Category: Mount Washington

2005-2006 Season, April, Earned Turns, Gulf of Slides, Mount Washington

Gulf of Slides, NH

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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.

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2005-2006 Season, April, Earned Turns, Gulf of Slides, Mount Washington

Gulf of Slides, NH

Steve at the Top of Main Gully

What is better than one bluebird day on Mount Washington? How about two straight bluebird days on Mount Washington?! After last Sunday’s epic day in Tuckerman Ravine, I figured my best days of the season were behind me as the snow cover began to recede. But Gulf of Slides had more than enough snow to delight under a canopy of blue. Warm temperatures and bluebird skies dominated the afternoon as we found ourselves thinking at times that it was actually too warm.

At 8 A.M., I met up with Jim and Sled at Pinkham Notch Visitor Center. The sky was completely bluebird with temperatures on the rise. We discussed what to leave behind based on the warm temperature and the desire to travel as light as possible. Essentially, the more we decided to leave behind the better. Almost no extra layers besides our base layers were truly needed though Sled and I donned the wind shells for the descent.

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2005-2006 Season, April, Earned Turns, Hillman's Highway, Mount Washington

Blue Bird Day on Hillman’s Highway

Hillman's Gullies from HoJo's

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.

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2004-2005 Season, Because, Earned Turns, July, Mount Washington, Tuckerman Ravine

July Turns in Tuckerman Ravine

Glorious July Sliding in Tuckerman Ravine

“Yes, there really is snow up there.” “No, I am not carrying my skis to train for next season.” “Yes, I really am going skiing today!” At one point while hiking down the Tuckerman Ravine Trail, I was so sick of answering questions that I told the next hikers I saw “yes, I really just skied” before they could ask. It was funny answering all the questions at first but it got old pretty quick.

Nearly a month after making my first ever turns in June, I returned to Tuckerman Ravine to make my first ever July turns. Recent reports online had very impressive amounts of snow remaining in the Ravine. Recent rains and high temperatures had washed much of the snow away but more than enough was left for July turns!

Chute sported a small patch of snow remaining below the choke but was hardly worth the effort for the four or five possible turns. Two other skiers decided to try the Chute snow patch and had great difficulty ascending the patch. At one point, one of the slides fell and took a slide but managed to recover before falling off the patch.

The preferred option with the most vertical was the long but narrow snow patch under the waterfall. The run paralleled the Tuckerman Ravine Trail for approximately 150 vertical feet. Up to twenty turns could be had if you really milked the run and even less if you opened things up a bit. Those twenty or so turns were heaven! Wow!

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2004-2005 Season, Because, Earned Turns, June, Mount Washington, Tuckerman Ravine

Tuckerman Ravine, NH

Tuckerman Ravine from the Cache

My first ever June turns were had at Tuckerman Ravine. The big news in the Ravine today was a car sized rock falling off the headwall and nearly decapitating a skier. I was just clicking into my skis in Left Gully when a commotion of yelling and screaming could be heard from the Ravine proper. I could not see the action due to the gully, but when I reached Lunch Rocks, I was told that a car sized rock fell off the headwall and split into two pieces. The two pieces tracked in various directions with one hunk gunning for a person climbing up Chute. The rock looked to be heading straight down at first, but then started turning towards the bottom of the chute. word was the guy jumped at the last second and saved his life by two feet! The ravine cleared out pretty fast after that humbling experience was witnessed by most of the people up there.

The heat today was oppressive. The hike up to the bowl was easy enough. But once in the bowl, the sun came out and started baking everyone and everything. Even with minimal acceptable clothing for skiing the ravine for my standards, I was over heating. Having decided a warm up on the bottom part of Chute was in order first, I booted up below Lunch Rocks and began my ascent. While hiking up, a “river of snow” started sliding down the bowl next to me. How weird, cool, and concerning all at the same time! I only hiked up to the chock of the Chute as I wanted to conserve my energy for the hike up Left Gully. I clicked in and began making turns on the ridiculously wet snow. Making turns and stopping became a minor issue because the ski edges were cutting and sliding rather than digging in. It was okay skiing but left something to be desired.

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