LOWER AUSABLE LAKE & RAINBOW FALLS & INDIAN HEAD cross country skiing
Mar 9, 2014 - INDIAN HEAD via Lake Rd from Ausable Club in St Huberts. Skied the Lake Rd then switched to snowshoes at the Bypass Trail to Gill Brook & frozen falls. Ascent of IH very steep in places. Blue skies & little wind - gorgeous. Nice view toward Giant Mtn from northern lookout. From the ledges on IH the Ausable Lakes are below, Lower Lake flanked by Colvin & Sawteeth. The open rock face of Gothics stands out in the Great Range. In the far distance Vanderwhacker & Snowy (50 miles away!). Looped down on lake side - trail switches back often, a ladder covered in ice was unusable. Short side-trip to Gothics Window. Snowmobiles had been on the Lake Road (private access to camps on Upper Ausable Lake). Excitingly fast mostly downhill run out on the hard-packed road. ~10 miles, 6+ hours. Ran into Tony Goodwin when we stopped for dinner at the Ausable Inn.
Jan 20, 2013 - LOWER AUSABLE LAKE & RAINBOW FALLS. Lake Rd, AMR, Ausable Club. Good to excellent skiing - icy base with 1" powder at start but just kept getting better after the Gill Brook bridge, 6" powder on good base closer to the lake. Intense wind as we crossed the bridge below the dam & excellent view of the Indian Head above. Gain of ~700'. Short (but more technical skiing) trail to beautiful 150' icefalls. The run back down was so much fun. Side-trip to the Canyon Bridge on the Ausable River. 10.6 miles, 4.5 hours.
Dec 13, 2005 - LOWER AUSABLE LAKE ski, St. Huberts. Several inches of firm base topped with 2" of new wet snow at start, 4" of less-wet new snow at lake - temp ~30°F. Half mile walk from parking to gate on Lake Rd - private road owned by AMR, public (but not dogs) allowed on road & trails. Hemlock branches still loaded with snow - some melting in the morning sun. Took short side-trail past the Flume on Gill Brook, a waterfall drops between vertical 10' walls. Road climbs ~700' in 3 miles & reaches the lake at 3.5 miles. Rocky mountains rise steeply on either side, we cross the bridge over the outlet & lunch with a view of Indian Head across the lake. Ski tracks on the lake ice but I still don't dare test the ice myself (especially near the outlet - expect ice to be thinner wherever there is moving water). A short spur trail (somewhat challenging on skis) leads to Rainbow Falls - a veil of water drops 80' between blue ice into a narrow canyon. Mostly gentle downhill on return, a bit steeper from the Flume down to the bridge over Gill Brook - I link a few ungraceful telemark turns the 1st time down then drop my pack, reclimb & ski back down, this time opting for a straighter line & more speed. Lots of turkeys hanging out near the register. Finished up the ski day on the hilly golf course which has super views of Giant & Noonmark Mts. Broke one of my rules today - didn't put Maxiglide on skis before heading out. Over half way in, the snow started sticking to my skis & I had to stop to apply Maxiglide which then prevented the sticking. If you apply Maxiglide to clean dry nowax skis the day before your trip it will last longer & work better than applying it to wet skis in the field. Difficulty: easy intermediate. 8.5 miles, 4.2 hrs. Karhu Pyxis skis - same set-up as yesterday but different snow conditions made for a difference in performance.
Feb 15, 2004 - LOWER AUSABLE LAKE & RAINBOW FALLS ski, eastern High Peaks, from Ausable Club in St. Huberts. The unplowed 3.5 mile Lake Rd is on club property - no dogs or camping allowed. Road packed by light snowmobile traffic - snowmobiles are used to access private camps on Upper Ausable Lake. 2'+ powder snow off-road. 750' climb from parking to highest point on Lake Rd before dropping down to the lake - thin snow + rocks on this latter section (you may want to walk it). Despite a forecast for temps near 0°F it actually stayed between 10 & 13°F with little wind. Lunched at the boathouse on the lake with stunning views of Gothics & Colvin rising over 2,000' above the lake - mountains drop steeply to the lake's edge - great spot for suntanning. Skied W across the lake (turn around & look at the profile of Indian Head) & near the dam picked up the side-trail to Rainbow Falls which goes 0.2 miles into a narrow gorge - you may want to give up on the skis & hoof it in. The 150' falls were a delicate sculpture of ice & worth the sidetrip. Returned over the bridge below the dam & up the new detour trail back to the Lake Rd - this detour is narrow & steep & not very conducive to skis. The return down the road was fast & sweet. Took a side-trip to the Canyon Bridge but the Ausable River's falls & rapids were well-frozen - should be spectacular in spring, tho. 9 miles; 6 hrs. - easy intermediate skiing. Karhu Pinnacle (aka Vela) waxable skis - started with polar grip wax underfoot with cold universal glider on ends of skis but soon corked on a layer of special green & had very good grip & glide - wax wore off after about 5 miles, had to stop & rewax to maintain performance - very good turning & downhill control. Rottefella NNN-BC Auto bindings - make sure you kick your boot toe hard on back of ski to dislodge any snow behind bar in front of boot before entering binding - this makes it easier to lock in - I see many people with this problem - also once in a while spray silicone on binding where boot bar enters - good binding for light to moderate backcountry.
Jan. 30, 2000 - Destination Upper Ausable Lake. Snowmobiles had packed the snow on the Lake Rd. from the Ausable Club all the way to the Upper Lake - a mixed blessing: no breaking trail but not as nice as skiing in ski tracks or powder. Gorgeous day - mostly sunny all day, little wind - hit about 32F. Mountains come in close on the Lower Lake - Sawteeth on the west, Indian Head & Fish Hawk Cliffs prominent on the east. Upper Lake opens up with good views of Haystack, Marcy, Basin, Saddleback, Gothics, etc. Snowmobilers were staying at camps on the Upper Lake. One mile trail between lakes climbs in the middle making for nice runs down to the lakes (a welcome change after all the flat lake crossing). Ice on lakes was making lots of cracking noises (this is normal). 3 mile downhill run back down the Lake road was real fun & welcome because I was getting tired. About a 15 mile roundtrip overall in a little over 5.5 hours. Still got back in time to see all but one field goal in Super Bowl. Report from Pharoah Lake - 8" snow, no base, sometimes hit bottom, lake ice solid.
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