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Calling Long Distance!
Report Submitted by SteveR
(trip) Date: Sunday Mar 05, 2023
Submitted: Sunday Mar 05, 2023 at 21:46
Participants:
Just me
Discussion:
With a fresh input of snow (6-7 cm), today seemed like a good time to break away from the xc trails, and ski the "other side" of West Bragg. Starting out from Mountain Road, I skied a bit of West Telephone-up Reconnect-along Long Distance to the north end of East Telephone-south to Disconnect and up it, eventually dropping into Demi Tel for a great, mostly downhill finish via Snowshoe Hare and Hostel. Overall- conditions were fine, with a bit of tricky descending in spots on Long Distance north in the trench-like narrow groomed path created by the snow bikes. It pays to know the trail from summer mountainbiking! What I skied of the east leg of Telephone (the hardest part if going CCW) was in good shape with full coverage. Much of Disconnect was rough and bumpy-I was glad not to be descending it. Demi-Tel and Snowshoe were easygoing on a wider, usually smooth enough user packed track, with plenty of soft snow on the margins to check speeds when needed. Mostly I relied on a thin layer of Green which gave good grip and glide, but switched to "bikini skins" for the climb up Reconnect to the Long Distance highpoint, and later on to ascend Disconnect. A fun afternoon in the foothills!
Total distance: 19.00 Km
 The route.
 Multi-use getting along well on West Telephone.
 Bikes and hikers had already packed down Reconnect.
 At the viewpoint on Long Distance, with "the bench" on Merlin View visible in the distance. My old 62 mm waisted Karhus, sturdy NNN-BC boots, and durable alloy backcountry touring poles with larger baskets were the gear of choice. Along with the narrow partial length "bikini skins" which give a reasonable amount of glide.
 Breaking trail in the fatbike grooming on Long Distance. I crashed on a couple of the downhill corners when unable to snowplow in the narrow groove which sometimes had a tip-grabbing crust on the edges. For others I was able to step out into deeper soft snow to slow down.
 After getting back on Long Distance heading south towards Demi-Tel, I did a short bypass to avoid a rock-strewn descent. While not quite prime time for off trail travel in the area- it was moderately supportive and easy enough trailbreaking.
2 comment(s) posted
Comments:
2023-03-06 at 13:05 - comment by aqua toque
So if your skis have bikini skins were you in your Speedo?
2023-03-06 at 17:33 - comment by SteveR
Aqua- what happens in the backcountry, stays in the backcountry...
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