That Familiar Burn: Up, up and not so fast down.

But first this photo is from bike practice a few days ago.

Apparently it is strong enough to ride across. I did not try. Lake Superior in January is awfully cold...

With the recent purchase of downhill skis and AT (alpine tourning) bindings, boots, and other gear. I have been finding all the fun places to ski in and near the city. My main skiing partner and I have found a few good places. There would be many many good places if there was not so much damn brush. All the little trees that make it impossible to go down the hill without impaling some body part. But when an open area it is usually pretty dang good.
Today we set off on an expedition to try and find some bigger hills up the Shore. I looked around on Google earths new terrain feature because it makes looking so easy, and then with the satellite views, even better.
Anyhow, up the shore. From the road one of the hills I had zeroed in on looked pretty damn good, so we were off. as we got closer to the base the brush got quite thick, but we continued on in hopes of clearing, when there was no clearing we continued on in hopes of the backside being clear. 2.5 hours of pushing through waist deep snow at some points up very steep slopes brought us to the summit of Carlton Peak . To my surprise it was very windy and cold up there, bare rock and no trees even. Almost like a real mountain, except that it was only 1600 feet high... Oh well. Some day soon.
After a bit of hot cocoa and freezing our fingers it was time to try and start down. We found a clear trail, but it was not very steep, thus not very exciting. Before long it was back into the brush. With the effort put in going up, neither of us had the energy left for another try. Despite the lack of skiing it was quite an adventure. Well worth it.
All we need is a good forest fire and that place would be amazing, like many of the places in Duluth. Common Forest Service, I know you want to!