Gulf of Slides contained stellar late season snow and yielded many fine runs. Evidence of massive slides was evident crossing the run out paths on the Gulf of Slides trail en route to Main Gully. Austin and a friend were also skiing the gully and we shared some fine turns.
Another sensational day on the rock pile. Due to a later start than planned, I paid the price as the lots were full by my arrival at PNVC around eight o’clock. Route 16 became a parking lot as cars angled into spots up and down the road. While gearing up at my car, I received a few odd comments from less knowledgable and experienced skiers regarding wearing shorts and putting on my boots. “You gonna hike up in those?”. Nah, I’m gonna skin up!
Snow conditions allowed for skinning from the Sherburne/Avalanche Brook Trail connection to a quarter mile up the Gulf of Slides Trail. Then I hiked for about 20 minutes and skinned the rest of the way with two or three portages. Much better coverage on the Gulf of Slides Ski Trail than I had expected. Though I will admit on the ski down, I really pushed the definition of skiable coverage to the breaking point. Avalanche damage where the first major gully crosses the Gulf of Slides Ski Trail is stunning. During the ascent, a heel blister issue began was of concern. The uncomfortability, and later pain, would get worse throughout the day but I didn’t let it stop me.
After gearing up above the First Aid Cache, I started with the Main Gully which had seen the most traffic so I figured I would hit it first. The gully was somewhat bumpy and choppy but a really great ski. Not quite mashed potatoes but beyond perfect corn. The Intuitiv Bigs have seen very little action lately but skied wonderfully today in the gullies. These skis are sensational for this type of skiing. After climbing back up the excellent boot pack lookers’ left in the Main Gully, I had a snack above the snow pack (which is creeping down quickly) and relaxed to a great view up and down Pinkham Notch. After my break, I hiked over to the next gully skiers’ left and dropped in to more sensational turns. My heel was really giving me problems at this point and skiing was somewhat uncomfortable. But the heck with pain, I had time to be sore when I got done skiing.
What a productive day I was having at work! Really busy week and I finally felt like I was making some head way and clearing off my to do list. The original plan was to leave around three o’clock and head up to Cannon for some turns. Though I was honestly thinking about working right through my normal departure time. And then I stepped outside for a moment and knew my day behind the desk was officially over.
Due to dilly dallying at work, I got a later start than expected. I also neglected to pack up the car in the morning so needed to do the seven minute door to door commute home to pick up my gear and grab a snack. Within a few moments, I was back on the road heading up to Cannon forty minutes door to outdoor. Life doesn’t suck.
Due to the late start, I hesitated as I pulled into the Peabody lot. The time was five o’clock and I said I would be home by seven. Unsure if I could pull off two thousand verts of skinning in about an hour, I decided to head Tramside and lap Avalanche a few times. I booted up Avalanche which was covered wall to wall and stumbled upon more wall to wall coverage on Extension. Well, sure glad I brought my skins just in case! In short time, I was at the top of Extension and “oh yell, why not” I was skinning up Middle Cannon to the unload station of the Peabody Quad. And then “jeez, the summit is right there…. oh hell, why not!”
I made good time but was definitely going to be running a little late. Oops. The air was electrifyingly perfect with a very slight breeze near the summit blowing cool over the snow. I was heating up something fierce and the temperature and wind were perfect despite my short sleeve. I soon had the summit all to myself. Had I stuck around, I would have witnessed a stunningly sensational sunset. But alas, a lot of snow was already in the shade and I was already delayed by fifteen minutes thanks to making good time on the skin up.
With a comp ticket left to burn and Stowe closing on Sunday, I made lift serviced a priority. Especially considering the alternative of skiing on Mount Washington during its busiest weekend of the year due to the Inferno race. Today was yet another blue bird day *yawn* I think this is almost getting old. You know the type of day… not a cloud all day, bright sun shine, soft snow, etc. What I wouldn’t give for -10F, crowded, and frozen hard packed snow conditions. Why any one skis this late into the season is beyond me. Bunch of wackos. 😉
It never got below freezing last night so the snow was really soft from the get go and temps were excessively warm. Having never been up on the ridge before, I climbed up and poked around a bit. Being solo and unfamiliar with the terrain, I played things conservatively and skied back down one of the climbing gullies. It was nice to get the lay of the land on a nice day. Looked like a few options might have still been in play barely via the chin but like heck I was going route finding by myself without good coverage. Had a great first run up top then a wicked soft and slushy Perry Merrill back to my car. I switched to alpine gear and ditched most of my clothes opting to ski in a t-shirt with no gloves. It had to have hit 70 today at the Octogon. Fashions on the hill were easy on the eyes as folks stripped down to beat the heat.
Began hammering bumps via the Forerunner Quad during the morning and on into the afternoon. Went back and forth choosing various hits from Hackett’s to Goat. Upper Liftline was really nice and Lower Goat was also to my liking. As was Lookout where I enjoyed some of the best lines of the day. Hackett’s was farily thin in places and occasionally barely passable without going into the woods. Upper Starr was toast and not fun though Middle to Lower Starr had much better bumps. Hayride was enjoyable and as per usual Liftline was a bore below the upper section.
Many locations offered poor lines and bad bumps, especially those areas that received the most traffic. However, decent lines and bumps were most often found where most skiers were not. Almost one hundred percent coverage except a few minor bare spots. Even the base area looked great. Needless to say, Stowe could have gone at least one more week with only a few trail closures and minimal need to push some snow down to the lifts at worst. But lift service will end Sunday at Stowe. No chairs went up empty today and there was a short two to three minute wait through most of the morning and early afternoon.
For the second week in a row, weather forecasts showed sensational blue bird days during the week and colder rainy weather for the weekend. Not to be skunked two weekends in a row during some of the best skiing conditions of the season, I requested Wednesday off from work and hooked up with the Sledhauler for an epic day in Tuckerman Ravine.
We got a late start arriving at Pinkham shortly before nine o’clock. Temperatures were warmer than expected which meant the long slog up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail to HoJo’s would be a sweaty affair which proved to be true. Touring with new boots for the first time, Sled had some discomfort on the skin up but fought through the pain. Views upon arriving at HoJo’s were stellar with gullies (both with and without names) filled in sensationally for this late in the season. We watched on as a boarder and skier slip slided and butt slided their way down Dodge’s Drop.
After a bit to eat and some quick refreshment, we were ascending towards the Bowl on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail. Sled opted to hike but I decided to continue skinning as long as possible. I skinned the entire trail to the bowl and only removed my skis once for a rock crossing. Coverage was simply sensational on the trail.