Melissa's Misfits misadventures

“Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
A tale of three misfits.
They skiied a winter wonderland
For a three hour tour,
A three hour tour.

The weather was really getting nice,
The tiny cabin was hot.
If not for the curious fearless two,
No time would have been lost,
No time would have been lost.

While Skeetah bait was occupied,
Monkeyboy crossed the stream.
Twigeater followed close behind,
And quickly turned around.
She soon found out it wasn't safe
And plunged right thru the ice.
She shrieked, "I'm wet" and flailed around
In hope she'd be rescued.
Nothing seemed to help at all,
Then she crawled out herself.
Her hands were froze, but she was dry
Skeetah tried to help.
She warmed her fingers in her pits
And they did start to thaw.
And they did start to thaw.

Monkeyboy was still behind,
On the other side.
He had to chase that woodpecker,
Knocking on the tree.
He caught a glimpse,
And soon surmised, he'd better get across.
The sun would shine, but not for long,
A storm was on the way.

We talked and talked, What should we do?
Should they go away, to bring back help,
From far away, or find another way?
Soon, another way was found,
All gathered up dead wood.
A bridge was built to spread his weight
Across the broken ice.

Monkeyboy was heard to say:
I feel pretty good about that!
He ate, he drank, he took a leak,
Threw off his coat and hat,
Soon he'd try to cross the stream,
All ready for a swim.

Skeetah said, be careful please,
I want you in one piece.
Twigeater was on the bank, ready if need be.
Monkeyboy took a step
And said this is easy.
Twigeater said shut your mouth,
You're sure to fall in now,
Just get your butt across the stream
He did and all was well!

Now we're here to share this tale,
No fingers did we lose.
Skeetah did relax at last,
That all of us were safe.
Our skiis were frozen to our feet,
A wookie we did break.
All were in one piece at least,
And we were on our way!”

“LOL”

“For a second I thought this thread was going to be about me! (obviously my name is Melissa)”

“WOW!!! Twiggy, don't be skeerin' me like that! I'd a warmed you up good and proper, my purple ballerina!!!
last edited: 2/18/08 6:30:29 PM”

“Hmmm, sounds like Twigeater wasn't carrying the stream crossing waders I made for her.”

“How did you break a wookie?     LOLOL”

“Man, oh man. Least there was one sane person on this trip! Someone's gotta keep 'em in line. ;)

The "wookie" was Monkeyboy's Leki pole....seems it got a little frozen and the brute strength of his just snapped it right at the threads..... :(

Other than the "great adventures" it was just a "typical" winter weekend backpacking hike, x-country skiing, and snowshoeing kinda stuff.”

“Hey Skeetah! It's been too long, miss yous guys. Thank you, monkeyboy for sending me periodic trip reports, I liked 'em!!!!”

“Ginger, oh my Ginger!
Capn Bobo
8:30:05 PM

Silly Bobo, Miss Twiggy has the very best parts of Ginger AND Mary Ann.”

“I wish I had been there to rescue my Twigeater.”

“Long time.................no Maine.”

“LOL!

What a great time we had this weekend!

I'd been on this trail and crossed this bog in winter before, so following monkeyboy didn't seem so crazy...
I did see him flounder on the bank, but thought it was just the depth of the snow...then I started to flounder at the same place...but when my ski came up wet, I turned back - ballerina style, which put my considerable weight on one ski, and the earth moved! LOL...I landed face down in the snow, with no gloves on, skis buried, and only a shirt (purple at that!) and ski pants on. I tried to get up and move forward, but each time more of the the snow/ice collapsed. I noticed there was blood in the snow as well.

I couldn't get up, couldn't get my damn skis off, or even pull them out of the snow-water, and my hands were freezing...when they finally were so numb I couldn't feel them anymore, I hauled myself up and out somehow.

Skeetah did try and help with her wookie, but there wasn't much anyone could do without putting themselves in danger. Thawing my hands was the worst part, and skeetah offered to help with that as well. :)

The blood was only from a scraped knuckle, and for the most part I was dry. I scraped the ice off my skis and we built a bridge for monkeyboy.

It was a bog, and the water was not very deep at that, so there really wasn't any danger of anyone being submerged. And the crossing wasn't that far even...it was just the wet, cold, storm on it's way, difficult to manuever in 4 feet of snow, where does land end and water begin, a mile or two from the bunkhouse, 5 miles after that to other people...that added up to an adventure that could have turned into a bad situation.

...but we're around to do it again...




NOT!”

“Wow, That's scary being on broken ice with skis on trying to get out. I'm glad everything turned out okay and it was only a scraped knuckle. It sounds cold and uncomfortable though.”

“yeah RichB, that story sure did scare the crap outta me! =:~O A face plant on skis with no gloves, blood in the snow, trapped on an icy snow bog with the earth moving on a raging Maine river, egads! Thank Gawd for the twigeater's training as a ballerina. If it can happen to twiggy, it surely can happen to anyone. Sigh... my purple ballerina! The one thing I would have probably done differently would be to get ALL of twiggy's clothes off... just to be sure there was no lingering hypothermia setting in... anywhere!

>B~+
last edited: 2/19/08 8:29:19 AM”

“It sounded scary to me, but I'm glad eveything turned out okay and no serious injuries.
I fell in a creek in winter a long time ago on a dayhike and got wet from my waist down along with my hands. I didn't know what else to do, but just start running back to my vehicle that was 2 miles away. It's pretty shocking falling into water in winter. I hope not to repeat that again. Going though ice is even worse, but I never had that happen.”

“The January winter trip we skied across Lower Togue Pond, much to skeetah's dismay - I bet next time we come up with an idea like that, she'll remind us of our mis adventure on Boody Brook.

Y'all oughtta come on up to Compass Pond again...hang out, drink beer, play in the snow...”

“One thing that was disconcerting was kicking off the skiis. I think we have all seen the video on what to do if you fall thru the ice on skiis. First thing is to remain calm and then kick off the skiis. Problem is with backcountry bindings, they are a little more stout than regular bindings. I have only once every come out of them, and it was a pretty serious wipeout that caused that. Good thing is that we didn't have to try to dig thru 4 feet of snow over a stream to get Twiggy's skiis back.

Hey Bobo, that's my girl you are talking about there. Be very gentlemanly with what you suggest about her!!!!LOL!!!”

“and don't abuse the wookie ----”

“I never thought about getting the skis off, but that seems like it would be tough to do if you couldn't reach them. I can't remember my cross country ski bindings ever releasing in any fall I've taken. Not that I took any hard falls, but still they seem to hold the skis tightly.”

“In the video we saw of someone demonstrating falling in icy water, perhaps he had on three pin bindings????

My NNN bindings just do not let go.”

“I have those NNN binding too and I never even thought they had a release on them since they never let go on mine either. The spring seems very strong on them.”

“LOL @ Bobo!
Twigeater, glad you didn't get soaked and it was just the knuckle.”

“Another wookie was "abused" on the trip out...I'm curious to how you guys make out getting those repaired/replaced...

Monkeyboy and I had to take our boots off to get our skis off at the bunkhouse, not the first time I've had to do that.

The incident in the "three hour tour" saga was not the only time over the weekend I was wallowing in the snow, unable to get skis off so I could get up.
The first time we were in search of an elusive lean-to, and as usual, we ignored skeetah's pleas to "get back here you guys, right now!" LOL...and the snow just sucked me in...I couldn't even get to my left boot, and monkeyboy had to release the right one so I could get up.”

“I hate ski-ing over ice (says the Canuck). I've told this story before, so stop me. We skied into Grassy Pond - 'we' are myself and my Yorkshire buddy who got me into 'hill walking' as he calls it.

I taught him how to ski - downhill, backcountry and light touring. Sliding is not normal for Brits who have all the equipment not to - boots, cleats, crampons, et c. I always avoided ice and iced over ponds.

Ice is always moving and when it cracks the weight of the ice pushes up water and ice forms over it to create a wet pocket. Also, unless you know the area (very) well, thin ice can get and kill you (ask your favourite skidoer).

Ski-ing with ice packed skis is impossible; carrying them out when you're wet just might not get you to where you want to go - ever.

Anyhoo, Mick and I got to Grassy Pond and there were skiers ahead of us. They had skied across the pond and Mick suggested it might be safe to follow their tracks - and we did.

When we got back to trailhead Mick said he'd dreamed about ski-ing across a frozen lake and it was one of the reasons he had chosen Canada. I felt a little guilty, but not for long.”

“I've heard stories from sledders who've gone under and survived - apparently once under the ice it's hard to tell which way is up - creepy. It's a nightmare of mine, but I do like to ski on snow covered ice. Usually I only go out if there are plenty of fishermen on the lake.

Me and my grandgirl make lip balm, and I discovered in January that it works great for keeping skiis from icing up (beeswax)...and now I bring it every time we go out.

Ice moving forms the pressure ridges and every lake has one...also a "glub-glub" monster...LOL...”

“Yup.”

“Hah Hah!!!

Twiggy said Boody Brook!
:D


Hey Sass!”

“Yeah, Twigeater yah never know when that glub-glub monster is gonna come up and suck ya right under! ;)

As far as the going out onto the frozen ponds go, I just figure ifin other crazy's are out there, then might as well join em!

I'm not sure who I was more scared about, poor Twig looking as though the stream had swallowed her up with Monkeyboy on the other side and/or Monkeyboy "stuck" on the other side with no way back.

I tried my best to help Twig, reaching out as far as I could with my pole. I certainly didn't want all three of us in a predictament.... Was kinda crazy on my part though, like I could pull Twig out, holding onto a branch attached into the ground. Come to think of it, the branch really wasn't that sturdy, but I felt I needed to try something to help. I even offered my body to her(to try to help warm her hands, that is), but to no avail.....what can I say, I think I've become my mother.... LOL”

“LOL! Love that description...

me too - I've become my mother, that is...”