Nov 13/21 snowshoe to Dam Mountain

[Ye Chu]

Six happy hikers met in dry conditions at 9:15 am to catch the gondola up to Grouse Chalet. Some hikers expressed surprised by the amount of snow on the mountain. Yesterday’s soft wet snow formed a hard crust layer overnight.

Even with snowshoes, we often took turns falling through the crust layer and sinking knee/thigh deep into soft snow on the Fritz’s Trail. The going was pretty challenging and eventually one person broke their snowshoe and had no choice, but to hiked up in one snowshoe and one microspike. At this point we decided to let the onesnowshoer lead, otherwise we would end up going too fast and it would/might be demoralizing for onesnowshoer. After an hour and a half, we summitted Dam mountain and had a quick snack break. Coming down the very steep slope was a bit sketchy on snowshoes and more so for onesnowshoer. At this point, some elected to change into microspikes. We decided to go down the watershed trail to avoid the steep downhill, hoping it would be easier, but for some it made no difference. There was a lot of postholing, falling forwards and backwards and by the time we got back to the chalet, some were beat and wanted to go home quickly for a hot bath. Others decided to have a nice hot tea together in the Chalet for interesting discussions on Southern France, Local Politics, Mass Transit, Affordable Housing and how to make the Best Roasted Chicken. See below for my recipe:

Here is Ye’s Easy Roasted Chicken Recipe (as per Patricia’s requested)

Wash with filtered tap water the entire chicken, inside and out. Stuff the small organic chicken with two organic lemons with lemon skin gently sliced open. Cover the entire chicken in a thick layer on paprika powder and dried rosemary. Add salt and pepper if desired. Place in preheated oven at 350 F degrees for 1 to 2 hours depending on your oven. Cover with a lid or foil to create a steam bath. Once cooked, the juicy meat will melt off the bone and the paprika/rosemary gravy will be mouthwatering. Enjoy it on a rainy night with roasted potatoes and salad.

Thanks to Mark, Tracy, Amy, Patricia and Jatinder for the entertaining day.

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