Upper Buskin 4/9 skate skiing

[patrick]

I went across the lake and skate skiied on the trails through the woods and up the river into the canyon. Around 2 inches of powder on a solid crust. It makes for fast, silent cruising. Really excellent skiing. It would be good for classic too.

The wind is pretty strong out of the East so leaving the outlet and going up the river is not bad, but coming back in places it was pretty bad. Going back across the lake ended up not bad at all. I went on the old road all the way to where there is no access signs to the restricted area and then went out on the lake (where the piggly wiggly sticks up through the snow). This put me in the lee of the hill and it was calm all the way until I left the shelter of the hill for the final 150 yards to the outlet. Patrick

[patrick]

I just got back from skate skiing. Today I went up the canyon to the waterfall and then climbed out to the left. This is a very easy way to get up on top and on your way to the Elbow Creek Pass. When I started across the lake it was snowing very hard, but later the sun came out and it warmed up. The skate skiing was great - if a little slower than yesterday. The snow got pretty deep up near the pass, but it was still very skiiable. The snow was perfect for going downhill and I could even do tele turns in my skate skiis. However, by the time I got back to the outlet of the lake it had warmed up enough that the snow had gotten very slow. For this reason I'd reccomend classic skiis. Patrick