Quick report
I skinned up to the top of the first pitch above Jacob’s Ladder on Wednesday afternoon and then again Thursday to mark the course for the Saturday February 15 skimo race. So the pictures at my Strava activities are mainly just of the course markings. But the overnight transformation was dramatic ... Wednesday was beautiful snow almost everywhere with no apparent wind effect. Thursday morning, the winds even in the Cog hiker parking lot were so extreme that a plow operator in the Cog hiker parking lot rolled down his window and said to me: "You're not going up in this" I deliberately omitted any punctuation in the above quote because I wasn't sure whether this was merely a statement of fact, or instead advice, or perhaps an incredulous comment on my apparent plans. (And this guy seemed quite the sturdy fellow, straight from Central Casting for Northern New England Plow Operator.) Once on the ascender’s left of the Cog tracks, after the underpass, I often had to stop and brace myself against the gusts. At the 3400’ weather station, I watched the wind direction indicator do many a 360 (or was that a 180 then a reverse 180?). The snow along the entire length of ascender's left of the Cog up to Waumbek Switch was entirely scoured down to old hardpack, with raised ski tracks. The utility line was a mix of scoured hardpack and dense wind buff (which skied quite nicely). In the scoured sections, some rocks had even poked through. Below Waumbek Switch, skier’s left of the Cog tracks was quite nice. Closer to the tracks, generally smooth dense wind buff. Close to the woods, some of the wildest drifts I’ve ever seen! Absent was any freezing rain, back at the base station at around 3pm. Some of the snow was definitely rimed, but not that much. And back in Twin Mountain, 33 degrees yet snowing.