TR: 1 March 2008 Sled Skiing.. in WI

Ok, so this is definitely not what most of you first think of when you hear 'sled skiing', but hey, you take what you get. A few quick fixes here and there are enough to keep an addiction going strong.

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Three Lakes, WI, my Granny and late Papa's home for the past twenty some years.

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Granny's house

30+ lakes in the immediate area, great trail sledding, very little vertical. When I go anywhere there is snow however, I go prepared.

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Got in late Friday night and took a quick 45min run around on the sled, enjoying the crisp, cold, winter night air of the north woods. Obviously, at night you can only see what your headlight is illuminating, but as I was rounding a certain corner of the trail, I saw a snow-covered hillside, spotted with trees. Knowing I wouldn't be able to see it with any quality in the darkness, I made note of the spot and vowed to return in the morning. Came back to the house and messed around with the camera.

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(ps: Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Ale is finally out again. Mmmmmmmm)


As a new day broke, I loaded up and set off on an adventure.

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Like I warned, this is not the situation that would come to mind when most think 'sled skiing', but this was my first experience with what could be called sled-accessed skiing, and my first "backcountry" experience as well, so I was pretty well stoked.

What I found was a nice, tasty, mellow slope right off the trail. Minimal vert and low-angle, because after all, this is glaciated northern WI. But it was FAR better than anything I had expected to find, so again, I was pretty well stoked.

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Huzzah!

Alright, finally at the top.
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You can see the sled through the trees right of center if you look closely.


Run 1.
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That was nice, let's do it again!

It was a balmy 28 degrees, had to shed a layer first.
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Mmm.

Bottom of the runs.
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Tried further skier's right for the 3rd run. Looks really great, just not quite steep enough. Dropped of the rock in the upper right, you can make out tracks if you look closely.
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4th and final run. I didn't want to stay too long since I had no idea whose property I was on.
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That was fun.
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Some others from the weekend:

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Woof.

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All in all a damn fine weekend. Snow was variable, soft pow in some spots, 1" of crust on top of pow in others. Got my first chance to try some pow turns on the sled too, golly is that fun. Got stuck and bucked off plenty of times, but the 4 or 5 completed turns I had were pure bliss. Unfortunately, this was probably my last weekend to get up there this year, unless winter lasts through April (anti-jinx..). Can't wait to get after it again next year, and eventually graduate to real mountains.

Did you dig a pit?


Way to get some(thing)

Nice job getting the available goods!

I like your 70's skiing style. I can tell it works well in those dense tree sections. The house shots are cool!

Good stuff man...you gotta get that sled out west for a trip (need a partner? I'm great at getting shuttled ;) )

lotta cool shots in there, thanks

I would ditch the skis at the house and rip on the sled all day

well since you dont really need that sled for sled skiing, i willtotally take it off your hands for you!

Yeah, the skiing only accounted for about an hour, hour and a half of the day. Did about 8hrs total riding on Saturday, twas fun. It's nearly all trail riding since so much of the trails go through private lands. There are a few spots you could cut off and play around, but it was mostly either old logging railroad grades, FS roads, and tight, twisty trails through the woods. Wish I could have gotten some shots of me trying to learn how to tip it in the powder. Would have had one or two nice looking ones, and a whole lot of me with the sled stuck on it's side, or me laying in the snow with the sled 10 feet away. I'm sure you all know how that goes.

Oh, I know I have to get it out west. Looking like I'm going to be in the Portland area come fall, and I guess I should visit my brother and his sled in Breck sometime, too..

yeah, you're gonna be a lifer - that is some true ski jones - wish it was that good in Missouri

There's gotta be some good shit to get to up in the U.P.

Good work anyway, I love N. WI.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by bossass

There's gotta be some good shit to get to up in the U.P.

Good work anyway, I love N. WI.

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There is actually a lot of stuff in the U.P. that would be pretty fun accessed by a sled...

N. Wisconsin IS awesome... You're right. I wouldn't mind spending May through September living in the cabin in those pictures!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yooper

There is actually a lot of stuff in the U.P. that would be pretty fun accessed by a sled...

N. Wisconsin IS awesome... You're right. I wouldn't mind spending May through September living in the cabin in those pictures!

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Yeah, the UP definitely has way more vert in seemingly all the right places (lake-effect belt). I can only imagine what some of that would be like with the right conditions.

And it's much more of a house than a cabin, but either way, it's awesome any time of the year. The other side sits on a slope 30ft from the lake, which is connected to many other lakes... From Three Lakes, you can actually leave and travel by water around the world to about 30 miles from your original starting point. Kind of interesting.

Thanks for the good comments, can't believe it's March already. Luckily there's still a solid 4-5 weekends left in this area for the lifts to be spinning, and I'm heading to J-hole on the 15th. Yes.......

Sweet TR... My buddy and I did the same thing near Rib Mtn. about three weeks ago but forgot both cameras. Slightly more elevation around that area though, but way to get out there.

Sled-skiing in Sconnie. Nothing quite like it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ODHGABFE

And it's much more of a house than a cabin, but either way, it's awesome any time of the year.

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The term "cabin" had nothing to do with the size or usability of the house.... I just called it a cabin basically because the style of construction is a .... well, traditionally referred to as a "Log Cabin"

Isn't it? I guess I could call it a log home...

Either way, I'll take it.

Those are some sweet-ass slaplings! Nothing beats earning your turn in WI.

Mount Bohemia mini this weekend!

We have a cabin just east of there on the Sugar Camp Chain. Can't believe you don't have any bar shots.

add 1 person plus rope:D