It took me a long time to figure out where to put this piece. I wanted to write about my experience in a blog format but also know that I didn’t really want to resurface my old blog. I unintentionally retired that blog in my mid-twenties after over 200 posts and it’s probably for the best. Part of me wants to share openly and freely and the other part wants to keep it precious and mine. Conflicted I am. So I chose the blank slate.
Update: September 23rd, 2023: I never wrote the trip report and I sort of have forgotten it now. There are a few photos I can share from the trip though. And I will hand waive through the trip in vague details using those photos and also my GPS recording.
Packing for a backcountry snowboard trip is three parts: hiking (backpack, first aid, layers, compass, headlamp, snacks, water, micro spikes), snowboarding (board, boots, helmet, shell, snow pants, goggles, mittens, hand warmers), and splitboarding gear (poles, straps, skins, tools). It can be a lot of gear. I usually pack more emergency stuff than needed.
According to the metadata on my image, I got to Cardigan sometime around 10:30 AM, which is a little late for normal downhill snowboarding but when you are going out to the woods, it’s fine. I arrived at the AMC Cardigan lodge, which usually has plenty of parking but if it’s a POW day, you should probably not risk it. The skin up is relatively easy to skin and navigate. I went up the skin trail and then took the Alexandria ski trail down, which is the harder of the two routes. I had a photo of the backcountry map from the AMC Backcountry guide though and GPS on the phone. It’s about 2.5 miles uphill. For this trip, I didn’t go all the way to the top — the top was crusty and just not worth it. I turned around at the pictured shelter. Ride down was great! I took some random side trail on the way down that was kind of flat. I do not recommend; stay on main trail!
After the run, I enjoyed lunch in the lodge! Packed some chicken noodle. It was great!
ewlam 