East Coast Roll Call 23/24_The Guns Are Blowing

[biggins]

What happens to a boarder when he sits on the snow for too long???


He gets polaroids.

True story.

[buckethead]

Hopped back on my rat traps today for a surprise 2-3 of cream cheese at stowe. All front four open and skiing top to bottom. Even got a bonus variation that is hard to hit with enough snow on it to make turns.
Skiing is fun!



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looks fantastic

[VTskibum]

Fully spring skiing down south this weekend. My local bump lost it's battle with the sun, but Blue had some great bump lines going.

[Vt-Freeheel]

Nice Bumps ^^


Bad outcome vvv

mountwashingtonavalanchecenter.org fatality

[adrian.bee]

"Among the assisting bystanders for Patient 1 was a critical care physician, who assessed injuries incompatible with life, sustained during the fall."

Good god. T&P's to the family.

[jhyatt]

Good stuff, waxloaf.

CharlesJ gave me these “alpine” poles in the Fall so I figured I should try out riding some laps with training heels (not usually my thing and I’m still not convinced). Smuggs skied well overall, particularly after the clouds lifted in the afternoon.

Attachment 490767

Attachment 490768

@charlesj gave me these poles!

[justo8484]

Nice running into ya again VTskibum! Sorry we didn't get to meet up for lot beers; we were on the kiddo's schedule Saturday. Yesterday was equally gloriously slushy and a fun day to likely end my PA season. Onto more northern adventures next week!

[buckethead]

Bad outcome vvv

mountwashingtonavalanchecenter.org fatality

yikes! too much of that of late.

[waxloaf]

^

Agreed, such a sad report. I’m still very much a noob when it comes to Tucks so forgive me if this is a dumb question, but is it normal to boot up Left Gully and traverse over to the headwall? Seems like an odd move to spend that much time on the ridge, especially when its that thin up there.


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[Cisco Kid]

I read a 1st person report on that accident. Seems that besides having the normal ruts and runnels, the bowl surface was littered with ice fall chunks. The witness saw one of the fallers launched 40' down the slope when they hit one. I don't know if that traverse is a normal route but people do it and every few years a hiker or skier slides to death.

From the MWAC report.

[cat in january]

Right gully is the more common ascent if not going directly up and over the lip. Very sad story and I can only imagine the trauma the responders witnessed.

[FussyDutchman]

And thus, still 70% dirty hippie

Beer spit post of the week!

Just saw the report, frightening read. Be safe all.

[danmelon]

Damn that sucks. Sorry to hear about this. It's been a tricky season. Stay safe.

Posting a short TR from last week in the Mines:

We had the mines hut booked from Monday to Friday, March 11 to 15. Non-mag GG and I planned to arrive in Gaspesie the Friday before to see what we could ski, before meeting up with Cat in January and the others.

What we could ski was not much. I’ve never seen it so bad up there. Truly a sad sight this year.



Most people were hiking and were surprised to see us kooks walking around with snowboards on our back. We still managed to have fun riding shitfuck conditions on Saturday and Sunday.



Our line in Vallieres



The patroller wall (or what’s left of it)



The forecast models were converging on the possibility of copious snow come Monday so our hopes remained high heading into the hut.

We met at the Discovery Centre on Monday morning and headed in.



Be it ever so humble



The storm ended up delivering 70 cms (28”) of bomber snow that bonded well with whatever was left, and blew into the usual spots, keeping major sharks uncovered. I was truly surprised by the lack of p-tex repairs required. With the unprecedented low snow year and fresh dump we expected carnage for our gear.



The low snow and wind transport limited our options to the Front Door Bowl and the lines along the Road east of the hut, so we worked those options best we could. In those two zones we found good (and deep!) coverage and super stable snow.

Hiking up the road



Road Wall



Over the week we gradually stepped to bigger and bigger lines in the Front Door bowl, building our knowledge and confidence.

Rocket twig stoke



S







S Apostrophe







Freak:

GG is stoked







We closed the week out by hitting Super Freak. I never expected to ride Freak, or Super Freak. The kind of lines you write off as day dreams. The unique condition of this season resulted in manageable amounts of snow. We rode all these engaging lines in really really good conditions to top it off.

GG Ollies into Super Freak just because



Super Freak was blower!



The Quality!









Cat in January, and Non-Mags: Maine B, GG and Mike&Marion made an impeccable hut crew for another super special week in the Monts Chic Chocs. Thankful for good skiing and more so for good ski partners! Special mention to Mrs. C-in-J for the killer baked goods! What a week!

[jackstraw]

^

Agreed, such a sad report. I’m still very much a noob when it comes to Tucks so forgive me if this is a dumb question, but is it normal to boot up Left Gully and traverse over to the headwall? Seems like an odd move to spend that much time on the ridge, especially when its that thin up there.


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Yeah, it all depends on your plan. I'm not a fan of people climbing up the Lip since so many descend it and it can be a sketchy climb. I'd typically go up Left to do any of the Chute or Gully variations. Having done what they did I'm sad to read they traveled by foot. Getting your skis on asap is typically the safest way to travel. Once above the headwall conditions can change rapidly and I've been up there when bulletproof, yet corn below. It was not a good feeling. Absolute no fall zone conditions above Chute. That day made a permanent mark...unforgettable. Although it reads that conditions were consistently firm throughout the entire ravine that day. I would have to assume they were wearing crampons, but idk. A horrible unfortunate deadly decision. RIP

[ex-powderbroker]

epic mines sesh!

[singlecross]

We closed the week out by hitting Super Freak. I never expected to ride Freak, or Super Freak. The kind of lines you write off as day dreams. The unique condition of this season resulted in manageable amounts of snow. We rode all these engaging lines in really really good conditions to top it off.

Tabarnak!!! A tip of the chapeau to you. Well done!

[Peruvian]

Great TR, dan. Thanks for sharing. It sounds similar to our experience last year when we skied in during low tide but the snow was falling and we ended up with deep powder turns.

Smuggs is reporting 6” overnight so the season isn’t over yet in NVT.

[cat in january]

So unexpectedly good to have stable powder.

The crew on top of Super Freak


GG blowing out the bottom


Followed by Dan

[VTskibum]

Nice running into ya again VTskibum! Sorry we didn't get to meet up for lot beers; we were on the kiddo's schedule Saturday. Yesterday was equally gloriously slushy and a fun day to likely end my PA season. Onto more northern adventures next week!

Absolutely will have to next season. Going to be shoulder season Blue skier despite my daughter getting heavily recruited for Blue's mogul team by a few coaches skiing around. I was pretty wrecked on Sunday and was about to drag myself back up there for more, but my little skier wasn't feeling it. She rarely gets tired but 4 hrs of bumps got her.

Edit to add that's a great turn of events on your trip, nice report and pics gents!

[danmelon]

Great TR, dan. Thanks for sharing. It sounds similar to our experience last year when we skied in during low tide but the snow was falling and we ended up with deep powder turns.

Smuggs is reporting 6” overnight so the season isn’t over yet in NVT.

Thx! Yes, I recall arriving in Gaspésie last year and being surprised by the (at the time) lowest snow levels I have ever seen on the park road in March. This year was way worse. But there is some orographic magic in the mines. We got really lucky our trip lined up with the last storm.

[cat in january]

Dan with front door in background. Yellow:Freak, Blue:Super Freak, Red:S

[ex-powderbroker]

rare evidence of Dan ripping on skis

[danmelon]

Nice! For a snowboarder, I do a heck of a lot of skiing.

[buckethead]

outstanding TR dan, cat.
great to see another depressing first image of a nearly snowless north transform to a monster outing.
great pics, great riding, and glad you all got back safe and stoked.
an especially uplifting report after the tragedy at tucks.

[jhyatt]

That looks awesome up there at our friendly neighbors to the north!!!