Tuckerman Ravine 4/30 TR (pics)

**CantDog** · 05-02-2004, 09:48 PM

Finally I was able to make it up to Tuckerman on friday with the weather proving to be fantastic. Light breeze, great visibility, and high 60s made for a great day. Fortunately there werent many crowds either, which was good because not too much is skiable besides the chute and left gully. Hillmans is possible with some walking between snow patches, the headwall is pretty heavily crevassed, and the top half of right gully is missing snow.

Met up with shmerham for the trip up at 8am in the parking lot and we hiked on up, there were a few folks heading up, but not too many.

First view of the ravine upon reaching HoJos: http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic22938.jpg

Hiked up to the rocks to find a handful of people hiking chute and left gully, but besides that not many folks were venturing over to lookers right. The one noticeable exception was a guy from NY sporting a pair of iggie FFGs with some bomber bishop bindings. (Watched him take a few laps guy practically ran up the headwall and he ownerized the place on those sticks. Gorgeous looking skis, to the folks who have a pair, you guys are lucky.)

While gearing up I ran into my friend Dave who graduated from Colby last year, and spent the season as a liftie out at Alta. Also happened to run into him while I was out there, so it was good to see him again. Dave was meeting two other VT--->UT alta transplants, so we had a healthy sized crew going. We decided left gully looked best, and made our way up.
Heres the jumping in point for most folks to avoid the steepest part of left gully at the top. The first time we dropped in from the top, and for the last run we dropped in here:
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic22959.jpg

And here is looking down left gully. Note that dirt/rock spot on the left, two skiers fell and hit that, launching off it, and headed right for the hikers coming up. Luckily both times no one was hurt.
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic22958.jpg

We also hit the chute and the hanging snowfield above it, which recieved very little traffic and was the best snow of the day. We hiked over from left gully to get in higher and were rewarded nicely. Heres shmerham negotiating the rock garden, and disavowing all knowledge of LNT: http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic22943.jpg and again shmerham keepin it real for the ladies:http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic22940.jpg

here is a shot looking across the headwall, with two of our crewmembers(nonmaggots) in the shot:
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic22942.jpg
and here is looking down from the same spot:
http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic22945.jpg
The snowfield was convex shaped and after the snowline continued a few more turns before ending in cliffs. You had to traverse skiers left and back under the cliffs to get into the Chute.

Heres some shots of the chute, skier is shmerham: http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic22951.jpg
and here is nonmaggot colin: http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic22950.jpg

All in all a very nice relaxing day in the ravine, good turns, good company, and good weather. Its too bad there wasnt more snow though.

**FreakofSnow** · 05-02-2004, 10:14 PM

Nice Cantdog! Is skiing with non-maggots allowed?

**CantDog** · 05-02-2004, 10:15 PM

Only on special occations. And ya gotta spread the gospel somehow, I'm on an active recruiting campaign of pilaging their villages, and raping their women.

**snowrider** · 05-02-2004, 10:18 PM

Looks good. I was up there twice this year, once in January and it was way too cold/windy to ski and once for the avie course. Got to ski a few runs, but by the time we ended the course and got up there everything had shaded over. I am going to try to hit up the auto road as soon as schools out.

I remember a Great Gulf vid from some maggots that looked great.

Blurred Elevens · 05-02-2004, 10:22 PM

No rusty cars? lame.

Sweet TR Can't, thank you for the stoke.

Looks like a lot of people got out this weekend, this place has been deodorized of summer for the time being. Cool.

**iskibc** · 05-02-2004, 10:27 PM

So, is the Shermanator's nipples always this hard?

http://www.biglines.com/photos/blpic22940.jpg

Looks like you had a great day. Way to get after it.

**ak_powder_monkey** · 05-02-2004, 10:54 PM

If I lived on the east coast I would ski no where but there

That is all

**TJ.Brk** · 05-02-2004, 11:02 PM

Sweet pics Cantdog. Too bad about the headwall

**shmerham** · 05-03-2004, 05:20 AM

So, is the Shermanator's nipples always this hard?

Only when in the presence of other maggots, and good terrain.

**Idris** · 05-03-2004, 06:53 AM

nice to see snow in tucks...maybee there will be some left for me to play on in June

**DaveTV** · 05-03-2004, 06:54 AM

Pretty thin for early May, but good report nonetheless! (Beats housepainting tho)

**gincognito** · 05-03-2004, 07:23 AM

Was there Saturday and Sunday. Thinnest cover I've seen (not that my 5 years there amount to a wealth of experience) but loads of fun nonetheless.

Weather on Saturday was positively balmy. Loads of people, scant clothing, and soft (if a little dirty) snow. Took a high bowl run, the Chute, and Left Gully. The Chute had a funky trench running down the center in which gloppy sluff was in constant movement. Left Gully was basically a bump run. Saw gonzo ripping his way down while I stood on the lookers right ridge (Cantdog's second picture). Felt a little odd waving my pole and hollering my boardname across the gully when he took a break. Saw him again at the Pinkham Notch base, wandering around looking like the law school student he is...

Also starting talking to a tele-chick while still in the bowl. Turns out she was staying in the lean-tos at HoJo's and when she found out we were staying in the valley and coming back up on Sunday, she decided to pass on some skiing goodwill: she offered to stash our skis and boots in her shelter. Sweet. (My girlfriend questioned whether this was "allowed" in the Tuckerman ethos, but, seeing as she wasn't skiing, her opinion was deemed null and void.)

Sunday we wanted Hillman's Highway. Scanning the line (with binoculars!) we could see that the bottom was broken up and would require much scrambling/downclimbing. Snow was listed as undermined, but some information gathering revealed that only the lower portion presented a problem and, even there, it was more an annoyance than an actual danger.

So we went for it. Didn't see a soul all day. The fights with the tall scrub, the various creek crossings, the snow-poking and hole avoiding, the rock srambling and questionable route finding were all deemed worth it when we finally emerger onto consistent snow. We were laughing at the ridiculousness more than we were cursing the slow progress. (Pictures may eventually follow).

With a stable bootpack we made it the rest of the way in fairly good time. A snack, some water, and some minor contemplation did the body some good before strapping on the skis for the last run of the season. The turns were mellow and controlled, with an emphasis on just soaking it all in. The various choke points were appoached with caution and a combination of side-slipping, tree grabbing, and hop-turning usually got us through unscathed.

Twice skis had to come off in order to negotiate bare rock and open waterfalls. The last time we finally admitted defeat and put them on the packs. A tree assisted rapel down a boulder, one last creek crossing, some serious tip catching bushwacking, and the last run of the season was deemed a success.

Good times.

Sick and ashamed and happy (and will do my best to keep the stoke up during the summer),
d.

**road trip** · 05-03-2004, 07:59 AM

Good stuff! Thanks, guys!

**gonzo** · 05-03-2004, 08:19 AM

Yeah dudes. I had a blast. Wicked fackin soah now.

Left gully was definitely the best fun. I would have hiked that upper part a few times if I could do it again. Cant - sorry to miss you. Gin - great to see you. I should have known better to ask who you were when you yelled hello...sorry! Hopefully that did not start the awkward "So there is this website..." talk with the "real" friends.

I saw that dude on the Iggies too - he was bombing!

Pics to follow.

**INDY GS** · 05-03-2004, 08:36 AM

I am going to be in new hampshire / the whole east coast from next tuesday thru the next wed or thurs. so a whole week. the wife, son and I are going to a wedding. but are making a vacation out of it.

Would there be anyone interested in skiing/guiding me up tucks in 2 weeks if the snow is still decent?

Would it be completly stupid to try it alone?* or are there enough people skiing there during the week that I could find someone who knew what they were doing.

*Disclaimer: I have some basic avi knowledge, and have never ventured off piste alone. I don't even like the idea of skiing alone, especially in the BC.

Thanks,

INDY

**iceman** · 05-03-2004, 08:39 AM

If no one from the board is going, it wouldn't be that bad to do it alone, especially on a weekend when there are usually a lot of people around. How much snow will be left in two weeks is the question, sounds like it's going fast.

**INDY GS** · 05-03-2004, 08:49 AM

well it is going to have to be either late sunday or monday due to being in the wedding and other events planned around my buddies big day.

On another note, i see K-Mart is still open, how shitty is it there, would it blow for a few runs? be worth the time to even try going there instead of Tucks?

I am not looking for extremo mountain dude stuff, just the simple fact that we are driving there, I can take my skis and tell summer to bite it one last time, before I roll over and play dead with the MTB untill november.

**iceman** · 05-03-2004, 08:59 AM

I wouldn't do it if I was the only one there, but if you're willing to hang out at the trailhead and see if anybody shows up and then hook up with them, I don't see a problem.

As far as k-mart, if they're still open, why not? Even if it's just Superstar, a few turns before the summer would be a good thing, I think.

**DaveTV** · 05-03-2004, 09:08 AM

Where is this wedding? Personally, I wouldn't bother, you would be better served maybe doing a tour in Boston, going on a whale watch or fishing charter..

**INDY GS** · 05-03-2004, 09:14 AM

The wedding is in Newcastle, NH.

The plan is to drive from indiana to Philly, see philly ----> See NYC-----> Then to Boston -----> Wedding, blah blah blah ------> drive north from Newcastle towards Canada, eh seeing whatever we can on the way. hope to squeeze in the quick ski ----> Montreal ----> Toronto -----> Niagra ------> pensylvania, ohio, indiana (home) back to reality.

The skiing is just an idea, I didn't realize that there may be the option untill the other day while I was looking at the atlas planning the trip.

**gonzo** · 05-03-2004, 09:20 AM

you'll be able to get a few turns in. either way, if the weather is nice the whole family will enjoy the hike. worst case you end up looking silly carrying your skis up to no snow. there will at least be a small patch for a few turns. i forgot how beautiful it is up there.

just don't ski anything with a waterfall going underneath it. and wear sunblock. my neck is blistering as i type.

**DaveTV** · 05-03-2004, 09:22 AM

Well if you are going to Montreal, you WILL pass close to Killington..

**CantDog** · 05-03-2004, 09:33 AM

Indy I'll be up there the 7th and 8th, and possibly the 10th/12th/14th/15th if there is any snow. I'd be happy to show you around

**INDY GS** · 05-03-2004, 09:55 AM

I will keep that in mind CantDog.

I will be talking with Mrs. INDY tonight to see what she thinks of the plan, I hope she doesn't veto it. I think she would enjoy the hike.

EDIT: DaveTV what are pass prices at killington? I can't find anything but multi-day, season and golf/ski prices info on the site.

INDY

**DaveTV** · 05-03-2004, 10:11 AM

SNOW REPORT , I may have some $10 off MOBIL thingies kicking around somewhere if they still honor them

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