Exactly a week after Paul and I made a trip up to ski in Tuckerman and I was already itching to get back. Also, there are few things I enjoy more than introducing friends to the mountains, and it just so happened that a couple of friends from Dartmouth were also itching to get to Tuckerman, only this would be their first time ever.
Max Mehlman and Jim Peck from the Taube Lab here at Dartmouth joined me on this one day jaunt up to the Ravine for some nice spring snow. They were both on snowboards, and had the unfortunate situation of having to hike up the Tuckerman Ravine trail in hiking boots with their boards on their backs. Even so, they were faster than me (surprise surprise).
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| Taking a short break at the Huntington Trail Junction |
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| First look at what's to come |
Once again we made it to Hojos in about two hours, though this time instead of being accompanied by a wet blizzard we were accompanied by hundreds of other people. Its always interesting to see the variety of equipment that you see in Tuckerman. You have every extreme, from the super high tech French Canadian with his $3000 AT setup, to the jeans-tucked-into-boots-don't-mess-with-Texas type NH locals on their ancient alpine gear. At Hojos we ate lunch and I pointed out some lines that I thought would be good based on the snow conditions and the timing of the sun. We ultimately decided on Left Gully in the Bowl proper and then we'd hike back down and try Hillman's Highway, which is my favorite run in the Ravine. Neither one is too steep, and you can keep the difficulty acceptable by stopping part way up if you'd like.
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| Tuckerman Ravine Trail above Hojos |
Having never ridden anything quite like spring snow in Tuckerman, Max and Jim decided to take it easy for their first run. We hiked up to the base of the gully proper and they strapped on their boards and made a first run. I decided to stay where I was, and figuring they would be back for more, waited until they climbed up to me again a second time. They did love it, in fact, and so we moved a little higher. This time we stopped just before the constriction, which is the crux of Left Gully in my opinion, and donned our skis/boards.
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| Booting up Left Gully (Photo: Jim Peck) |
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| Jim excited for his first ever backcountry run |
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| Max ready to launch into Left Gully |
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Shredding Left Gully |
They had a blast, but it was getting later in the day and Left Gully was losing the sun. We decided to head back down to Hojos and see if we could get a run in on Hillman's Highway before it lost the sun as well. Unfortunately the Little Headwall had melted out, so it was a hike for us back to Hojos. We saw a few skiers trying to navigate the krummholz to the right of the Little Headwall, but it's always more trouble than it's worth. We made it to the base of Hillmans and started climbing. The sun was setting fast, and we were starting to feel the rubber in our legs so we switched to boards and decided to launch down Hillman's and all the way to the Sherburne.
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| Saying goodbye to the bowl, but we'll be back! |
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| Hiking up Hillman's Highway in the late afternoon sun |
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| Tired legs down Hillmans and out the Sherburne |
We were able to ride the Sherburne about 80% of the way back to Pinkham before it had melted enough to hike the rest of the way. On the way back, we stopped in Gorham for some pizza and beer, and listened to Max rave about how awesome the whole day was, and how excited he is to get into more backcountry touring. Seems like I've snagged another one!
