Yeah, it’s cold.
Most skiers and snowboarders would say they’re OK with that.
Indeed, New England pretty much has the best skiing in the country right now on the whole. Credit the cold for a lot of that.
With abnormally dry conditions in the West and sparse to moderate snow in the Pacific Northwest, we are going strong here with more than usual snowfall in northern sections of the region and prime man-made snowmaking weather conditions throughout.
Nearly every ski area is skiing most of its terrain, including Central Massachusetts’ own Wachusett Mountain in Princeton, which is 100 percent open with excellent snow coverage and quality.
They’ve even got the snow guns blasting up north. I’ve never seen guns going as hard as they were about two weeks ago at Attitash in Bartlett, New Hampshire, and that was only at the start of the frigid stretch of weather we’re in right now.
So treasure this cold snap now. The inevitable winter thaws and rains will come and we’ll be wishing for the low temps to return.
Layer up and dress wisely. A Worcester guy I know who likes to drive his convertible around all winter with the top down reminded me recently: “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.”
In the meantime, get ready for some new natural snow, which should be falling as you read this. Woo-hoo!
Stone cold
Meanwhile, let me tell about the most severe cold I’ve ever experienced.
It was a week ago at the base of New Hampshire's Tuckerman Ravine, a little more than halfway up Mount Washington's 6,289 feet, New England’s tallest mountain and always one of the coldest, windiest places on the Earth’s surface.
On this clear, mostly sunny day, things were about as cold and blustery as they ever get up there.
The temperature was 20 degrees below zero Fahrenheit when I and six other guys, including our skilled and experienced avalanche safety instructor and leader, John Kascenska, of East Burke, Vermont, arrived at the base of the gigantic, sharply tipped bowl known as “Tuck’s.”
Winds were 25 mph to 35 mph, and gusting to 120 mph. I actually can’t print how cold it was, wind chill-wise. This is a family newspaper, after all.
Four of us hiked up. Three, including me, were on foot, clad in big, heavy, warm and grippy winter mountaineering boots. Another guy, an ex-Marine and snowboarder, was on snowshoes, with his board strapped to his back.
One of my fellow hikers was Steve Ensinger, a 31-year-old mechanical engineer and alpinist from New Britain, Connecticut, who is training to climb Alaska's 20,310-foot Denali, the highest peak in North America.
Ensinger slept outdoors in a hammock, bivy sack and arctic-rated sleeping bag all three nights during the week we were taking the three-day course out of the Appalachian Mountain Club’s Pinkham Notch center at the foot of Mount Washington.
“I’m thrilled to have had such a serious and experienced instructor for a course so instrumental to my skillset,” Ensinger said.
Three others skied uphill. They included my 21-year-old son, Sam Sutner, who was on my alpine touring (AT) gear; Tucker, a 23-year-old North Conway, New Hampshire, area local and experienced AT skier; and 30-something, Colin, a Navy SEAL, who was on split boards (a snowboard that comes apart for ascending with climbing skins, just like a skier).
After a two-hour ascent, we grabbed a 10-minute break against the wall of a shelter as an arctic wind roared, and then headed into the more sheltered woods to do some snow density and stability measurements.
Some of us started feeling numb in fingers and toes. I think most of us had frozen eyebrows and eyelashes. None of our goggles worked; they were all frozen.
We survived. No one got frostbite. We all burned a lot of calories and warmed up on the way down.
My advice is, only do this under adult supervision.
Anyway, this is a snow sports column, so let’s move on.
Berkshire East great
A Worcester skier gave me a report on his excursions to Wachusett on Dec. 30 and Berkshire East in Charlemont on Jan. 2.
Both areas had dry, hard, cold snow that was fast and well-groomed — in other words, excellent conditions. Skiing in the woods was good at both places, though Berkshire East had a bit more snow coverage in the glades.
The “Beast” also had good coverage on two new trails the area cut over the summer.
My local snow reporter basically said he had a great time, but had to take care to stay warm.
Cross-country skiing
As for me, I kept (fairly) warm on the snow Dec. 30 and on New Year’s Day by getting in two sweet cross-country (X-C) sessions at Worcester’s Institute Park, off the city’s stately Salisbury Street across from WPI.
Of course, I had plenty of breathable insulating layers on, and my car was close by in case had to bail.
It was so cold that I basically abandoned my strategy of stopping for water breaks and just tried to keep moving to keep my circulation up and stay warmer. That worked pretty well.
It was beautiful out there on both days, brilliantly sunny, with a stiff breeze on Jan. 1.
The jaunts reminded me how natural and graceful X-C is as a recreational sport, even when performed by a clumsy X-C skier like me.
It’s free when you do it in public parks and golf courses or the woods. (And quite affordable even when you go to private X-C centers like the wonderful, nonprofit, Jackson Ski Touring Center in Jackson, New Hampshire, where an adult day pass is $21.)
It’s great exercise. And it’s easy on the body. You get a stretch and a cardio workout at the same time, without the pounding of alpine skiing and snowboarding.
One really good local place to buy relatively cheap X-C equipment is New England Backpacker in Worcester.
Give X-C skiing a try.
—Contact Shaun Sutner at s_sutner@yahoo.com.