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Does anybody know the closest to Boston ski area or backcountry route that still has snow, top to botton more or less? This will be a hike up, board down, hopefully with my dog (even though he's not a huge fan of corn snow). I'm not looking to ride the lifts and it will be a day trip. Anyone...

Above the Timber There is a company that produces their own 24K topo maps for Garmin GPS units, http://abovethetimber.com/. Unfortunately they're only selling maps for Washington and Colorado ;-( Apparently they've figured out how to upload decent maps to Garmin. There's a challenge for all...

Date of Hike: Sunday April 6, 2007 Trail Conditions: 13 Turns moguled up. Below the traverse, packed snow in center, very soft snow on edges. Special Equipment Required: Snowboard, skis or snow shoes and sunscreen recommended. Comments: My start in North Conway was not auspicious with clouds...

Mt. Sill Google maps calls it a 13 hour drive from Lone Pine, CA to Ouray, CO. If your flight was originally destined to get you up Whitney, I'd imagine you're arriving a whole lot closer to the Southern Sierra than Southern Colorado. I'd spend that time climbing peaks in the Sierra as...

Date of Hike: Sunday March 9, 2008 Trail Conditions: substantial amounts of ice and hard packed snow. South facing slopes and ridges mostly clear, northern facing slopes mostly ice on trails with snow on edges. Special Equipment Required: traction very useful, not enough snow for snowshoes...

Date of Hike: Saturday March 1, 2008 Trail Conditions: 18" + fresh powder over crusty old snow. Trail snowshoe packed down to old layer. Easy travel to ledges. I didn't have time (daylight actually) for the summit. Special Equipment Required: snowboard made the descent super sweet...

Date of Hike: Saturday Feb 23, 2008 Trail Conditions: 4" fresh powder over hard crust. Tecumseh and Sossman have been well packed with snowshoes before last night's snow. Hard and icy under new snow. Deep snow with breakable crust off trail. A lot of low hanging branches made for some...

Date of Hike: Saturday Feb 2, 2008 Trail Conditions: 4 - 6 " heavy new snow with icy/breakable crust. Special Equipment Required: Snowshoes useful but not essential. The new crust and the old crust below it are both pretty solid, especially if you stay on the old track. Difficult...

Date of Hike: Sunday January 20, 2008 Trail Conditions: 4" - 6" powder over crusty old snow. Skin/snowshoe track well packed to cabin. Above cabin, trail to Black Mountain Knob untracked, at least it was ;-) Special Equipment Required: snowboard very nice. There's still a lot of untracked...

Date of Hike: Sunday January 20, 2008 Trail Conditions: 4" - 6" powder over crusty old snow. Ski trail well packed, snowshoes useful but not essential. Old Path not traveled since last storm. South Doublehead spur hadn't been visited either. Some annoying blowdowns on ridge/New Path with...

Snowboarding in Soft Shell Pants Ideally I'm backcountry snowboarding in my soft shell pants :D Hopefully powder is billowing all around me (doesn't happen often in New England). Every transition from ascent (usually via snowshoes) to descent requires wallowing in the snow (or at least...

Beyond I'm a pretty big fan of beyondclothing.com. I've worn their Schoeller WB-400 based jacket (Cold Fusion X Jacket) for several winters. It has wind and water resistance comparable to a hard shell but breathes better and I find it drier and more comfortable climbing up than Gore-Tex...

26-Dec-07 Trail Conditions: hard, breakable crust below tree line. With snowshoes you will mostly stay on top. Above tree line, drifted snow, ice and rocks, snowshoes or some kind of traction useful. I snowshoed all the way to Jefferson, carried crampons but did not use them. Special...

24-Dec-2007 Trail Conditions: crusty snow, well packed by snowshoes and recent rain. Rocks, roots and ice almost entirely covered by snow. Excellent snowshoeing conditions. Special Equipment Required: showshoes very useful, crampons or other traction not necessary. You will post hole in...

Date of Hike: 1 Dec 2007 Trail Conditions: 1" new snow at trail head, 4"+ new snow over thin layer of snow, ice and frozen turf above Nancy Cascades. Special Equipment Required: Warm waterproof boots, poles very handy. Carried Stablicers, didn't use them. Crampons or snowshoes not...

lighter I took a Feather Friends Frontpoint jacket up Denali last June. Awesome parka, I think it might be a little much though for Rainier in June. It's very warm and I didn't use it all below high camp (17200 ft). I mostly lived in a lightweight EMS Primaloft parka. I can't imagine not...

great hiking The AMC Southern New Hampshire Trail Guide calls the Mount Major Trail one of the most popular hikes in souther New Hampshire. You probably won't find solitude either there or on the top of Belknap, nevertheless, the views from both are excellent and worth the effort. The...

Piper Carter Ledge loop The Piper, Carter Ledge and Nickerson Ledge trails make a great loop in either direction. The Carter Ledge trail has great views and none of the crowds of Piper. There is one traverse on a ledge that is somewhat exposed and might be dangerous if icy. If you are...

Speckled Evans Notch is a hidden treasure! With a little imagination, there's several good multi-day backpacks. I spent the night last fall on Speckled Mountain. Fantastic spot with a spring just off the summit. Definitely worth a visit.

seedhouse sl 2 rocks I'm 100% with Chip :D I was looking for a solo tent. After trying out a couple of 1 person tents, I ended up with the BA Seedhouse SL 2. It's a great tent! For trips where I really want to go light, I carry a bivy sack and tarp.