[el-bagr]

Another TR from the last season to refill our coffers with stoke -- this time of a mellow nature.

This past weekend, my wife and I headed to Acadia National Park for the coastal island experience.

Awakening in our tent Saturday morning, we decided to do a multisport trip involving a ski across Jordan Pond, then a climb up a gully on the backside of the Bubbles. The ice is 3' thick on the lake (sadly very scratchy on the climb), and winds were gusting at up to 50 mph. The lone ice fisherman looked at us with disbelief, unable to figure out what we were thinking.

As we got into the broadest part of the lake, the winds had scoured the ice about 50% clean of snow. Downwind sailing was very fast on the clear ice; for my next trip, I will bring a tarp-sail.


Reaching the base of the Bubbles as snow fell lightly, we cached our skis and made our way up the talus and ledges to a gully. As this wasn't skiing, I'll leave off here with a picture of our lunch ledge.

The return trip across the lake was mostly into the wind, and took almost twice as long as the trip out.

-=-=-=-

Sunday morning we awoke to 8" of fresh, fairly heavy snow. Time for a trip along the shore!

Relatively mindful of the hazards of such a trip,

we made our way along the snowy cliffs above the rafts of eiders feeding in the pounding surf.

Places like this can make the lift-served skiing scene feel like a subway.

There is no shortage of committing lines, as my brave wife demonstrates by launching off the corniced edge into the frigid waters below:

We are fortunate to live in such a state, with forests, mountains, and an ocean of surf to boot.

We shall return. Until next time!

[Andrew L]

brrrrrrr! That looks cold.

[skiter]

that's a classic. thanks for the repost.