After three glorious days of bright sun shine and warm temperatures ideal for corn snow, the weekend delivered a horrible blow to Mount Washington in the form of an evening freeze, overcast skies, and no softening in sight. Far from ideal conditions for the annual Inferno Race sponsored by the Friends of Tuckerman, the race would go on and so would my tour.
I arrived at Pinkham Notch Visitor Center (PNVC) shortly after 7 A.M. anticipating the huge crowds the events draws. However, I obtained front row parking at the Gulf of Slides trail head with plenty of spaces remaining on both sides of the lot. I managed to escape the crowds and secure a primo parking spot by getting a slightly earlier start than normal. Starting too early might not have allowed the snow to soften up sufficiently; but alas, there would be no softening of the snow today. The weather forecast had predicted partly cloudy skies warming to the mid-forties but the mercury combined with the wind chill likely never pushed out of the thirties.
I made quick hiking of the Gulf of Slides Ski Trail with exception of the bottom of the trail which was excessively muddy due to melting snow. Just below the lower First Aid Cache, continuous snow was spotted and marked by a stick in the snow. I decided to switch my boots and skin up the remaining section of the Ski Trail to Main Gully. Skinning was hardly worth the effort with numerous bare spots requiring walking the skis over and two spots requiring taking the skis off completely. The snow on the Ski Trail was very hard and unfriendly. The previous three days’ warm weather saturated the snow with moisture and the evening freeze locked everything up. It would be an interesting climb up Main Gully!
The excellent boot ladder up lookers right of Main Gully was long gone and replaced by a much steeper and hairier boot ladder up lookers left of the gully which passed along side a crevasse and much exposed rock. The snow pack was not conducive to kicking in new steps so I tried my luck on the existing boot ladder up lookers left. Climbing was not fun but doable until half way up the gully near the crevasse. Streams of water flowing underneath the snow on the boot ladder had frozen solid making the creation of new steps a near impossible effort. Suddenly, I was aware of the stressful fact that I could not kick out a shelf to get my skis on at that point. Therefore, I was by default committed to ascending higher despite my reservations. After a brief “Oh Shit” moment, I assessed the area near the boot ladder and determined to hike another three dozen vertical feet to a relatively flatter section of snow above some tree limbs. The snow softened slightly and kicking steps was again possible once I was free of the ice flow area. However, despite the increasing safety of the boot ladder above, I decided not to further tempt fate and click in from the halfway mark.
Skiing was surprisingly very nice as the top layer of snow had not completely frozen. Each turn sent hundreds of frozen corn pellets flying down the gully. Conditions were essentially “frozen corn,” a spring skiing on Mount Washington rendition of what ski areas might refer to as loose granular re-frozen corn. I did not get many turns but I enjoyed them all thoroughly. The ski out down to the upper First Aid Cache was excellent featuring the remains of a narrow three to four foot wide section of the gully run out requiring quick and nibble turns and rotary motions. Skiing out from the upper First Aid Cache down to just below the lower First Aid Cache essentially sucked featuring extreme thin cover, broken cover, hard frozen granular snow, and three foot wide patches. I milked the Ski Trail for all the snow I could before switching to hiking boots and down hiking the remainder of the trail.
Reports of dozens of skiers and riders sliding down The Lip next door in Tuckerman Ravine were posted the next day. Dangerous conditions for climbing and skiing were not limited to Gulf of Slides and many less cautious skiers paid the price for their unwillingness to head poor conditions. The Volunteer Ski Patrol assisted with many injuries resulting from the many falls that caused uncontrollable aerials and acrobats. It was a subtle reminder to always respect the Rock Pile and be ready to turn back when conditions are not prime. Other people’s follies reassured me that my decision to stop half way up Main Gully was sound.
This was definitely not one of my better days skiing Mount Washington with so much effort put in for so few turns. My sound decision to play things safe does not lessen the disappointment in the weather, snow conditions, and quantity of turns. But those turns I did make ensured the entire outing was worth while. With the Ski Trail now essentially melted out and the Main Gully loosing snow cover quick and opening up a crevasse at the mid-point, it is high time to re-focus my remaining season on Tuckerman Ravine proper and post work turns at nearby Jay Peak.