Ode to an Avalanche Shovel

Chief of Operations writes:

And Jenn writes:

Ode to an Avalanche Shovel

It is amazing how luxurious an avalanche shovel is. 

With deep snow piling up for weeks and buried lines being dug out with mitted hands, backs of hammers, or the little folding saw…I was quite thrilled to be handed a small blue and black avalanche shovel today.

Now this is not for every tool kit being lugged up the snowy slopes for a day of tapping trees. Today Chops (Chief of Operations) needed a hand fixing the main lines. 

The snow after a few days of wind, sun, fluctuating temperatures and more snow has made a few crusty layers here and there with layers of fluff on top and
in-between.

Still quite challenging for snowshoeing and any hint of the terrain underneath is smoothed over with a sparkly frosting. 

The main lines are comprised of a black PVC which runs throughout the sugarbush (hopefully) a few feet off the ground. A metal wire runs alongside the line – metal ties attached to it to hold the PVC up – and is used for attaching ties to trees to keep everything in place. Then of course all the little blue tap lines swerve from tree to tree down the hill until they attach into the main lines. 

We started the first few fixes of broken tie lines and small wind-downed trees. We trudged down one side of ravines and up the other. Shoveled long-buried main lines covered in icy crust to find fallen trees. 

However the truly advantageous moment was digging a trench almost 5 feet down following a main line under a large downed tree, covered in layered hardpack, air pockets, and fluff. No match for a mitted hand, back of a hammer, or little folding saw. 

-JG