Driving through Jefferson on Route 2 passing by people ascending the stairs to their houses of worship, I spotted the white caked peaks of the Northern Presidentials dead ahead. While the faithful of small town northern New England filled into their neighborhood churches, the skiing faithful of New England descended upon the Mecca of backcountry in New Hampshire.
My church is the snow covered mountains and the stairs leading up to the church are skin tracks. I worship the snow and get down on my hands and knees to pray when I am ascending the steep boot ladders. My deity of choice is the Earth which brought me here and can take me out when ever it deems I have had my time to enjoy life. At which point I will rejoin the Earth and have my ashes dumped out across the mountains I worship. Today would not be that day though.
This morning dawned Blue Bird without a cloud in the sky. The evening’s radiational Cooling had me worried the snow would harden up too much, but temperatures soaring into the upper forties and lower fifties assured I need not worry about the snow not being soft enough. Avi reports came in low for the entire bowl, it was on.
Arriving at Pinkham just before 9 A.M., I was surprised to find a spot in the lot. Apparently, a lot of folks made the wrong call today! It was decision time and I choose Hillman’s Highway over the Gulf of Slides due to a few factors, not least of which included not having a partner. But I wanted to see the bowl today, it has been too long…
Skinning up the first quarter mile of the TRT was… interesting. Lots of rocks showing and water bars not filled in. I stepped right up and over the rocks with my skis on. At first the thin cover slowed me down slightly, but after the first quarter mile, the snow pack was solid and I was flying right past people looking at me and my skins incredulously (“Care to swap packs?”, asked one fellow). Look for the bottom quarter mile of the TRT to be hiking only later this week and definitely by next weekend given the excellent weather rolling in.
First views of The Bowl at HoJo’s were exceptional given the Blue Bird weather. All the main routes were filled in very well considering the type of season we have had. The conga line was already ascending The Lip, Sluice, and likely every other invisible Gully in the Ravine, but only a handful of skiers ascending Hillman’s per usual. Why people insist on skiing the Ravine proper all the time when Hillman’s offering such an awesome experience away from the crowds is beyond me. I took my time, ate some lunch, and got ready to tackle Hillman’s Highway.
After the skin over, I prepped for the climb. My confidence in the boot ladder has been substantially bolstered compared to last year due to a few factors including experience, a better rest step, slower pace, and a vibram sole on my new AT boots. Walk mode also allowed the legs to stretch a little better during the climb as well. Given the improvements, I still don’t have much muscle strength or stamina! Yet again, I conked out at the gully split around the three-quarters mark. Given the Blue Bird sky and perfect weather, I really wanted to get to the top of that gully. I even had thoughts of skinning over to the cone and seeing what the snowfields had to offer. But alas, it was not to be. On top of the legs being shaky, my right elbow was beginning to fatigue and was providing me with a slightly painful throbbing. Enough factors to make me realize yet again that there is always next week. So I clicked in and dropped in from three the gully split.
Coverage was unbelievable in the gully allowing the ability to arc some huge turns with no chance of going end to end without traversing. The snow did not corn up despite the warmth, but it was relatively soft. I would call it slightly corned slab conditions, if you would. Frozen balls of snow rained down from above when ever someone in the gully made a turn or came to stop. Turns took a lot of effort and the snow tried to buck you forward and backward. Nothing extremely challenging, but certainly kept you on your toes and made you work for your turns. All and all, an excellent run.
I debated hiking up the Lower Snowfields after a brief rest but my legs and right elbow were having no part in that plan. Body parts all over were begging for mercy, so I showed them none by heading right for the Sherburne without a break. In my recent report on Saddleback, I called the glade trail “Intimidator” the most aptly named ski area trail in New England. Well, as any one knows that has skied it, the “Sure-Burn” is perhaps the most aptly named Backcountry trail in New England.
The Sherburne skied like butter where it was sunny and scraped like frozen granular McSludge in the shade. Obviously, snow in the sun was preferred. The top three quarters of the Sherburne skied great! Occasionally some small bumps, but fairly flat for the most part. Not many issues with rocks or coverage, just fantastic overall. The last quarter of the trail was a different story. Things started getting a little thin at the one quarter remaining section with occasional sections of only half the coverage remaining (you guessed it! The half in the shade). Just thin enough to make things interesting. However, the last quarter mile of the trail was toast. Some of us adventurous spirits skied over some grass, rocks, and sludge trying to link snow patches, but eventually it was time to saddle up the skis and hoof it. Look for the bottom quarter mile of the trail to roped off by tomorrow I would bet and the bottom quarter of the trail should likely be roped by next weekend.
An outstanding morning and afternoon in some of New England’s finest backcountry. My elbow performed beyond expectations but still left me hurting by the end of the day. That is acceptable considering only a few months ago I doubted I would have enough arm strength to perform such a climb. Got to work on the leg strength and stamina issues though! So close but so far just is not acceptable, especially on a day like today.
