The Season Episode 13 from Fitz Cahall and Bryan Smith on Vimeo.Make sure you are up to date. Watch The Season Episode 12 – Washed Away

The post The Season Ep 13 – Where is Jonaven first appeared on Pack & Trail.

All trucked up and ready to go, the drive in was the same old. Up the Green road and through the washout, we hit the snow quite a bit further down the mountain than we had on our trip a few weeks previous. The snow was slushy and gross and the trucks were definitely not going anywhere near the trail head parking lot. Not to be discouraged though, snowshoes on and boards on our backs we headed on up the hill. Hez and I were stuck trudging through with snowshoes on our feet and our board on our backs. Jerrett on the other hand was happily gliding along on his splitboard. Breaking trail for him was no problem but we sunk above our ankles and carried the heavy snow up and over with every step. Did I mention there was 10 new inches of thick, wet snow on the ground.

By the time we reached the creek below the fern meadow, I was nearly pooched and ready to pack it in. The lure of one run through the thick powder was enough to keep me going though and we made it up around the fern meadow without any issues. Being one of the steeper places on the mountain, we skirted around the meadow to play it safe in case something slid.

Stopping to catch our breaths multiple times on the way up, we finally made to within site of the summit. From just below we could even see the top and elected to save it for a nicer day to see the view from the summer. This trip would have been white, white and more white.After lunch and some hydration we were ready to hit the slopes. My Dad hurried down just below where we were starting to set up with his camera. The idea was to fly  down through the powder, big grins on faces, mere feet from the tail of the guy before. Umm, right. Between getting our snowboarding legs, finding our way through the trees and wrestling our bodies out of the powder after bails, we looked like a band of snowy misfits coming out of the bush.

Not to let looks deter me though, we headed as far down the hill as we could, stopping only at the bottom of the main run just above the fern meadow. I couldn’t stop grinning. Despite the incredible amount of work to get to the top and the 2 minutes it took to get down, I was as happy as a clam. Or maybe a yeti in the snow?

I had no idea before the trip how many runs we’d be able to get in. I wasn’t sure what the snow was going to be like, the weather, everyones energy levels and the runs. Gliding over everything strapped to a snowboard gives a very different perspective than hiking with boots on dirt.

Giddy with excitement, I headed back up for 2 more runs. One about half way up and another to about the same level where we had lunch the first time. We could go anywhere, we had first tracks on the whole thing, but we only had the energy for one more. Time to make it good. Unfortunately the snow was so wet and sticky we had to stick in our previous tracks to make it through some sections. The steeper sections offered a little more freedom to play in the deep white stuff and in doing so I almost took out Hez on the way down our third time.

Hez had decided that the 5 days of climbing previous were catching up to him and he was going to sit out the last run. Jerrett headed up one more time while Hez took pictures from below. I’m not sure if I was too focused on staying upright and not flailing headfirst into the snow or Hez’s beard made him blend into the foliage, I didn’t see him until I was almost on top of him coming down. Luckily I hit our previous track near the bottom and was able to get over the flat section.

Almost falling into numerous tree wells across the access road, I accidentally launched myself out of the woods and onto the fern meadow. Taking it safe we cruised down the side near where we ascended and through the stream. Near the bottom of the fern meadow, though, I tried to be cool and do a couple turns. Apparently this was a bad idea as my board got stuck and I ended up flying backwards through the air and getting stuck in the deep snow. It felt like someone had taken a bucket of snow and shoved it down my pants and jacket. Not a great feeling.

I’m hoping that mother nature will make the access road back to the truck a little more angled. Near the stream it’s quite flat and trying to descend that on a snowboard doesn’t work very well. Hez and I kept ours on hoping to catch a little bit of a hill and slide right back to the truck. I felt like I was paddling a little boat along with my one hiking pole and moving about 1 k an hour strapped into my board. Once through the flat section it does angle down a bit more and we got a bit of a break. Don’t ride all way to the rocks though! Snowboards don’t like that.

All in all, an awesome trip and hopefully one I can repeat again very soon, hopefully with some beautiful blue sky above us.

The post Snowboarding on Green Mountain first appeared on Pack & Trail.

One of the best so far has to be Green Mountain. An old ski hill abandoned before I was even born, its gentle slopes and wide open terrain make it a beautiful place to be any time of the year. Since my first attempt I’ve been up 3 times since and the trips have been very worth it.

A few weeks ago during our week of beautiful warm sunny weather, some friends and I made the trip out. The snow had started to recede and from all the melting and freezing, had packed down considerably. We all had snowshoes just in case but didn’t even pull them off our packs for the hour and a half hike to the summit. The snow was more than hard enough for us to cruise right over all of the terrain and straight up the wide open ski hill.

The hike starts with a gentle climb up the old access road. We were forced to park the truck a couple minutes hike down the hill from where we usually depart because of the snow. It was hard enough to drive to where we did but without chains, I wasn’t getting any further around the last steep corner. The road is typically very good aside from the snow that can get quite low in the winter. There is one washout about half way up the mountain that definitely requires a 4×4 of some sort. You could walk from here but it would probably add another hour to the hike.

Near where we usually leave the access road and turn up onto the open meadows there is a deep stream that melts all the snow above it. From the stream to the top of the snow it was about 10 feet but that includes a drop in the dirt below the snow as well. 4×4’s might be able to get past where we normally park but they would definitely not make it past this ditch.

Slightly wet from hopping into the stream at the bottom of the ditch, we headed up the open meadows and into the trees. During the summer the meadows are covered with bright green ferns. It is an incredible sight. We popped through the trees, over the access road that has curled around and is winding it’s way up the mountain and onto one of the main ski hill runs. The lodge is around this area but with all the snow that covers during the winter the burn rubble and foundation were nowhere to be seen.

The rest of the hike to the summit went quickly thanks to the great company, hard snow and beautiful blue sky and sun above us.

With 200 meters left to go to the summit there are some steep craggy bits that need to be negotiated. Heading right you can pick your way up and over the rocks and on to the summit plateau at the top. If that isn’t your thing you can head left to the west side and up a steeper but snow-covered section. We decided the rocks looked like fun this time and ascended those with no problems. There was ice on the odd rock so care had to be taken no to slip down to the bottom on the pointy rocks.

With the only difficult section behind us, we winded our way through the last few trees at the top before hitting the actual summit and were greeted with a heavenly view off into the rest of the snow-covered mountains with the sun shining brightly in the sky. Summit beers were out  and everyone was contemplating digging a snow cave at that very spot and spending the night, or the week!

The post Green Mountain on a Blue Bird Day first appeared on Pack & Trail.

The Season Episode 10 from Fitz Cahall and Bryan Smith on Vimeo.Check out the previous episode: Ep 9 Will It Go?You can watch the next one already! Ep 11 Halfway Through

The post The Season Ep 10 Jonaven Gets After It first appeared on Pack & Trail.

The Season Episode 4 from Fitz Cahall and Bryan Smith.

You can get more info at The Season TV.

Missed the last one? The Season Ep 3 Anya Miller and Gold Bar Bouldering

Check out the next one: The Season Ep 5 A Little Bit of Superman

The post The Season Ep 4 Jonaven’s Close Call first appeared on Pack & Trail.