Stone Hut Memories

With the recent destruction of Mansfield’s Stone Hut, I decided to dig through my photos and see if I couldn’t put together a decent memorial.

Before anything else, I have to give a big thanks to Matt B and hutmaster Scott D.  Without those guys I never would have had a chance to enjoy those awesome nights on top of Vermont.

I’m not going to do much writing.  I just want to get these photos out there to share the memories.

There was food,

Dylan preps some meat.

Bacon.

Dave gets talked into eating a pickled egg.

and drinks.

Matt gets quatro loco!

The hutmaster getting into the Black Bush.

Some peaceful moments.

The Scotts contemplate the awesomeness of life at 3600 ft.

This photo has an incredibly weird focus, but I think it still captures something special about the time spent in that hut.

There was intergenerational fun,

Party!

and lots of shenanigans!

Dylan and Wesley get their groove on.

 

Jimmy and I pose for the camera.

Formal dress!

Aaron, Dylan, and the hutmaster sort things out.

Choose your own caption.

Spending the night up there also provided the opportunity to take in some cool sights

Groomer sunsrise.        Hello birdy.

 

 

 

 

 

especially if you put in a bit of effort.    

Solo sunrise from the ridge.

 

 

 

 

 

Oh, and it also provided damn good access for skiing!

Both at night

and first thing in the morning

 

RIP Stone Hut.

Some Sunday Steeps

Busy times. Still, I need at least 1 day/week to step away from the computer and go be in nature.

There hasn’t been much in the way of new snow, but at least the snowpack is stable (1 out of 5 avy danger in all of CH).  So, we decided to take advantage of the condtions to get up something steep.

It was a really fun day of enjoyable suffering, huffing our way up this high alpine cooler: http://www.camptocamp.org/routes/45929/fr/pointe-d-orny-couloir-du-glacier-d-arpette   1

Thanks to Sam​, Lucas​, and Victor for hanging tough and making the climb with me… “just 10 more minutes to the top”, I swear2!!

I’ll let the photos do most of the talking.

From a distance, the line is just visible left of center:

Line from a distance.

Now, getting a bit closer:

There she is (on the left)

Heading up:

Still early goings here

A couple hours later, we finally top out:

Woot!

And, for the descent?

Upper part of the couloir. Skier: S. Whitlock

Upper part of the couloir. Rider: L. Porter

It’s got a decent pitch:

Looking down the line right before the big turn

Fairly variable conditions over all, but there were some pretty nice spots.  Just nice to be able to get out on a line like this and enjoy a beautiful day in les hautes montagnes.

Lower down. Skier: S. Whitlock
Lower down. Rider: L. Porter

 

And, finally a little bit of artistic license to portray the ride out of the valley:

Traversing action heros?(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_81l4DXlwM)