It’s a glove, it’s a mitten – no, it’s the Mountain Hardwear split mitt!

It’s a glove, it’s a mitten – no, it’s the Mountain Hardwear split mitt!

Mountain Hardwear split mitt

The Mountain Hardwear split mitt combines design features of gloves and mittens. Pam LeBlanc photo

And it’s the lobster claw gloves for the win – or, more specifically, the Mountain Hardwear split mitt.

I love to ski, but I hate getting cold. And until this season, I hadn’t found the right covering to keep my hands warm.

I tried ski gloves, but my fingers turned into popsicles. I’d pull my fingers out of their individual glove sockets on every lift ride up, then curl them into a ball to try to thaw out between runs. I liked having the use of my fingers, but my fingers got numb and I couldn’t use them anyway, so what’s the point?

Mountain Hardwear split mitt

The Mountain Hardwear split mitt has a separate pocket for the pointer finger. Pam LeBlanc photo

Then I got a pair of mittens, which made me feel like an oversized kid. I’d wear a pair of thin glove liners underneath and shoved a chemical hand warmer between the layers. That helped, but it felt awkward and bulky. I missed having the use of at least one finger, so I could clip my helmet on, adjust my boots, or pull out my camera.

Read more:  In Northern Idaho, don’t miss charming Lookout Pass ski area

This season, I tested a pair of Mountain Hardwear High Exposure GTX Split Mitts. They’re a cross between mittens and gloves. My thumb and pointer finger get their own cozy pockets; my last three fingers huddle together for warmth.

The gloves are made with Gore Tex and are wind and waterproof. Other things I like? They extend about 5 inches past my wrist and have a drawstring so no snow slips down my sleeve. They’re also equipped with a wrist leash, so I don’t lose them.

Most importantly, they’re toasty warm.

 

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam

I tried my first BeaverTail in Canada … and loved it!

I tried my first BeaverTail in Canada … and loved it!

BeaverTails

Pam LeBlanc enjoys a treat from BeaverTails at Sunshine Ski Resort in Alberta, Canada in February 2022. Chris LeBlanc photo

Add BeaverTails to the list of Canadian food specialties I taste tested during last week’s trip to Banff.

First, I tried poutine – a mound of French fries topped in cheese curds and doused with brown gravy. Then I tried a BeaverTail – a ball of dough hand stretched into the shape of a beaver’s tail, then fried and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

If you want, you can get your BeaverTail topped with banana slices. Perhaps you’d prefer maple cream. Or try vanilla frosting and crunched up chocolate cookies. Or Reese’s pieces. You can even order what’s called a PouTail, a BeaverTail crowned with French fries, cheese curds and gravy.

Trying BeaverTails at Sunshine Ski Resort

While skiing Sunshine Ski Resort a few days ago, I stopped by the new BeaverTails trailer that opened on the mountain this season. People told me this was a big deal. And I have to say, I’m a fan. Imagine eating a broad, flat donut, hot out of the fryer, during a break in a day spent whizzing down frozen mountain slopes.

RELATED: Poutine: French fries, cheese curds and gravy combine for national dish of Canada

Sublime.

BeaverTails

Chris LeBlanc picks up his order at the BeaverTails trailer at Sunshine Ski Resort. Pam LeBlanc photo

I ordered the classic – just cinnamon and sugar. While I watched from a safe distance, the BeaverTails’ technician stretched out a wad of dough into an oval about 12 inches long and 5 inches wide. Then he dropped it in hot oil, plucked it out when it had bubbled to perfection, sprinkled it with the goods, and served it to me piping hot.

I washed it down with a side of hot cocoa.

BeaverTails originated in Ontario in 1978. The chain has expanded throughout Canada and into the United Arab Emirates, Mexico, France and, yes, the United States.

So far, though, BeaverTails has not made its way to Texas.

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam

Hitting the slopes in Colorado

Hitting the slopes in Colorado

beaver creek

Skaters enjoy the ice rink in the village in Beaver Creek, Colorado. Pam LeBlanc photo

I’ve made it back to the mountains for my first ski trip of the season, and I’m ready to do some skiing in Colorado.

This week, I’ll be exploring terrain in Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and Keystone, all places I’ve skied before, but not in a few years.

I didn’t make it to the front range of the Rocky Mountains last year. I hit Solitude, Utah, and Telluride, in western Colorado, for my fix instead. It’s nice to be back.

This week’s plan for skiing in Colorado

On tap here at Beaver Creek? An all-day private ski lesson tomorrow. Even though I’ve been skiing for more than two decades, I’m a fan of at least one lesson a year, to brush up on technique. I can’t wait to hit the moguls and glades, but I need to get my ski legs  back first. Wednesday I’ll get a tour of 250 new acres of terrain in the McCoy Park area of the resort.

Read more: Visiting the serene slopes of Solitude, Utah

Then, on Tuesday, I’ll move over to Breckenridge. I’m focused on skiing, but after I wring myself out on the mountain, I’ll take a little time to soak in the 31st annual International Snow Sculpture Championships. Teams from all over the globe carve designs out of 12-foot tall, 20-ton chunks of snow. The sculptures will remain on display through Feb. 2.

On Wednesday I’ll shift once again, this time to Keystone, where I’m super excited to do some cat skiing in Bergman Bowl. My very first skiing experience took place at Keystone back in the 1970s, when my family came for a visit.

Today was a bluebird day, but it looks like snow is in the forecast for Tuesday. I’m crossing fingers for freshies.

Read more: Ten things to do this winter in Telluride

Stay tuned…

 

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam

Red Mountain: $10 cat skiing, a barrel-shaped sauna and no crowds

Red Mountain: $10 cat skiing, a barrel-shaped sauna and no crowds

 

Cristi Sullivan skies the glades at Red Mountain. Pam LeBlanc photo

I love the modesty of Red Mountain.

While every other ski resort I’ve ever visited (and I’ve been to at least 25 places, from Aspen to Wolf Creek) tells me why I should get my turns there, Red Mountain does the opposite.

In 2010, they created a video titled “Red Sucks,” during which an obviously hung-over guy in a business suit laments “this crappy ski hill I’m staying at,” and complains about the slow lifts (well, maybe a little, but who cares), the crowded slopes (far from it) and the “fake trees” (they are not). It went viral and it’s hilarious. (Watch it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7Z0MBLHF20).

Since then they’ve opened a modern and affordable hostel at the base of the mountain that’s called The Nowhere Special hostel. (It is quite special.) And I overheard last night that they’re considering a new marketing campaign dubbed “Nothing to See Here.”

It all fits the personality of the place. It’s huge, full of powder stashes, free from crowds, and the town of Rossland, a 5-minute drive from the mountain, started as an actual mining town, so it’s got real grit and character. (Plus an amazing chocolate shop and a wonderful little museum.)

I caught one of the first chairs up the mountain at 9 a.m. yesterday and skied until after 3 p.m., and just grazed the surface. Glades, secret cabins in the woods, trees encrusted with snow and wearing furry green coats of lichen – it’s not like anyplace I’ve been before.

I’m not done with this mountain yet. I’ve got more terrain to explore, and more post-slopeside fun to find. One my list after I pop off my boots? A trip to the Rossland Beer Company in town, followed by dinner at the Flying Steamshovel, built at the site of the crash of an early version of a helicopter.

 Drue Kerns and Cristi Sullivan relax in a wooden, barrel-shaped sauna at the Josie Hotel at Red Mountain. Pam LeBlanc photo

Without further ado, things I love (so far) about Red Mountain Resort in Rossland, British Columbia:

 

  1. The “snow host” program. Local skiers and snowboarders have given free mountain tours to visitors daily for the last 40 years. Just head to the base area to meet one at 9 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. It might be a few folks in your group, or it might be just you. Seriously, do this. It’s fantastic.

 

  1. Powder stashes. Red Mountain Resort is the first stop on what’s known as the Powder Highway, and it’s known for never ending pow.

 

  1. No crowds. All that pow and so few people translate into what’s known locally as Powder Per Person, or PPP. “You get up there and it’s like you’re the only person on the mountain,” says Kylie Lakevold of Rossland Tourism, who grew up in this area and brought me to dinner (Canadian pickerel and champagne marinated mushrooms!) at Gabriella’s. “You can always find something that hasn’t been skied yet.”

 

  1. Great

    Staghorn lichen grows on tree trunks on the mountain. Pam LeBlanc photo

    terrain. The mountain spans 3,850 skiable acres with eight lifts. The breakdown? 17 percent beginner, 34 percent intermediate, 23 percent advanced and 26 percent expert. I peeked over the edge of some of the gnarliest couliers I’ve ever seen – and then backed carefully away.

 

  1. The wooden, barrel-shaped saunas located on the back steps of the fabulous Josie Hotel at the base. After a day of skiing, change into a swimsuit, wrap yourself in a robe (provided), and slip inside one of these cozy, steam-filled cocoons, where you can heat up your sore muscles and look out a round, bubble-shaped window at the mountain.

 

  1. The glades! Red is known for its glade skiing, and in some areas the lower branches have been trimmed off the trees. That makes it easy to slice and dice your way through zippy little tree-packed swathes without getting hung up on twigs and berries.

 

  1. The Nowhere Special Hostel. This modern, industrial-looking hostel opened two years ago and offers a super affordable option for staying right at the base. (Think lift ticket and bed for less than $150 per night.)

 

  1. Stories about the Winter Carnival , the oldest winter carnival in Canada (and there are lots of them) held here each January. A highlight of that event is the bobsled race, in which locals make homemade bobsleds out of everything from canoes and cardboard boxes to old snowmobiles, then race them down the steepest street in town.

 

  1. Summer in Rossland. Winter’s a bigger draw, but this area is known as the mountain biking capital of Canada. More than 200 kilometers of single track crisscrosses the mountains here. Explore Magazine named it the number one outdoor town in Canada.

 

 

  1. The Exchange rate! A Canadian dollar is worth about 75 cents to the American dollar. It’s like getting everything on sale!

 

 

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam

The slower pace of skiing in Gstaad, Switzerland

The slower pace of skiing in Gstaad, Switzerland

A young skier navigates the slopes of Eggli. Pam LeBlanc photo

I’ve spent a week or two every year for the past 25 years skiing resorts across the western United States and Canada.

I’ve burned through the trees in Lake Louise, braved the winds of Big Sky, blasted down the slopes of Telluride and kicked back in the fine mountain lodges of Sun Valley, but until this week, I’d never stepped a ski-clad foot on a European slope. I figured the skiing didn’t get any better than it did in the Rockies, and if I was going to go to Europe, I’d rather spend my time exploring villages and museums then schussing down mountains. Plus, I’d heard the lift lines described with a two-word term that loosely translates as chaotic.

Skiers relax during lunch on the slopes of Eggli. Pam LeBlanc photo

This past week, though, I packed my parka and goggles and aimed for Gstaad, Switzerland. And in a nutshell, I can’t wait to go back.

One thing I learned: The main pastime for most people who visit Gstaad isn’t really skiing. It’s a high-end destination, and most guests who stay in the luxury hotels or vacation homes have been coming for decades. And instead of hitting the ski slopes daily, like they do in Colorado, they fill their days with socializing, dining and shopping. Sure, they might squeeze in a day or two of skiing, but that’s not their focus.

That’s not to say the skiing isn’t fantastic. It is. It’s also different from skiing in the United States. The resorts around Gstaad are  smaller, more of a network of ski lifts connecting multiple towns.

My guide Bernhard steered me toward fresh snow with no tracks. Pam LeBlanc photo

We started on Eggli, skiing there one morning and pausing for lunch in a little wooden cabin atop a hill catered by a rotating cast of luxury hotels (the on-mountain restaurant is undergoing renovation, so it’s a temporary solution). Our group of eight tucked into the little shelter for an hour, enjoying wine, soup, pasata and thin, crusty pizza for an hour. Afterward, while the rest of the group ditched their skis for spa treatments, I talked the guide into spending more time on the slopes.

I love to ski, and those afternoon runs sent me to heaven. For an hour, we bypassed the intermediate slopes and headed for the ungroomed, off-piste areas. Over one ridge, we found untracked powder halfway up my calves. We dipped in and out of the trees and whooped and hollered all the way. I have no idea why no one else was back there, but it was the best tracks I’ve laid down in recent memory.

We wound up the next village over. And funny thing about Switzerland – some parts are German speaking, other parts are French speaking. We started on the German side and ended up in the French part, in the span of just a few miles.

Another difference here? Instead of swift-moving four-pack or five-pack chairlifts, we rode mostly T-bars and poma lifts. Slopes here are marked differently than in America, too – blue for beginner, red for intermediate and black for expert.

It’s a slower pace, yes, but civilized. We never once waited in line, even with fresh powder and a bluebird sky.

I also got to know my guide, Bernhard Hanswirth, a little bit. A local, he works part-time as a ski instructor for a company called Alpin Zentrum, and part-time as a dairy farmer and carpenter. He and his brother care for about 20 cows, just as their father and grandfather once did. While many of the local farmers make their own cheese from the milk they get from their cows, the Hanswirths sell it to a local creamery that does that part of the job. His oldest cow is 13 years old, he says, much older than a dairy cow typically lives in America. He obviously cares about his animals, and notes that by government regulation Swiss cows must spend at least every other day out in the pasture, not boxed up in a barn.

He prefers skiing of his three jobs, of course, and although he’s never skied in the United States, he likes the family friendly, casual vibe of skiing in this cozy slice of the Swiss Alps.

“Everything is a little bit smaller here” he says. “People like that it’s not as big or crowded as Aspen. The resorts are not as fancy.”

I want to go back and ski more in Gstaad! Pam LeBlanc photo

That surprises me, considering the luxe vibe of Gstaad, where designer stores like Louis Vuitton, Hermes and Prada line the narrow streets, and by regulation all the structures are built in the traditional wooden chalet style, none of them higher than three stories – above ground, anyway. Some extend like James Bond liars under the surface.

Lift tickets are less expensive here than in the big Colorado resorts, too, about $75 Swiss francs a day, and the U.S. exchange rate is currently about equal.

“You can ski six different villages from here,” added ski instructor Philipp Wirz of Bern, who has been teaching here for nine seasons.“It’s not so crowded. You can always find slopes that are not so steep for the beginner, too.”

The views are stupendous, he notes. You can see for miles, and a jagged peak called the Gummfluh draws the eye. “Everything is open,” Wirz says. “You can see over the mountains.”

Another bonus? The less-intense vibe. It’s possible to ski from village to village, pausing in each one to sip white wine and swirl crusty bread crusts in posts of cheese fondue in each one.

As Hanswirth and I make it to the bottom of the mountain, we glide right off the mountain to the back of a van driven by Wirz, who has driven to the next village to pick us up. That’s pretty impossible back home.

We ate lunch in a tiny cabin on the mountain. Pam LeBlanc photo

 

 

About Pam

I’m Pam LeBlanc. Follow my blog to keep up with the best in outdoor travel and adventure. Thanks for visiting my site.

Where is Pam?

Click to open a larger map

Follow Pam