chomp
04-22-2005, 09:34
Last weekend, I made my annual trip up to Tuckerman Ravine on the side of Mt Washington. April is the perfect time of year for spring sking in the northeast's most famous psudo-extreme sking area. Its a 3 mile hike into the base of the bowl, where you put on your ski boots, throw your skis over your shoulder and start climbing some more.
This year was by far the best conditions I have seen in my 6 years of doing this. The weather was perfect - clear skys and temp in the 60's. The snow was nice and soft. And the snow coverage was crazy - meaning that a lot of the rocks and waterfalls that are usually out in the spring were covered over. Saturday was also the Son of Inferno race - a pentathlon that involved kayaking, running, mtn biking, hiking and skiing. There were estimates of 2000 people in the ravine on Saturday.
By far, this was my best spring skiing trip ever. There were massive spills and yardsales, 40 foot hucks off the headwall, even Glen Pake was there on Saturday, apparently. I got two runs in on Saturday before heading back to the car. On Sunday, I went back for more and almost made it to the summit of Mt Washington. I was over 5500 feet for sure, which means by the time I got down to Pinkham Notch, I had skied 3500 feet of vertical in one run. Not bad for the east coast.
Anyway, if you are interested, here are some photos:
http://gallery.backcountry.net/chomp-tucks05/
and my favorite of the weekend:
http://gallery.backcountry.net/chomp-tucks05/aay
chomp
This year was by far the best conditions I have seen in my 6 years of doing this. The weather was perfect - clear skys and temp in the 60's. The snow was nice and soft. And the snow coverage was crazy - meaning that a lot of the rocks and waterfalls that are usually out in the spring were covered over. Saturday was also the Son of Inferno race - a pentathlon that involved kayaking, running, mtn biking, hiking and skiing. There were estimates of 2000 people in the ravine on Saturday.
By far, this was my best spring skiing trip ever. There were massive spills and yardsales, 40 foot hucks off the headwall, even Glen Pake was there on Saturday, apparently. I got two runs in on Saturday before heading back to the car. On Sunday, I went back for more and almost made it to the summit of Mt Washington. I was over 5500 feet for sure, which means by the time I got down to Pinkham Notch, I had skied 3500 feet of vertical in one run. Not bad for the east coast.
Anyway, if you are interested, here are some photos:
http://gallery.backcountry.net/chomp-tucks05/
and my favorite of the weekend:
http://gallery.backcountry.net/chomp-tucks05/aay
chomp