Surf Station: Almost Spring

With Spring almost here, we’re still trying to get in as much time on skis as we can before the snow melts. We’ve had great recent outings on the Teardrop and Moosilauke, just to name a few. And if images are your jam, check out our new Instragam feed (@thewhitesroom).

Here at The Whitesroom we’ve been staying busy on the writing front too. I posted a couple pieces on my Quincy Quarry bouldering project, where I’ll undoubtedly be spending more time now that the weather is warming up. I also wrote a piece about river supping with Luke and Mickey Spades.

Luke meanwhile did a great snow kiting piece, detailing the beta on one of his favorite spots, while Genevieve reviewed a cold weather standby, the Black Diamond Mercury Mitt, and Mickey wrote about cross-country skiing at Moose Hill.

Shifting gears, my favorite discovery this winter has been the Granite Backcountry Alliance’s gladed zones. Every day we’ve skied them has been awesome and in this goEast piece, Tim and I share the beta for three of the zones: Crescent Ridge, Bill Hill, and Maple Villa. With more glades on the horizon, we’re hopeful that there will soon be some on the I-93 side of the Whites.

Continuing with the backcountry skiing theme, Tim and I also did a piece for goEast on backcountry skiing on the old ski resort trails at Mt. Watatic in Ashby, Massachusetts. We’ve been skiing there for years and highly recommend it.

Sticking with the skiing theme, Tim and I had a great day ski touring with Keith Moon, the manager of the EMS Climbing School in North Conway, as we pulled together this piece about Keith’s tips for backcountry skiing in Tuckerman Ravine. After trying to keep up with Keith all day, word on the street is that Tim slept well that night!

Also on goEast, Tim and I also recently posted an Op-Ed about a bill in the New York State Assembly that proposes to rate hiking trails like ski trails. Check it out for all the reasons we think the bill is shortsighted.

Finally, Tim posted a great article on the Powder 7 Ski Blog about prime backcountry ski locations in the Northeast. Make sure to check it out, if only for the pics of Mickey Spades shredding.

Now to the links.

If you’ve skied any of the Granite Backcountry Alliance’s glades recently, are thinking of doing so in the future, or just want to support human-powered skiing in the White Mountains, be sure to sign up for the GBA’s Wild Corn celebration at Black Mountain on April 6th. Between the ski demos, race, concert, and food the event should be awesome, with all proceeds going to the GBA’s efforts. We hope to see you there.

In early January a trio of hikers set the Fastest Known Time for the winter ascent of the 48 4,000 footers in the White Mountains. If you’re in awe of this accomplishment as I am, this piece from the Union Leader is a great read.

With spring on the horizon and our own bikepacking trip coming up, we were psyched to find this list of DIY bikepacking hacks from bikepacking.com. We also really enjoyed this article in the Adventure Journal about the proposed route of the 4,000 mile Great American Rail Trail, which is already on Tim’s bucket list.

Last but not least, this Adventure Journal piece about skiing Mt. Rainier in a unicorn onesie gave Tim some ideas about how to use the Reindeer onesie he bought for the Peck family X-mas card. I’m looking forward to him busting it out this spring. Stay tuned!