Deerfield Valley Marathon Report March 2

[sambartlett]

Deerfield Valley 'Marathon', aka Dam Long Tour aka “Ski 'til you drop” Sunday March 2, 2008
Submitted by Sam Bartlett


Six optimistic backcountry skiers headed south from Kelley Stand on the Catamount Trail at 6:45am. Our alleged destination was the VT/MA border 35 miles away. Two recent storms had left about 18” of light snow on top of a solid base. As soon as we left the snowmobile trail we knew we wouldn't make the 35 miles in daylight (which meant we wouldn't make it).
Breaking trail was slow work. The many open or steep-sided stream crossings slowed us down as well; under other conditions they could be skied right over, or side-stepped across. But the relatively warm winter kept the wet spots open, and the four feet of snow made the sides steep, so we had to hunt for good crossing spots, which further slowed progress. Luckily we had a bailout car at Rt 9 fifteen miles away, so we kept on, rotating trail breaking duties. I found my arms getting tired from holding my poles up out of the snow, and sometimes just dragged them (my poles, that is).
Once we got to Somerset Reservoir the wind picked up, chilling those who weren't breaking trail, and making the dreaded Somerset Drifts for those who were. We actually had skiers asking if they could be next to break trail to warm up.
The trail work last fall by Jim and MaryLou Briggs and crew was much appreciated, we hope that next fall they'll clip higher as we were often ducking branches that were probably eight or ten feet off the ground. We met a solitary northbound skier just before Somerset Dam (the first of three dams on the Dam Long Tour), he was glad to have a broken trail for the rest of his day's ski, and his worked sped us up a bit. We did the 7.8 miles of Section 4 by 12:30, barely more than 1 mph, a new (slow) record for a DVM.
We were back to unbroken trail south of Somerset Dam. The stream bed section of the trail was particularly tricky, with iced skis for several of us. The warm temperatures and fresh snow were giving several of us problems, my waxable skis which had worked so well on two prior trips became 220cm snowshoes. We came to fresh tracks near the East Branch Trail, my skis broke free of their icy anchors and I managed to catch the rest of the group.
At the EBT junction we were back to trailbreaking again, and icy skis. (Note to self, if Pete Lane isn't using waxable skis, I shouldn't be either.) We were glad to find the new reroute on Section 3 that bypasses a particularly nasty climb, and Tim Marr and gang had done a nice job of brushing out the trail for us last fall. Just south of Searsburg Dam we came to the tracks of our bailout car drivers (who had given up on us and gone home, leaving us a van, as planned) and again could fly along on the slight down grade. Even when the track became trampled by snowshoers we could get a good kick-glide going.
After ten hours of steady skiing cheers broke out when we saw the van, and there wasn't any discussion of continuing on. It seems the 'Marathon' gets shorter every year. Everyone said they had a good time, which brings into question either their sanity or their honesty, but it was a beautiful day on some of Vermont's most wilderness backcountry.
We left behind a perfectly broken-out trail for 15 miles, so someone else might complete the Marathon this year, although the rain a few days later probably made the stream crossings even tougher, and freezing weather will turn it all to concrete.
This event is scheduled in early March every year, so start making your excuses now!