Didn't sleep well this morning. Since I was up 3 separate times by 4:35am, I ended up just getting up and decided to get a ski in. Tossed gear in my bag hoping I didn't forget anything and went out to my car. It was pretty warm down south in Massachusetts - or felt that way - so I opted to set up my poles and skin my skis before I left. Since I took the Pack Monadnock Auto Road on Friday, I decided to try Temple Mountain considering the snow level seemed alright and we'd received more since.
The drive went off without a hitch. At 6:06, I pulled into the parking lot. The lot was plowed, but you still couldn't see pavement beneath the 3-4" of snow and ice. By 6:12am, I was off. There was a very well set skin track about 18" wide up the telecom road, with a couple sets of boots postholing a bit. It didn't affect the skinning at all. Packed underfoot was 8-14" of snow, with varying levels of powder on top. Every once in awhile, ski tracks diverged then re-merged with the skin track - presumably someone shoving their way through thicker snow then deciding it was a lot of effort.
The moon was quite bright this morning, though quickly disappeared below the ridge. As I climbed, deep colors emerged clearly adjacent to Pack Monadnock. The vivid colors were a treat - a different, but equally beautiful sunrise as the one a few days before which was more cotton candy-esque.
After reaching the summit rather quickly, I checked the time to see I had a bit of extra time, considering the smaller mileage, than what I had given myself. I slipped downhill and saw the trail to the Stone Chairs had been broken - a 14-18" well packed skin track following it. I had hiked the Wapack ridge a little over a year before and remembered it being maybe half a mile and relatively flat, so I quickly set out to see if I'd spot a good view of the sunrise. The trail was rolly, which offered nice reprieves of speedy downhill with gradual climbs and flats. 0.6 miles later, I reached the stone chairs. They were mostly buried. Snow drifts of 2'+ could be found, judging by the measurement markers on my poles.
The view I had remembered wasn't quite there - but open sky was above and offered a bit of pleasant sunshine. I quickly made my way back and stripped off my skins at the start of Temple's descent. I left my shell in my bag, only bothering to put back on my mittens which I'd stripped off about a quarter mile into the ascent. Off the road, multiple trails had been tracked out. I was particularly keen on the lift line, though.
Following the Beebe trail for a brief moment, I turned off it to follow the row of concrete blocks on which the lift once stood. The snow was a bit heavy and relatively deep - enough to cover most obstacles in a nearly safe way. If you skied recklessly, I'm sure you could still get a core shot or two, but I made sure to keep myself in check. On the paths people skied out already, Temple skied quick. The descent was relatively steep. The sides of the trail were grown a little too tight to stray far, but other tracked out trails popped up from different sides offering more opportunities. The little bit of flat runout was packed down well enough that you could glide across to the lot quite easily. I packed my gear up and quickly returned home for a quick shower before commuting into work.
Some pictures here:
https://imgur.com/a/WvxKf91
