into launching one last "quick" assault on Coit despite a previous engagement he has for a late afternoon ski.  After one SWEET run down the best line Coit has to offer, it would be simply criminal not to hit it again.  That coupled with the understanding of Adam's mystery woman = run of EPIC Proportions!!!  Thank you Adam for schooling me in the back country and for dispelling the belief that I have adequate tele equipment.  A quick up to the Pinnacle for one last run to the bottom, nearly completes a weekend I will not soon forget.  Topping off the Epic weekend, I enjoy dinner, a movie, and beer, with Christina, while relaxing from the comfort of our home.  A big THANK YOU to all that helped make it happen!

February 19, 2011, I joined Joan & Al for my first White Mountains hike of the winter.  We departed from a trail head near Waterville Valley ski area off Route 49 up the Sandwich Mtn Trail.  Due to the thaw of the previous couple of days it was evident before we left the parking lot that snowshoes would be required right from the start as the previously packed trail had a fresh 2 inches of fluffy snow and was soft enough underneath not so support your weight without snowshoes.  First destination was Noon Peak at 2,976 ft, a small peak by White Mountains standards but as the temps where projected to be dropping through the 20's today heading for zero and the wind was expected to blow in excess of 50 mph a more sheltered route was picked.  Sandwich Mtn Trail started off at a modest pitch right from the beginning and culminated in a colour like section of a 100 meters or so of 50+- degrees.  Very impressive pitch for such a small mountain.  A couple of photo ops and a quick refueling and we were off to Jennings Peak 3,440 ft.  A gentle descent and a nice and easy traverse with a couple views of the valley met us along the way before a short quick ascent of Jennings.  To this point we had fresh tracks and the whole place to ourselves.  We enjoyed some more nice views from Jennings and a quick refueling before we started our descent.  Just before we hit the main trail we passed a group of at least 25 people, so much for having the place to ourselves but I can't complain too much as we enjoyed having the summits all to ourselves.  Heading down we took the Drakes Brook Trail which asside from a quick moderate descent in the beginning, it was over 2 miles of perfectly graded easy descent / traverse out which Joan and I took turns running most of it in full gear, what great fun that was!  Couldn't help but think the whole way down if Jesse, Hugh, & Adam were here, they would be sprinting this whole 2+ mile stretch.  We regrouped with Al just before the last half mile descent on groomed skate ski tracks back to the car.  A big thanks to Joan for inviting me and organizing another wonderful adventure in the wilderness.  Most fun I've had in the woods this winter.

January 29, 2011 Pinnacle & Coit Back Country Ski.  Nothing like stepping out your door skinning into the woods and earning some turns.  Another fun day in the Newport Town Forest after a fresh dump of snow.  Follow my story of how to get yourself out of a jam in the back country.

Saturday Jan. 22, 2011, Found some sweet new lines on the west side of the Forest today. Tough to have more fun on a beautiful winter day in the forest than I did today. Strapped on my Tele Skis for their inagural run in the Newport Town Forest. It just doesn't get better than this out there this time of year, perfect temps, sunny, no wind, and excellent snow conditions, in a word AWESOME! One ok run, one great run, and one super great run.