Last April some friends and I picked Green Mountain as our destination for a ski spring tour in the sunny weather. Based on the Saturday’s weather, it could have done anything. We crossed our fingers and decided to head out for a tour.

6am rolled around Sunday morning and I peeled my very reluctant body from the bed. Just a few more minutes it whined. Nope. It’s adventure time.

By 7am I was at Ryan’s place meeting up with the rest of the crew and we headed out towards Green. The sky was blue, it was fairly cool. There was some fresh snow in the last couple days. Life’s good.

The ride out was uneventful. We made it pass the intersection that had been the end of our last trip when my truck decided to start leaking coolant. Holding our breaths like it was going to do anything to prevent another problem we drove on by, anxious to see where the snow would start. I hoped we could make it to the washout that was about 1/3 of the way up the road.

We didn’t make it. Not by a long shot. The snow started. We threw on the chains and managed to make it another 500 meters up the road. That was it. I tried ramming the truck over a large mound of snow and quickly got high centered. So much for driving.

In 15 minutes the ski gear was out and prepped and we were on our way. I was not looking forward to the 5 or 6 km of logging road that were were going to have to slog up before we even got to the old ski hill but, hey, it was a gorgeous day and I was happy to be outside.The washout in the road that would be the location of some interesting events later on in the day, was almost covered. It still required a little bit of tricky maneuvering to get through on the skis but nothing we couldn’t handle. Further on up the road we started to see the sun. A lot of it. A combination of the sun coming around in the sky and the trees opening up around us made for a hot hike up the road. Luckily, we were all wearing black.

At last we hit the bottom of the ski hill. The touring gets much more interesting off the logging road and onto the old ski runs. The hill is also a lot steeper. We huffed and puffed our way up the first main run, over the access road and onto the main runs of the hill. Being open to the sun for much longer than any of the snow in the trees, the white stuff on the main runs was like glue. No one got in 2 steps without it balling up on your skins for a couple steps. You couldn’t shake the stuff loose and taking your skis off every 3 steps would take even longer. We just had to suck it up and keep walking.

Every time I head up Green it seems shorter. Maybe the huge tour up the road made the section on the ski hill seem so much shorter. After we hit the ski hill we were up at the top in no time. The summit plateau was ringed in ice and we had to bootpack the last 50 meters. It’s a little tough to ski 50 degree ice.

The view always impresses me from the top. We all had our relaxing summit time, Ryan busted out the RyCam and Dave scouted the runs down for something doable on the north face. If we could find something to ski right from the summit we could skirt the ice we came up. It might even be cool and fluffy.

The north face turned out to be an excellent ski down, easy the best 4 or 5 turns of the day. We spent about 20 minutes playing around on the wind lips and little bumps down the north side then started the descent. The warm snow on the south face was even more glue-like than on the way up and I had trouble staying up right. For one second my skis would be happily gliding along and then they’d be attached to the snow hoping to send me over the front.

The first half of the descent was over quickly and we were already across the access road and out in the large meadow at the bottom. This made for the second best skiing of the day and we each got in a few nice turns before starting the downhill portion of the Green road slog.

Sunburnt, sore, tired and blistered we collapsed around the cars as we filed in from the long tour. Big satisfied smalls all around indicated a great day in the mountains.

The next few days were going to be a bit rough but it’s a small price to pay for another great adventure.

The post Trip Report: Epic slog up Green Mountain To Ski Slush first appeared on Pack & Trail.

Three quarters of the trip was boot packing on dirt, no snow in sight. We did get into some snow and managed to get a few turns down a logging road but that was about it. I did learn a few things about how not to pack your skis on your bag.

On the way down I strapped mine to my bag a little differently than on the way up and I obviously did it the wrong way. Straight up and down is not a good way to do it. Every time I lifted my feet up behind me they hit my skis. Every time I leaned forward and lifted my head, my lovely skis were there with their sharp edges. I had always wondered why no one packed their skis straight up and down. Now the bump on my head and I are a little bit more intelligent.

So how do you pack them properly? Well, there are a few good methods. Each differ in how fast you can attach them to your bag, where the center of gravity sits and how easy it is to travel on open terrain or in heavy brush. You will probably need to change your carrying style depending on where you’re going, what pack you’re using and how much you’re carrying.

A-frame

If your pack has straps down the side you can split your skis up and put one on each side with the tips together above you. It’s best to have a strap to secure the tips together so they don’t clang around while you’re walking. There will be space in between your skis for your head if you need to look up and the tails will be out to the sides so they won’t bother your feet as they swing up. Being on the sides of your pack, the weight of the skis is closer to your body.

Diagonal

This is another good way to pack your skis so you don’t have to wear a helmet when boot-packing. Put your skis together like you would store them, bottom to bottom. Then using the straps on your bag, attach them to the back going from the bottom left to the top right (or bottom right to top left). Depending on the straps on your bag, this way is fast and easy to put on and take off. It succeeds in the head bashing test as well. Being on the angle it keeps the tips away from your head and the tails away from your feet. You might feel a tad lopsided if you’ve got them really high or really low. With this style the weight of the skis is out on the back of your pack. If you’ve got a lot of stuff in your pack, the weight can be a considerable distance away from your body.

Straight Horizontal

You can also attach your skis to your pack straight horizontally. You can lash them to the top of your pack or the back. It will depend on the straps you have on your pack. Careful not to take out your ski partners as you turn when you use this method! If you strap the skis to the top of your bag, the weight can be quite close to your body, albeit fairly high. If you attach them to the back of your pack then the weight is out much further.

Straight Vertical on the back

If you’re pack is full or strapped down very tightly you can attach both skis to the back vertically with the bases facing forward. Like carrying the skis diagonally the weight is further out from your body.

Straight Vertical on the sides

This method is basically the A-frame style without connecting the tips. For this to work well, your pack has to be big enough or just be full enough to support the skis on their own aiming almost straight up.  Like carrying the skis A-frame style the weight is closer to your body than diagonally or vertically on the back.

The Snowplow

The snowplow is really only an option if you’re travelling through thick brush. All the other methods leave ski tips in the air and tails out to the sides. With this method, the tips are strapped together at the tips, then you carry them horizontally in front of you, like a snowplow. Again, it’s not the best for open terrain but can work well if there is a lot of crap to get caught on. The weight carrying skis using this method is actually out in front of you.

Conclusion

There really is no best way to carry your skis. You’ll probably be rotating between a couple of the methods depending on the conditions. A couple of points to keep in mind are speed of attachment. Diagonally is probably the fastest method. It’s not the most comfortable for long carries though as the weight is far back on your pack. Something with the weight closer to your body is better for hours of packing, like A-frame or vertical on the sides.

How do you carry your skis? Good, bad or ugly experience with one of the styles above?

The post Don’t want a ski in the head? The Proper Way to Pack Your Skis first appeared on Pack & Trail.