Stratton Magazine – Southern Vermont's Journal of Living

A group of local outdoorsmen/women has raised the art of uphill climbing (or “skinning”) to party status.  The winter woods of Vermont are silent, dark and deep (I think Robert Frost said that) and fascinating and beautiful to explore. A  Green Mountain peak that you may be familiar with from summer hikes is a different universe altogether in January. Millions of skiers take in the winter views from the tops of Stratton, Bromley and the other lift access hills but only a few each winter gaze in silence down at the Manchester Valley from the summit of Mt Aeolus (Green Peak)  when three feet of snow make hiking on foot prohibitively exhausting.

For over a dozen years a loosely assorted group has gathered around noontime on most winter Sundays and skied uphill to explore some peak or other in the area. Jim and Marilyn have probably been skinning uphill longer than any of the rest of us, save Stratton photographer Hubert Schriebl, who grew up in a region in Austria where skiing from hut to hut in the alps was a tradition handed down from generation to generation or Wendy Cram, long time Stratton instructor and long ago 10th Mountain Division instructor who was on skins when most of us were still in Dr. Denton’s.  The rest of us, however, only learned of  skiing or “skinning” uphill on climbing skins in the last decade or so. Now a number of us are hooked. 

We (because I am one of the now-hooked) were feeling frustrated and repressed at not having our mountain tops available to us in the winters. The wax that allows cross country skiers to kick and glide up and over gentle hills is not effective on long steep hills. Side stepping or using the cumbersome herringbone technique is slow and exhausting. We knew there must be another way. Initially seals were the answer! Seals have smooth short dense waterproof fur. Someone determined that if the skin of a seal were cut into strips (hard on the seal) and affixed to the bottom of a pair of heavy duty cross country skis, the skier could glide forward like a seal sliding across the ice, yet not slide backwards. These skins could be removed at anytime and the skier could slide back down the hill. Until the early sixties climbing skins were actually made from the skin of seals. Plastic fiber technology eventually came on the scene and durable waterproof climbing skins were created artificially, (good news for seals and skiers alike). At last we were free to climb our beloved mountains while they’re covered with snow.

There are not many peaks around the Manchester and the Mountains region that have not been conquered during the last decade by this intrepid group—known simply as the Dorset Climbing Club. Haystack in Pawlet, Green Peak in Dorset, Equinox and Mother Myrick both accessed from Beartown Gap or Nichols Hill… 

The high point in the Merck Forest preserve off the top of Rupert Mountain is Mount Antone from which one gets a stunning view of the sun setting over the southern Adirondacks. Wait another ten minutes on that same summit  and the lights will blink on to allow night skiing at the West Mountain ski area just outside Glens Falls, New York. Our well known alpine hills Stratton, Magic and Snow Valley have the big advantage of open slopes. Bromley can be approached via the Long Trail from both north and south or from Mad Tom Brook in East Dorset. Stratton can be reached from Lye Brook or the Kelly Stand Road and Magic can be ascended from front or back side straight up. Working one’s way up the final slopes of Bromley or Stratton in a t-shirt elicits strange looks from the skiers sliding down bundled in parkas and fleece… “These people are going the wrong way, don’t they know about the chairlift?”  Skiing up and down Snow Valley, which ceased operation three decades ago,  offers a  surrealistic look at the rapid march of time. Maple and ash trees  are growing through the chairs on the chairlift that once hauled ticketed skiers up the hill not so long ago. The T-bar towers appear as suspiciously straight trees in a forest of natural gnarly ones. The old trails are growing up in brush, but routes can always be found with a few nice turns. No one joins this climbing circus expecting endless powder runs in virgin snowfields like the ones you can find in the Rockies, the Sierras or the Alps. But on nights when the full moon is unencumbered with clouds, the snow is good and the air cold, word spreads fast through the “bush telegraph” that a moonlight ascent team will meet at the Sirloin Saloon parking lot at 7:00 P.M. The night can be magical. All are welcome. Head lights on, we climb through clouds to emerge above the valley fog and look out over the top of  an endless sea of white at other peaks protruding through.

The abilities of the club “members” varies. Chip can snowshoe or ski depending on what side of the bed he got up on. His son Jonathan has become a regular back country ski expert. Lindy, Jack and Pam are regulars on snowshoes. Tony and Lynn claim that they are not strong skiers, though they are very strong climbers and 80% of any outing is spent going uphill. Often skins are left on for descents, and some even take the skis completely off on steep descents rather than risk straddling a maple sapling at high speed.  Keith brings a camera and tripod to capture the spectacle and then remind everyone midweek of what they were doing last Sunday. He has a knack for catching the most embarrassing falls in Technicolor. Carol always overdresses, claiming to be cold and ten minutes into the uphill climb has shed three layers and is too hot still, even in a snow storm.  Ben started out on skis, switched to a snowboard and now is fully equipped with alpine touring gear, whereas Bob sticks with his telly gear which we believe he obtained just after college from the first EMS store in Boston. Katie took one look at the crazies going uphill one afternoon, trotted right up to the local mountain gear outfitter and came away looking ready for the Haute Route.  Perk and Dave pretend they  never compete to see who is more fit on any given weekend. If Joe is around there is no question about who is the most fit! Dogs often join the group though it is hard for a dog to walk when breaking through chest deep snow. Megan brings her own rum carrying pooch. We remember Joey the old black lab deciding he had had enough on a steep descent off the front side of Mother Myrick. Maybe he wanted us to divide up his food and soldier on, as this was where he wanted to spend his last hours. Like Mallory on Everest, Jim simply picked up this 75 pounds of black fur and skied with him down the trail about half a mile to a packed snowmobile track where he could easily walk back to the car. Jamie and Thomas should be made to drag toboggans and their sister Elisabeth could drag both of them if she had to. Andy always has a surprise in his backpack. One cold gray afternoon on the top of Myrick his hip flask contained some surprisingly tasty single malt. Folks who had no interest in the famous flavor of the smoke and peat kept sipping. Fortunately all arrived at the bottom without mishap.

Snowshoes work fine but are slow going up and slow going down. Climbing on skis with skins affords one the same speed as walking with the flotation of snowshoeing but once it’s time to descend back down, the skis are way faster. Some will point out “way faster” requires a bit more skiing skill. Which is true, but who’s counting?

Climbing skins can be obtained for almost all forms of cross country or touring skis. Many climbers prefer telemark equipment with its heavier construction and resultant control on the descent. A/T or alpine touring equipment, first popularized in Europe, is gaining ground fast in the U.S. with its clever bindings which allow free heel walking up hill, then with the twist of a lever the heel can be locked down and one can ski as if on traditional downhill skis. In Europe this style of  equipment is called randonée, which, loosely translated, is French for “traveling on foot over hill and dale”.

The real diehards  snowshoe up while carrying a snowboard on their back. A special  snowboard is actually made which is able to be split in two halves, equipped with skins for climbing, then reconnected for the downhill trip.

Descending narrow logging roads through hardwood forests is admittedly demanding, and occasionally terrifying as the maples and ashes do not have any padded blankets like chairlift towers, and the grooming is always substandard. Actually a group of snowmobiles will pack a nice uphill trail but their passage is a mixed blessing because they leave a much faster surface for descending. One learns quickly the value of a strong snowplow well executed. A quickly performed “buttcheck” has  averted more than one potential disaster. Sliding back and forth across sloping hay meadows and coasting along a gently descending snowmobile trail on skis is the reward for the long slog up the hills. Gazing down on the winter valley from the top of Green Peak, Equinox or Haystack where the steep pitch and dense woods prevent snowmobiles from reaching the final summit gives one a  private perspective on Vermont in winter. 

The occasional snowmobile encounter is generally friendly; the drivers of these powerful machines wave and smile in amusement at the poor fools who have not yet learned the joys of a 600 cc SkiDoo, and roar off to leave the uninitiated skiers to walk quietly up hill.

Each skier or walker carries a day pack with snacks and drinks to be shared at the summit. Often wet undershirts are replaced with dry ones and those few seconds with bare skin exposed to single digit temperatures is bracing (read: painful) but the dry shirt is well worth it. Cookies, fruit and last night’s leftovers appear along with the occasional hip flask or wine skin. The time on the summit be it Everest or Equinox is limited; no one wants to get chilled and stiff for the run back down into the valley. Some yelps proclaiming excitement or a near miss echo through the hardwood forest as the pack looks for a few turns in fresh snow between trees, rocks and underbrush. Hours of climbing culminate in ten minutes of skiing down. Talk at the cars over a cold beer is always the same; which hill should we tackle next weekend? Where will the snow be deeper and the wind be blocked. Who knows of new routes to be explored or an old one we haven’t tried in a few seasons. We live in a land where winter can take over and drive us indoors, depressed with cabin fever or we can embrace the cold and enjoy it. I can think of no better way than to ski uphill.

 Please note: once on a commercial ski hill one must abide by the standard rules of ski etiquette and safety.  If climbing a ski trail stay off to one side and stay in view of approaching skiers who are not used to seeing skiers going up and thus may initially be confused as they come upon you much more quickly than they would a skier who is  descending.

Local ski areas have differing views about climbing up the slopes so one should check in with the ski patrol before ascending. ◊