Mount Tahoma Trails Association Pisten Bully 70 cross country ski trail grooming machine
©2009 Ed Book

Here's Jay getting ready to start grooming again with our ancient Pisten Bully gromming machine after a short break at Copper Creek hut for some tea. I was driving one of the Skidoo snowmobiles pulling a groomer because Jay had become proficient enough to groom without me along... and the old groomer passenger seat is sized like the passenger seat on some Harley's and the ancient machine seems to ride as rough and loud as a Harley of the same age. The skidoos are four stroke 1000cc and smoooth... Then, I parked the machine and skiied up the trail and back down... on my nicely groomed trail. We should have skiable snow until July so if you're at all inclined to get out in it, let me know and when I next go up there maybe I can have some company on the trail.

Peace

Tags: -print available-, clouds, mount tahoma trails, mtta, people pics, snow, wa, white, winter

©2007 Ed Book

If you're a Washington state resident, I have a request for you.

There are funds available for recreation on state Department of Natural Resources lands and a large portion of the Mount Tahoma Trail system is located on these state lands and The Mount Tahoma Trails Association (MTTA) is a non-profit organization that maintains the trail system. There is a line item to purchase and maintain snow cat grooming equipment for the trail system on the Department of Natural Resources appropriations bill being considered this week by the state legislature. As there are no fees for trail or hut users and all work is done by volunteers, the trail system meets the criteria for these recreation funds. The current sno-cats for grooming are old and in need of constant repair. (They were obtained being retired from service at other trail systems and have been kept in use with much volunteer effort but they spend most of the time unavailable, needing repair.)

SO... what it takes: please call the legislative hot line at 1-800-562-600. You will be asked for your name and address to determine your representatives and then

say that you would like your elected officials to support the Department of Natural Resources appropriations bill to purchase and maintain snow cat grooming equipment for the Mount Tahoma Trails System.

That's all it takes. this phone line is well-staffed from 8AM to 8PM.

We've been told that these phone calls are effective and will significantly contribute to the success of maintaining a safe trail system with reliable grooming equipment.

Thanks and

Peace

Tags: -print available-, forest, mount tahoma trails, mtta, snow, trail, wa, white, winter

©2006 Ed Book

early morning at Copper Creek hut in the clouds...

Peace

Tags: architecture, mount tahoma trails, mtta, snow, white, winter

new stuff at yurtfriends

Peace

Tags: mount tahoma trails, mtta

yurtfriends

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Tags: mtta

mttafriends have a look... not much there yet

Peace

Tags: mtta

Cookie, Hoodoo, and I went up to MTTA this weekend and yurtmeister Pat rode with us. Pat worked on pulling the edge of the roof down over the wall---which has been a major challenge because the diameter of the yurt as it exists now is a little greater than the diameter of the new roof... (for a number of reasons that will raise Pat's metabolism rate if you ask him). I acted as "ladder ballast" and did a good job because Pat didn't fall at all... which is good... I didn't aggravate the healing of my shoulder...
Cookie did some cleaning and planning work... Hoodoo did Hoodoo things...

We got home a little while ago and now I'm about to drive up to Whidbey Island to assist with a photo workshop at Coupeville Arts Center

Here are some photos of the work in progress at last week's work party when we installed the new roof. It started raining about an hour after we got it into place but more time working on it will be needed till it's ready for winter snows...

( Yurt roof workparty (7 photos here) )





Peace

Tags: mtta, people pics, yurt

I'll be leaving shortly to go up to Mount Tahoma Trails to help move the grooming equipment down to the valley.

( a long read with some photos )

Peace

ps I may be skiing on my birthday... growing up in western Pennsylvania with dogwoods blooming and summer on the way who woulda thunk it that I'd be skiing on my 57th birthday. What surprises and wonders life holds for us.

Tags: landscape, mount rainier, mount tahoma trails, mountains, mtta, night, snow, winter

When I was snowshoeing last week out the ridge south of High Hut, I came to an opening in the trees that gave me this view to the east. The image shows Snow Bowl, a good area for "Telemark" skiing and snowboarding... the bowl was logged a few years ago and the new trees are small yet and mostly covered by the deep snows... probably about 4-6 ft deep right now. Snow Bowl Hut was built at a log collecting area--it's at the top right below the mountain in the distance. The mountain in the distance is Mt Adams, another of the Washington Cascade Range volcanos... it's about 40-50 miles distant and stands at 12,000 ft., second in the state to Mt Rainier's 14,000 ft. The other mountain on the left side is Griffin Mt. It's about three miles beyond Snow Bowl Hut. the Yurt is in a valley at the base of the white snowfield on the smaller peak. It appears a short distance from Snow Bowl but there is a deep valley and another ridge between and a beautiful ski or snowshoe route through forest with openings with views to Rainier and other peaks and valleys in the area. This image doesn't relate accurately how much snow is in the mountains because the trees have shrugged their burden and slipped the snow to the ground.

Peace

Tags: forest, landscape, mount tahoma trails, mountains, mtta, snow, trees, winter

sometimes, you get stuck... I didn't do it

( curious? click here )

Peace

Tags: forest, landscape, mount tahoma trails, mtta, people pics, snow, winter

The reason the trails are in such good shape is because Del, the grooming coordinator has put in huge amounts of time working on our aging snowmobiles and snowcats. In this image, he's sitting in the LMC snowcat which he had just driven up the hill on s"snow trials" after it's being in a repair status since last snow season... The fellow with him runs the garage where the work was being done and put in a lot of work too. Without folks like them, we wouldn't have the system we do.



Peace

Tags: mount tahoma trails, mtta, people pics, snow, winter

If you're lucky, you'll meet Louie, the Copper Creek Hut manager. A volunteer position as are all MTTA positions, he tends the hut very well and spends lots of time up there along the trails ski patrolling and trail grooming. He has boundless energy--when I was learning grooming out to Puyallup Ridge (about ten miles from the SnowPark and six miles from Copper Creek hut) He and Bob M his co-manager, skied out ahead so we would know where the trail was... and a couple days later he skied out part way and waited a couple hours skiing off-trail to help me with a section of the trail that needed specific attention to establish a safe route. Louie gets his stamina from bicycling--last summer, he bicycled with a group about 4200 miles from Puget Sound to near Boston. I get out of breath when I look at my bicycle in the garage...

Peace

Tags: architecture, mount tahoma trails, mtta, people pics

and from a different perspective:




The stacks in the corner are sleeping pads. Copper Creek hut can accomodate a dozen guests as well as a couple ski patrollers and hut manager comfortably... Some folks like to take a tent and sleep outside.

MTTA--all the information during weekends, the reservations were taken at the lottery at the Gala but during the week, there's always lots of room at all the huts. If even slightly interested, check out the website. There is no charge for day use and for overnight use of the huts, the majority of the fee is a refundable deposit.

Peace

Tags: architecture, mount tahoma trails, mtta

I know, I haven't shown the outside... well, yes, I did but it was a year or so ago and without snow. The images I've been posting with snow recently have all been of digital camera origin... The film I've been exposing has yet to be processed but should be soon... ("soon" as in "Ed Book soon" which may be longer than some other folks' "soons")...

here's the hut: (they are cabins and I'm guessing they are called "huts" because of the term "hut to hut skiing" used a few other places...



( click to see scrolling panorama of a different view and Photoshop stitching discussion )

Peace

Tags: architecture, mount tahoma trails, mtta

( Pisten Bulley? )

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Tags: about me, mount tahoma trails, mtta, people pics, snow, winter

( ... )

Peace

Tags: mount tahoma trails, mtta, people pics, snow, winter

( ... )

Peace

Tags: forest, landscape, mount tahoma trails, mtta, people pics, snow, trail, trees, white, winter

I love this part of the trail as it passes through heavily blanketed Silver Fir and Grand Fir forest... it's a part of the trail that is favored by all as it traverses the top of a ridge and is flat with downhill in both directions so it is a respite from uphill trudging...



I made this image from four exposures with the Nikon Coolpix 990 digital camera and stitched them together with Photoshop CS's new "Photomerge" command... I still had to do some manual work with it to match tones and get rid of some bad merges. (those two dark areas are not merges, they are shadows... the merges are not apparent at all in this image.)

Peace

Tags: -print available-, landscape, mount rainier, mount tahoma trails, mountains, mtta, night, snow, white, winter

what does grooming mean? well, first of all, in the Washington state Cascade range, a lot of snow falls... and if the temperature is in the twenties or lower, it'll be powdery... deep powder and if you try to walk in it, you'll be attempting to wade in it waist deep or deeper... not fun... so, you put on cross country skis... not fun either because now, you are spreading your weight across more surface but still sinking in quite deep... so you opt for snowshoes... if they are very large, like mine 10" wide and 36" long, you might be able to walk across the top of the snow sinking in a foot or so but still being able to locomote up the trail... With my weight, and with a pack, I need the large snowshoes for any snow conditions... (I just remembered that I was going to tell about grooming)... grooming means using a tracked machine like the snowcats (pictures soon) or a snowmobile which can move through deep snow... (if the fresh snow is deep enough the snowmobiles will just get buried) The vehicles weight consolidates (smashes the snow down a bit) and then the groomer dragged behind smooths out the surface so it looks like corduroy. It gives a very good surface for skiing with cross country skis and an easier surface to walk on with snow shoes. Walking without long or wide boards on your feet still is difficult depending on how consolidated the snow is. Here's a photo of the trail just after being groomed... you can see that the snow hasn't been compressed much so it is still about three to four feet deep.

Peace

Tags: mount tahoma trails, mountains, mtta, snow, winter

About a month ago at Mount Tahoma Trails Association, we replaced the wall on the YURT. The weekend was foggy with a heavy mist falling at times and there was a lot of work involved. About 8 or so volunteers worked from sunup to sundown and enjoyed filling meals at the Snow Bowl Hut. I made photographs as work progressed and they can be found ( here )

Tags: mtta, yurt
Current Mood: accomplished

'spent the past three days helping replace a wall on the yurt at Mt Tahoma Trails Assn.

Last night, I stayed at High Hut across the Nisqually Valley from Mt Rainier. The full moon rose from Sawtooth Ridge orange as you'd expect in October. I sat in the calm 50 degree night and watched the moonlight paint the sea of clouds that filled all the valleys. The mountains and ridges looked like islands. Casseopea overhead and ursa major over the mountain. Orion let the moon pass through and after a few hours, I drifted off to sleep and then woke and went into the hut till I again woke before dawn to get up and wait on the sun. It appeared almost exactly where the moon had. All night and this morning, there was no sound but the wind wooshing through the trees below. What would have made the night perfect would have been Ilene being with me.

I now head south into the Gifford Pinchot National Forest and will be looking for images along the rivers and streams... vine maple, cottonwood and whatever catches my attention.

Peace

Tags: mtta, night, phot expd

'planning to go back up to the Cascade range tomorrow for some more autumn color images before the snow or much needed rains end autumn... Last weekend, I helped Bob Brown put up some new signs for the trails and huts at Mount Tahoma Trails Association (MTTA). This weekend we are planning to put a new wall up on the yurt. There will be enough bodies to do the work. (the images I made of the yurt were too dark to photoshop back to life)

Here's Bob posing with one of the signs. (the braces are temporary till the concrete sets)


These signs were made by a sign company in Eatonville and they are to be commended for their fine craftsmanship. It seems a shame to put them outside in the weather. They were sandblasted into wood and have a really nice texture. I want to do that with a seven foot long slab of redwood I've been saving for over twentyfive years for such a project. I have an air compresser and a tool for sandblasting but need to find how to mask the areas that I don't want sandblasted. I think you use some sort of paint on rubber material. I've been pondering that for those many years. We have a rock beside the driveway that I want to sandblast too. I know what the design will be but need to figure out how...

I just noticed that the image of Mt Rainier (Tahoma) has the view from the west (Eatonville) rather than from the SW where MTTA is located. (the mountain has three volcanic cones at the summit)



Peace

Tags: mtta