It’s what happens when I’m let off the leash.
Last week, I did two solo trips — one near Kelly Canyon and the other at the South Valley Trails area south of Victor.
At Kelly Canyon, I began skiing up the road headed toward the Y Junction. About a quarter of a mile up the road, I came to a snowshoe trail called the Big Slot. I reached into my bag of tricks and pulled out my climbing skins. It was just the thing when there’s no one there to tell me “that’s a dumb thing to do.”
Climbing skins come in all widths and lengths, and I purchased these several years ago from Black Diamond for my skinny skis. What happens is it basically turns your cross-country skis into snowshoes (only generally better). Once when skiing up to the top of Kelly Mountain near the warming hut, I put a set on my daughter’s skis. Her comment was, “This feels like cheating.” She was used to going up hills with lots of zig-zags and extra effort. With climbing skins on, we both chugged our way up the hill in half the time.
Last week, I skied up the Big Slot gully over the snowshoe tracks. I removed the skins after arriving at the Buckskin-Morgan Ridge. From here, I followed ski tracks along the ridge and down to the Morgan Summit and the upper warming hut that is there. If you’ve never tried these trails, they are worth doing. It may help you to bring along a map so you won’t get lost. There is a map of the trails in the local guidebook, “Eastern Idaho Sweet Spots.”
After a snack in the hut, I skied to the Hidden Vista Overlook and on to the Hawley Gulch Overlook. These trails offer an extra loop with some nice scenery. From Morgan Summit, I returned back to the parking lot via the road down.
My second adventure was a solo trip up the little canyon off the regular groomed trails at the South Valley Trails area.
This area features cross-country trails, fat bike trails, snowshoe trails and sledding hills. The parking lot is near the Mike Harris Campground. One of the loop trails goes through the Mike Harris Campground.
I headed up the groomed trail on the road from the parking area, then turned off on a self-groomed trail (not on the trailhead map) heading up a canyon and following a small stream.
The route turned out to be adventures in stream crossings with the previous skier bravely finding snow bridges across the stream. I liked the texture of the snow on this non-groomed, unpacked trail. Most of the time the stream was no wider than a yard or so and 6 inches deep, but I still didn’t want to make a splat in the running water. I guessed I was following an alpine-touring skier heading up into the hills looking for turns. The skier was obviously using climbing skins, but I stubbornly decided to make a go of it on my waxless skis. There were a few times when the going got steep, and I had to resort to side-stepping.
I only managed to sneak up into the canyon about a mile or two before it was either put on the skins or turn around. The way had narrowed to the point that sidestepping was not going to be an option. I opted to turn around.
The return trip was a zoomer, with a couple awesome crashes, due to unexpected dips or branches reaching out and grabbing me.
As I neared the junction with the groomed trails, I met a couple coming up the trail who asked about the way ahead.
“Adventures in stream crossings,” I said.
The woman was ready to turn around, but the guy she was with persuaded her to keep going “at least until it gets dicey,” he said.
Personally, I enjoyed the adventure of skiing through the deep forest on a self-groomed trail and wondering if the snow bridges were going to hold my weight over the stream below. I figured it wasn’t a life-and-death situation. At worst, I’d get a bit wet and probably embarrassed when I met other skiers. Being embarrassed is not a new thing for me.
Jerry Painter is a longtime East Idaho journalist and outdoorsman.
