percious
Well-known member
Colden has been gnawing at the bit for sometime to use his shiny new snowshoes. I would let him use them around the house, but we have hardwood floors everywhere. Besides, snow is so much more fun. I am happy to say they are no longer new or shiny.
Four of us headed up after work on Friday, Ed, Ian, Myself and Colden; a father-son kind of thing. The roads were treacherous, but we found a nice pizza place in Troy down the road from Walmart. We snuck into Jackrabbit just after 10pm, a 6 hour drive.
Saturday we awoke to a cold and clear morning. We had some breakfast and shoved off to Mt. Van Hoevenburg ski center. Our plan was to hike up and around the bobsled run and then top-out through the woods. Our son's little legs kept moving, and we stopped briefly for some snacks at one the shacks along the old run to the left. Someone had left the road along the left side un-plowed, and I was grateful because we got to use the snowshoes, and have the kids try them out before heading into the woods. Anyway, it was 8 degrees at the shack, so we just kept moving on. In retrospect, we should have stopped more frequently to fuel up the kids and keep them moving. Instead we coped with some whining as we moved upward. One great thing about the run was that there were huts all along the way which made for a great intermediary checkpoints, goals for the children.
Finally we reached the very top of both the new and the old runs, and there was a beautiful observation deck. The announcer of the runs called out the split times and speeds as we looked down on the valley. You could clearly see the ski jumps which we pointed out to the kids. Pitchoff and Cascade were clearly seen from the deck. A cold wind blew. We backed the kids off to a sunny spot on the fire-road, and I manufactured a seat for them in the snowbanks. We fueled them with some cheese, crackers, sausage and M+Ms. Hot chocolate went down easily, and we decided to abandon the summit. Warmers went in the mitts, and my own cold feet got us moving off quickly.
Our descent involved a quick bushwhack through the intermediate woods, for variety, and soon we were back on the bobsled path. The kind ticket-lady inquired about how are day was on the way out. We were all having a great time. Ahead of us was a nicely groomed sledding hill, and we spent a half hour or so chasing the kids around the hill before nap-time at the motel. All four of us slept hard.
The evening's events included sledding on the hill in Lake Placid followed by walking around town (I love that town) and finally some excellent goulash back in the Hostel part of the Hotel. We had a pack of Boy Scouts for company. They gave us some brownies. Yum!
Sunday our goal was Owl's head, a prominent nub nestled on the south side of Cascade and Porter. I have passed it so many times, each time wanting to climb the quick .6 miles to the top. The peak did not disappoint.
I donned our large orange sled and everyone put on their snowshoes. We headed up the winding trail stopping once to fuel the children before we reached the ridge. The ridge was a bit windy, but we managed to find cover for a second break near a large erratic before reaching the first steep section.
The next section of trail was rocky, and harder to negotiate with snowshoes. The kids did a great job with help from us. There was a tricky section towards the top that required traversing a rocky ramp with a pretty steep drop to the left. I held fast to Colden's jacket while we ascended the tricky section. A large group of people caught up with us, passing us before heading up to the summit. Ed and Ian arrived and we all decided to go for it. We could see the group ahead of us so we continued up the trail. Soon we were standing on the summit, and everyone was giving the boys 'high fives.' We stopped for a quick summit picture and then shoved off. The cold wind convinced us to move expeditiously.
We found a better way down avoiding the dangerous traverse, and were soon heading down the moderate ridge trail. The boys begged for the sled, and each took turns for a while until the trail got less steep. They both jumped in and before we knew it we were back at the car. I took Colden back up the trail for one more luge run and Ed did the same with his son before we called it quits for the day. All in all it was a great trip.
-percious
Four of us headed up after work on Friday, Ed, Ian, Myself and Colden; a father-son kind of thing. The roads were treacherous, but we found a nice pizza place in Troy down the road from Walmart. We snuck into Jackrabbit just after 10pm, a 6 hour drive.
Saturday we awoke to a cold and clear morning. We had some breakfast and shoved off to Mt. Van Hoevenburg ski center. Our plan was to hike up and around the bobsled run and then top-out through the woods. Our son's little legs kept moving, and we stopped briefly for some snacks at one the shacks along the old run to the left. Someone had left the road along the left side un-plowed, and I was grateful because we got to use the snowshoes, and have the kids try them out before heading into the woods. Anyway, it was 8 degrees at the shack, so we just kept moving on. In retrospect, we should have stopped more frequently to fuel up the kids and keep them moving. Instead we coped with some whining as we moved upward. One great thing about the run was that there were huts all along the way which made for a great intermediary checkpoints, goals for the children.
Finally we reached the very top of both the new and the old runs, and there was a beautiful observation deck. The announcer of the runs called out the split times and speeds as we looked down on the valley. You could clearly see the ski jumps which we pointed out to the kids. Pitchoff and Cascade were clearly seen from the deck. A cold wind blew. We backed the kids off to a sunny spot on the fire-road, and I manufactured a seat for them in the snowbanks. We fueled them with some cheese, crackers, sausage and M+Ms. Hot chocolate went down easily, and we decided to abandon the summit. Warmers went in the mitts, and my own cold feet got us moving off quickly.
Our descent involved a quick bushwhack through the intermediate woods, for variety, and soon we were back on the bobsled path. The kind ticket-lady inquired about how are day was on the way out. We were all having a great time. Ahead of us was a nicely groomed sledding hill, and we spent a half hour or so chasing the kids around the hill before nap-time at the motel. All four of us slept hard.
The evening's events included sledding on the hill in Lake Placid followed by walking around town (I love that town) and finally some excellent goulash back in the Hostel part of the Hotel. We had a pack of Boy Scouts for company. They gave us some brownies. Yum!
Sunday our goal was Owl's head, a prominent nub nestled on the south side of Cascade and Porter. I have passed it so many times, each time wanting to climb the quick .6 miles to the top. The peak did not disappoint.
I donned our large orange sled and everyone put on their snowshoes. We headed up the winding trail stopping once to fuel the children before we reached the ridge. The ridge was a bit windy, but we managed to find cover for a second break near a large erratic before reaching the first steep section.
The next section of trail was rocky, and harder to negotiate with snowshoes. The kids did a great job with help from us. There was a tricky section towards the top that required traversing a rocky ramp with a pretty steep drop to the left. I held fast to Colden's jacket while we ascended the tricky section. A large group of people caught up with us, passing us before heading up to the summit. Ed and Ian arrived and we all decided to go for it. We could see the group ahead of us so we continued up the trail. Soon we were standing on the summit, and everyone was giving the boys 'high fives.' We stopped for a quick summit picture and then shoved off. The cold wind convinced us to move expeditiously.
We found a better way down avoiding the dangerous traverse, and were soon heading down the moderate ridge trail. The boys begged for the sled, and each took turns for a while until the trail got less steep. They both jumped in and before we knew it we were back at the car. I took Colden back up the trail for one more luge run and Ed did the same with his son before we called it quits for the day. All in all it was a great trip.
-percious
