Billings Cabin

February 11, 2012

We could not wait for this winter retreat, and it lived up to all our expectations!  Many deep, emotional conversations late into the night; feeling divulged, thoughts shared, emotions struggled with...  The cabin was a two room wonder, with an old tape player hosted above the fire-place; the face of the stereo was melt by the heat of the fire, but it was still playing the greatest hits of Lauren Hill (perhaps forgotten by Dartmouth students of yesteryear).  It took us a while to find it; at one point Danya took a shortcut off the highway only to find that the bridge was closed for the winter. Once we heated the cabin, I realized that I am really sick, and have a fever.  Too late to bother with it, I still had to cook and drink and ski and hike!  In the morning, we skied Wildcat; it was foggy, so no views at all. Slava's binding actually fell off his ski, so Danya had to give him his skis and snowboard the rest of the trip.  In the evening, I cooked the whole salmon on the grill, and we drunk Kagor which someone brought from Russia; it actually had a little wooden cross attached to it. It did not help me much, I was violently sick by the time we went through our regular food / drink ration.  I had to leave the cabin; the temperature outside dropped to - 30 Celsius or lower; I was quite miserable, burning with the fever and freezing at the same time.  By the time I returned to the cabin, Skavish retreated for the night, saying that he was upset at everyone.  Slava and Danya could not remember why he was upset.  Next morning, Skavish could not remember it, either.

Next day, we went to hike the Arethusa Falls and the Frankenstein Cliffs. The weather was still bitter cold, and I bundled up in my hiking gear and bit the bullet.  We were rewarded with gorgeous views of the valley, and some great laughs along the way.

On the third day, we could barely get out of our sleeping bags, it was so cold.  We put some logs in the fireplace, had a harried breakfast, and went to ski Attitash.  Finally, the weather cooperated, and we were rewarded with sunny slopes.  It being Monday, we had the whole mountain to ourselves.

Pemi Wilderness via AMC Cabins

June 26-28, 2011

We climbed the Franconia Ridge via the Falling Waters Trail (Mt. Lincoln & then Mt. Lafayette) and stayed the night at the Greenleaf hut.  While Scavish was reading The Game of Thrones, we socialized with the fellow hikers; turns out, the guy we talked to was Robert Radat, the screenwriter for Saving Private Ryan.  Slava created an awkward moment when he said that the first ten minutes are his favorite of the film (these are silent).

  
Next day, we woke up early to reach the Galehead Hut. The trail is described in the AMC book as "continuous ups and downs." Needless to say, it was very strenuous...very, very strenuous. We summited Mt. Garfield and Mt. Galehead, and spent the night at the Galehead Hut.  After dinner, we came out to the porch, and had a great conversation with a through-hikier Chris (a guy who is going through the entire Appalachian Trail); he had no money, barely any food, and a dog.  I gave him a present of a bottle filled with the Ukrainian Pertsovka, but then as the conversation progressed, we actually drank all of it all together.  Later on, we made friends with several seventy-plus year old women who happen to live in Dartmouth, near the Hinman hut.  They travel the huts every year.  Hope I get to do that when I am old.

  
Next day, we woke up with sore legs and climbed the South and North Twin mountains.  On the way there, we met a photographer who kept talking about his trip to Everglades.  We called him "Everglades" thereafter; he took a picture of us, and, thankfully, left us at the summit. Needless to say, gorgeous views from the Twins. Back from the mountains, we took a dip in the Echo Lake (by the Cannon mountain), and then had a lovely meal at the Woodstock Inn Station.

Hinman Cabin

February 12-14, 2011

Our 2011 winter retreat was held at the Hinman Cabin, Lyme, New Hampshire. The cabin is located on the gorgeous lake; we named the lake "a giant alien pilotka," because the ice caved under our feet and water seeped here and there...this really does not explain it well...  We went skiing at the Dartmouth Skiway the first day, and then decided to skate the Dartmouth University pond.  That was lots of fun, except for the fact that Scavish fell down and fractured his hand.  Despite our admonitions, he refused to go to the hospital...did not want to miss all the fun...but he had to stay at a local coffee house the next day instead of skiing.  Scavish is one tough Russian dude! Next night, we hit a major snowstorm and ventured outside after dinner to roll in the snow.  We pretended we are Russian soldiers during the winter war, and crawled around the cabin.  I felt that we are 12 again.  In the morning, we rented snowshoes and hiked around the local pond and climbed a small mountain in nearby Lebanon.  Two days skiing, one night skating, one night crawling, one day snowshoeing, all this fun with just one fracture!

Presidential Range, White Mountains

June 19 - June 21, 2010

Hike taken from the AMC Discover The White Mountains chapter: "Hut to Hut Presidential Traverse"; text in italics is taken from the book. Over three days, this hike will offer you spectacular views on the largest piece of alpine real estate in the eastern United States. It offers hikers the opportunity to bag as many as eight 4,000-footers.

Rating: Very Strenuous

Distance: 25.5 miles including all summits

Elevation Gain: 9, 600 feet including all summits

I booked two nights in the AMC Huts (food and lodging very near the peaks), which allowed us to travel lightly.  Day 1: NH 16 to Madison Hut: "after a moderate climb across the floor of the gulf, you begin the very steep climb up the headwall.  Make no mistake about it: this is one of th emost difficult sections of trail in the White Mountains, with steep scrambles over rocky ledges... expect to spend a lot of time on the headwall." Indeed, this was the most difficult climb I had to date.  The day was really hot, and we quickly ran out of the water.  I ended up stopping to catch my breath every 30 seconds on the headwall, and filled my bottle with unfiltered water from the mountain stream (the most delicious tasting water ever!).  But what a beautiful world opens up once you climb the wall:  amongst the gray stones there is a huge white granite boulder, and below it a small alpine lake (Star Lake: "Its shallow waters reflect the treeless, rock-strewn upper slopes of Mount Adams and Mount Madison, while alpine plants like cotton grass, mountain aven, and pale laurel grow in the thin soils filling the spaces between boulders covered with map and target lichens.") Dropping our bags at Madison Hut, we climbed Mt. Madison, and then spent the evening gazing at the sunset reflected in the alpine lake.  Notable moment: on the way up, we decided to swim under the waterfall.  I went into it fine, came out blind.  Turns out I forgot to take my glasses off, and they were drowned in the freezing pool below.  The guys dove to find them, but all in vain. Danya saved me, he had extra pairs of contacts on him, and our vision is equally bad. Picture below shows me still wearing the specs...  next one is Danya sitting on the white marble during sunset.

Day 2: Madison Hut to Lakes of the Clouds Hut.  A gorgeous day on the Presidentials was somewhat spoiled by the continuous fog, rain and thunderstorm.  In fact, being in the t-storm on the range was really scary:  we hid under the rock caves and waited out as the lightning struck seemingly very close. Despite being wet, we summited Mt. Adams, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Washington, and Mt. Monroe. The highlights included hearing the train in the fog, realizing we are near the Mt. W cog railroad, and then seeing the train pass by two meters from us... a surreal experience. Below, Skavish is hiding from the lightning (yes, not the most effective method ever).

Once at the Lake in the Clouds, we entertained the hikers by undressing and going for a swim in the Lake in the Clouds. It was freezing, but swimming in the mountains became our tradition!

In the evening, we met a humongous hiker who we nicknamed "The moose"; he did not have money to stay in the hut, and did not want to sleep in the rain, so they gave him a place to sleep in the kitchen and asked him to stir the shit in the compostable toilet.  We had lots of fun talking to him and about him, and "The moose" became one of the many memorable characters in our travels (later to include "The everglades guy," the Mayor of Newton candidate, the group from Quebec, and many many others).

Day 3. Lakes of the Clouds to the car.  The day started foggy, but it cleared by mid-morning and we were treated to the gorgeous views of the Whites.  We summited Mt. Eisenhower, Mt. Pierce, Mt. Jackson, Mt. Webster.  On the picture below, Danya is taking a picture of Moose's footprint (we followed his footsteps once we ate breakfast and he stirred the morning shit).

The picture below (from the last day) is my favorite:  truly, it tells it all about the trip and our experience.

Nunnemacher Cabin

February 12 -14, 2010

Our first winter retreat was held at the Nunnemacher Cabin, Lyme, New Hampshire.  The cabin is located on top of Dartmouth Skiway, and we did not want to carry our heavy backpacks (there is no water in the cabin) all the way to the top.  We were young and stupid, so we put on our skis and snowboards and loaded ourselves on the chairlifts.  It was somewhat easier for the guys to get off on skis, but I had a major crash trying to balance my 40 lb pack as I rode down from the lift.  Not to worry: at the end of the retreat we skied down with the packs, and I fell down hard yet again. The retreat itself was great; highlights included evening trips to the Darmouth Coop to buy provisions, and I cooked amazing steaks on the grill (beef first day and lamb the second day).  This was before Slava turned most of us vegetarian. The atmosphere was set: lots of therapeutic discussions followed by some genuine male humor. The fact that the trip took place during Valentine's day caused some consternation among our wives. But there is no Valentine's day in Russia! There is winter, skiing and male bonding.

Mt. Washington

September 26, 2009

Hike taken from the AMC "Discover The White Mountains" book: Mount Washington Via Boott Spur; below are excerpts from the book.
"The climb up New England's tallest peak provides plenty of above-treeline hiking and awesome views." 
Rating: Very strenuous
Distance: 9.5 miles round-trip
Elevation Gain: 4, 300 feet
Estimated Time: 8 hours

It was our inaugural trip together.  We started really early, parked at the AMC Pinkham Notch Visitor Center, and then took the Boott Spur Trail up the mountain.  Turns out it leads to Boott Spur, which is another mountain, and we were pretty much out of breath by the time we got there.  After a short break, we climbed up the Davis Path and Crawford Path to the peak of Mt. Washington.  We were totally exhausted and not prepared.  I crawled to the top...  Afterwards, we walked down via the Tuckerman Ravine trail.. the longest descent of my life! By the end, I started shaking uncontrollably and continued shaking during our dinner at the Flatbread Pizza.  Danya gave me his sweater, which turned out to be a trend of Danya saving me with his things. Notable moments: a woman climbing in a red mini-skirt; Skavish carrying a large Nikon camera with several lenses (last time); Slava screaming "come on, ladies" (a future refrain); Danya sharing "kotleti, ukrop i luk" for lunch; a long conversation about our emotional life on the way back.

OMG, how we are dressed!!!  But we made it, and it was a beginning of something truly special