Calling Long Distance!
Trip date: Sunday Mar 05, 2023
Submitted by SteveR
Particpants:
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!