Snowflea
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- Sep 5, 2003
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Route: Livermore Road, Mt. Tripyramid Loop (up South Slide), Pine Bend Brook Trail, Scaur Ridge Trail, Livermore Road
Date: Monday, 2/03/14
Equipment: Snowshoes, Crampons, Ice axe
Trail conditions: First (and last) part of Livermore Road is a groomed XC ski trail, so smooth sailing. Mt. Tripyramid Loop up to South Peak had 4-6” new snow over older boot prints. From South to Middle had a few new inches over a packed out base. From Middle to North to Scaur Ridge Trail jct. was a beaten out highway. Scaur Ridge Trail was completely unbroken.
Comments: This loop was a lot of fun today! I started off in MSR snowshoes so as to not ding up the beautifully groomed ski trail that is lower Livermore Road… and because I’d rather wear them than carry them. Once I turned on to the South fork of the Mt. Tripyramid Loop, there was 4-6” of new snow over somebody’s older bareboot prints but no real postholing. I did what I could to smooth it out. Once on the South Slide, I switched to full crampons for the steeps. Oddly, there seemed to be very little ice under the new snow. That made me very happy. I picked my way up carefully, mostly staying to the left as opposed to going right up the middle. Views were fantastic, and for much of the way I followed descending fox prints which was pretty cool - was trying to imagine seeing a fox going down the South Slide.
Once on South Peak, there was 4-6” of new snow over a packed snowshoe track. I switched back to snowshoes. On Middle Peak the track was a very firmly packed down super highway all the way to the Scaur Ridge Trail junction. There were a couple of icy sections to navigate.
Scaur Ridge Trail - yippee ki yi yippee yay - was completely unbroken. Although there was 6-8” of sinkage, the descent was fast and, aaaah… dreamy-cushy on snowshoes. Take that, Pine Bend Brook Trail! Without leaves to block the view this time of year, from the SRT the North Slide looks darn impressive and pretty freaking scary and is definitely not on my winter to-do list (although I do have some crazy friends who have done it in winter). Note that the SRT is not really broken out as it was just my one set of MSRs going down. All too soon it was back on Livermore Road. On the way out, I met about 10 skiers who were all very friendly; I made sure to stay to the far edge of the groomed trail.
If one is comfortable on the steep terrain of the South Slide, this is a great loop and a nice change of pace from the regular winter route!
Date: Monday, 2/03/14
Equipment: Snowshoes, Crampons, Ice axe
Trail conditions: First (and last) part of Livermore Road is a groomed XC ski trail, so smooth sailing. Mt. Tripyramid Loop up to South Peak had 4-6” new snow over older boot prints. From South to Middle had a few new inches over a packed out base. From Middle to North to Scaur Ridge Trail jct. was a beaten out highway. Scaur Ridge Trail was completely unbroken.
Comments: This loop was a lot of fun today! I started off in MSR snowshoes so as to not ding up the beautifully groomed ski trail that is lower Livermore Road… and because I’d rather wear them than carry them. Once I turned on to the South fork of the Mt. Tripyramid Loop, there was 4-6” of new snow over somebody’s older bareboot prints but no real postholing. I did what I could to smooth it out. Once on the South Slide, I switched to full crampons for the steeps. Oddly, there seemed to be very little ice under the new snow. That made me very happy. I picked my way up carefully, mostly staying to the left as opposed to going right up the middle. Views were fantastic, and for much of the way I followed descending fox prints which was pretty cool - was trying to imagine seeing a fox going down the South Slide.
Once on South Peak, there was 4-6” of new snow over a packed snowshoe track. I switched back to snowshoes. On Middle Peak the track was a very firmly packed down super highway all the way to the Scaur Ridge Trail junction. There were a couple of icy sections to navigate.
Scaur Ridge Trail - yippee ki yi yippee yay - was completely unbroken. Although there was 6-8” of sinkage, the descent was fast and, aaaah… dreamy-cushy on snowshoes. Take that, Pine Bend Brook Trail!
Without leaves to block the view this time of year, from the SRT the North Slide looks darn impressive and pretty freaking scary and is definitely not on my winter to-do list (although I do have some crazy friends who have done it in winter). Note that the SRT is not really broken out as it was just my one set of MSRs going down. All too soon it was back on Livermore Road. On the way out, I met about 10 skiers who were all very friendly; I made sure to stay to the far edge of the groomed trail. If one is comfortable on the steep terrain of the South Slide, this is a great loop and a nice change of pace from the regular winter route!
