# Mt Washington 4/22/2010 Blog Railroad



## skidmarks (Apr 23, 2010)

The Time for Tuckerman forum started calling Mt Washington's Cog Railroad the "blog railroad" it's great access to some super skiable ravines.  I guess some of the TforT members have a fear that the unclean will start skiing their terrain and pressure is on to keep some of these lines spoken about only in code. Looks like they want to keep the Joey's out!! 

So today we skied the Blurt Ravine!! One of the highlights was seeing a Moose up close. It was a long slog up the Blog under blue skies. We had nice creamy soft snow for the ride down.


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## riverc0il (Apr 23, 2010)

Nicely done, sir! Wish I could have joined you up there but perhaps another time.


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## skidmarks (Apr 23, 2010)

riverc0il said:


> Nicely done, sir! Wish I could have joined you up there but perhaps another time.



Thanks! We got very lucky with the weather but that was the plan! Maybe next time we can ski together.
Have you seen the Avi path in Blurt Ravine yet??
Vimeo is slow! So More pictures


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## skiadikt (Apr 23, 2010)

very nice!


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## skibumm100 (Apr 23, 2010)

*the blog free zone.....*

If you've been following this saga, it's not the T4T regulars as a whole trying to keep the "secret" stash to themselves. The major complainers about the blogging have been low post count members/visitors. You know, people who signed up just to post complaints. Most at T4T are pretty willing to share info. Some are less willing than others but, by and large, a pretty open and good group. 

Great TR BTW. I plan to head up to Burnt Ravine soon before it disappears. It's all tongue in cheek. Hopefully Saturday afternoon or Sunday, weather dependent. Maybe I'll see you up there sometime. Cheers!


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## thetrailboss (Apr 23, 2010)

Very nice.  Is the snowmaking line still in place along the railroad?  I take it that there is no more Cog-Skiing available...that was short-lived.  

And odd seeing a moose that high up.  They generally stay down low but sometimes they will head for the hills.


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## wa-loaf (Apr 23, 2010)

Very nice!


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## skidmarks (Apr 23, 2010)

thetrailboss said:


> Very nice.  Is the snowmaking line still in place along the railroad?  I take it that there is no more Cog-Skiing available...that was short-lived.
> 
> And odd seeing a moose that high up.  They generally stay down low but sometimes they will head for the hills.



You can still see some snowmaking pipes. It's only one run so I can see why it didn't fly.


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## thetrailboss (Apr 23, 2010)

skidmarks said:


> You can still see some snowmaking pipes. It's only one run so I can see why it didn't fly.



One run and they were charging some exorbiant amount of money for it IIRC.


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## TheBEast (Apr 23, 2010)

Excellent.  I've noticed the blog saga going on over there and with the guys from FIS.  I'd be interested to see if any of this really leads to more people up there skiing that stuff.  Certainly some people who feel that you shouldn't talk about your skiing on the web.


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## skibumm100 (Apr 23, 2010)

*entertaining*

I think most people are entertained by the whole concept of secret lines on MTW. There are a few, and maybe more than a few, that think it shouldn't be talked about. There were a few who got pretty upset at posted GPS tracks. The mountain is plastered with hiking trails. If they want to find a new line, go find one. If people want someplace all to themselves, maybe they shouldn't ski next to the cog? There's probably some nice steep pitches along I-89 or I-93 they could ski. :grin:


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## dmc (Apr 23, 2010)

This whole new school thing on TFT has kinda turned me off and many of the original TFT folks too...

It's no longer a cool thing to just go to the shelters, ski and party with friends..


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## skidmarks (Apr 23, 2010)

dmc said:


> This whole new school thing on TFT has kinda turned me off and many of the original TFT folks too...
> 
> It's no longer a cool thing to just go to the shelters, ski and party with friends..



I got a chuckle when one guy was ranking on someone for skiing a Great Gulf Gully in "transition snow"


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## dmc (Apr 23, 2010)

skidmarks said:


> I got a chuckle when one guy was ranking on someone for skiing a Great Gulf Gully in "transition snow"



haha...

I'm going to miss going again this year... May do an auto road trip later...


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## riverc0il (Apr 23, 2010)

TheBEast said:


> Excellent.  I've noticed the blog saga going on over there and with the guys from FIS.  I'd be interested to see if any of this really leads to more people up there skiing that stuff.


It already has led to more people skiing that side of the mountain. Heck, count me as one of them as this was my first season skiing that side of the mountain after reading about it two seasons ago on T4T. Put it this way, the day I summited MW from the west, pretty much every parking space at Marshfield Station was full when I was leaving. Guys who had skied alone over there for years were commenting that they have never seen anything like it.


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## skidmarks (Apr 23, 2010)

*West Side Slide*



riverc0il said:


> It already has led to more people skiing that side of the mountain. Heck, count me as one of them as this was my first season skiing that side of the mountain after reading about it two seasons ago on T4T. Put it this way, the day I summited MW from the west, pretty much every parking space at Marshfield Station was full when I was leaving. Guys who had skied alone over there for years were commenting that they have never seen anything like it.



Everyone is talking about how much better the snow is on the West Side this season. Even the guy at the Notch Info desk was talking about how much better it was.


On Good Friday my 1st day on the Cog side the weather was perfect and the lot was full. Yesterday the only others were a hiking couple. Monday we met one other group of skiers on the way out. I think Good Friday was the perfect storm.


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## dmc (Apr 23, 2010)

I skied Airplane back when I skied...  

We'd do it from the shelters..  Never even thought of the cog...

Everything I know about MW starts at the ravine..   First time in GOS we went from Hillmans...   GG from RGully...


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## skidmarks (Apr 23, 2010)

dmc said:


> I skied Airplane back when I skied...
> 
> We'd do it from the shelters..  Never even thought of the cog...
> 
> Everything I know about MW starts at the ravine..   First time in GOS we went from Hillmans...   GG from RGully...



You ever Do It in the shelters????


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## dmc (Apr 24, 2010)

skidmarks said:


> You ever Do It in the shelters????



No but we had to ask a couple French Canadians to cut it out....


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## awf170 (Apr 24, 2010)

skibumm100 said:


> I think most people are entertained by the whole concept of secret lines on MTW. There are a few, and maybe more than a few, that think it shouldn't be talked about. There were a few who got pretty upset at posted GPS tracks. The mountain is plastered with hiking trails. If they want to find a new line, go find one. If people want someplace all to themselves, maybe they shouldn't ski next to the cog? There's probably some nice steep pitches along I-89 or I-93 they could ski. :grin:



Yeah, it quite funny.  Even though everything on Washington is visible it is still super easy to find untracked snow since the mountain is so huge.  Even on the most crowded weekend of the year I was able to ski three 1,700 ft. runs of completely untracked snow.  It really isn't that difficult to get away from the masses... the only problem is that parking runs out, but that can remedied by getting up before the crack of 10am.



skidmarks said:


> I got a chuckle when one guy was ranking on someone for skiing a Great Gulf Gully in "transition snow"



Why?  I agree that it sucks that someone would mess the run up by skiing it in mank.  Plus, I don't know why you would want to ski it in conditions like that.


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## skidmarks (Apr 24, 2010)

I guess the guy wanted to ski the line and he was able too.  It does suck that it ruined the conditions for others but I guess that that was his choice.


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## skibumm100 (Apr 26, 2010)

*Saturday vs Sunday*

I went up the cog Saturday and Sunday. Saturday the lot was full of cars and happy, smiling faces. On Sunday...almost empty. The weather forecast for Sunday had something to do with that. As it turned out, the forecast was wrong.:smile:


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## gpetrics (Apr 26, 2010)

riverc0il said:


> It already has led to more people skiing that side of the mountain. Heck, count me as one of them as this was my first season skiing that side of the mountain after reading about it two seasons ago on T4T. Put it this way, the day I summited MW from the west, pretty much every parking space at Marshfield Station was full when I was leaving. Guys who had skied alone over there for years were commenting that they have never seen anything like it.



I'm sorry, but this sounds alot like the guys who sit in the lot at Alta and complain on a powder day about how it used to be when they were the only ones there... then you ask them some questions and you realize they weren't actually there back in the day, and they just saw some old school video on youtube about how secluded and quiet it once was. Very very few were actually able to be there back when it was "just them." 

Bottom line is that skiing is getting more popular. I see the internet as no more of an enabler than books movies or magazines. It's not hard to find your own nook up there either even on busy weekends. Saturday was beautiful and I didn't ski any tracked out corn all day.

Everything that is easy to take will always be taken sooner or later. And everything that is harder to take will always be mostly untouched.

Don't forget we live on the east coast too! Everyone is always LEAVING here... no one ever comes to the east coast to go skiing at a high level :roll:


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## riverc0il (Apr 26, 2010)

gpetrics said:


> I'm sorry, but this sounds alot like the guys who sit in the lot at Alta and complain on a powder day about how it used to be when they were the only ones there... then you ask them some questions and you realize they weren't actually there back in the day, and they just saw some old school video on youtube about how secluded and quiet it once was. Very very few were actually able to be there back when it was "just them."


You may have misunderstood the intent of my post... I am contributing to the Blog explosion detailing the west side, so don't count me in with the protectionist crew.

In regards to discussing "how it used to be" while being new to a particular scene... just because I was not skiing there a few years ago does not mean that I can not look at evidence which suggests the skiing has exploded on the west side and I can not understand this fact by having spoken to folks that have been skiing over there for more than two dozen years. Facts are facts, no matter when I started skiing in a certain place. But I am not using facts to protect that area... I was only responding to skidmarks wondering if the increase in TRs will increase traffic. The fact is that it already has and I am in fact part of that increase. And I am further contributing to the increase of postings.


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## gpetrics (Apr 26, 2010)

riverc0il said:


> You may have misunderstood the intent of my post... I am contributing to the Blog explosion detailing the west side, so don't count me in with the protectionist crew.
> 
> In regards to discussing "how it used to be" while being new to a particular scene... just because I was not skiing there a few years ago does not mean that I can not look at evidence which suggests the skiing has exploded on the west side and I can not understand this fact by having spoken to folks that have been skiing over there for more than two dozen years. Facts are facts, no matter when I started skiing in a certain place. But I am not using facts to protect that area... I was only responding to skidmarks wondering if the increase in TRs will increase traffic. The fact is that it already has and I am in fact part of that increase. And I am further contributing to the increase of postings.




no i got you steve. i think i just wrote too harshly. i was directing any ire at the ones who told you "they were there before the masses"... DEFINITELY not you. I'm aware of your position here, and I support it for a variety of reasons. sorry about that snafu.


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## skibumm100 (Apr 27, 2010)

*this year*

I wonder if the increased traffic on the west side this year has to do with conditions? If GoS was fat and the trail was still covered well top to bottom, do you think there would be as much "traffic" on the west side? If Tux has it's "normal" amount of snow would everybody be heading west? I doubt it. From what I understand, the conditions on the west side are better than usual this year because the storms that came out of the east this season deposited copious amounts of snow over there. I also skied the west side for the first time ever this past weekend. Why? The GoS trail is a muddy slog and you have a longer hike out of Tuckerman's because the bottom of the Sherby is poo. There, I said it, I'm lazy. At least as lazy as you can be and still walk up to ski.

I've read comments that BR is barely skiable some years, at least in spring time. 

It seems this year the west side is getting more love because it makes sense, from a lazy man's perspective. If the Ammo trail was mud and blowdowns from the toe of the avy path to the parking lot I don't think you'd see as many people lapping the Ammo ravine and skiing back down the cog.

Am I off base here? Comments welcome.


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## powers (Apr 27, 2010)

*You know who I'm blaming?!!!!*

Albert Bierstadt. Thats right. If he didn't paint the mountain in 1862 then maybe nobody would know about it today. Thanks to that SOB all the flat landers would take the train up to thier fancy hotels and stay all summer long. Spending the whole summer crawling around on the mountain like they own the place. Damn railways.......


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## skidmarks (Apr 28, 2010)

*Before Al Gore*

Old school bloging 1940's style. History continues using the media of today, Forums, Blogs, and Videos


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