Gulf of Slides 3-25-07

[cbcbd]

Date(s) Skied: 3-25-07

Ski Area: Gulf of Slides

Conditions: corn, mashed, death cookies, packed

Trip Report:
Was up in N. Conway ice climbing Sunday morning. Got done at around 11:30 and still plenty of time left in the day - so I decided to get a run in.
Headed over to EMS in N. Conway and rented some AT gear (BD Havoc with Fristchi Diamir freerides, Scarpa Denalis, and skins). I had my downhill skis with me, but they are so heavy compared to the AT setup and booting up the trail with downhill boots seemed slow and painful.
The Gulf of slides trail is 2.6 miles and then you're at the base of the slides. I figured I had 5 hours to do a run and come back to return the skis (that EMS closes at 6pm on Sundays). Left ems at 12:20.

Started up the GOS at 1:15pm.
Nice skin path:


Slides in view:


View across:


Going up boot ladder:


View South (towards Attitash) from the top of the slide:


Ready to go:


First slide view after run. As you can see, the shade creeped in and definitively hardened things up a little bit. Still very skiable since it was broken up - tons of fun!!


And a small video of some of the ski down the GOS trail - man, what a fun, narrow and long trail, what a blast!!



So, started skinning at 1:15, got to bottom of slides at 2:50, booted up to top of slide by 3:45, started my run down the slide around 3:55, made it to my car around 4:30 - way ahead of schedule, woo!

[Greg]

Awesome! Well done!

[ajl50]

Looks great- way to get out there.
How much did it cost to rent the at set-up?

[cbcbd]

Originally Posted by ajl50

Looks great- way to get out there.
How much did it cost to rent the at set-up?

$30 for boots, skis, poles, skins for the day.

[thetrailboss]

Is it just me or is there not much snow? How are the base depths? In comparison to other years?

[marcski]

Nice. Looks like some awesome spring bc skiing.

How solid did those boots feel on the way down. A buddy of mine is only skiing on AT equipment. Said he got the stiffest AT boot made...and he is rock solid going down anything inbounds or out. However, he is a small framed guy, only weighs about 140.

[cbcbd]

Originally Posted by thetrailboss

Is it just me or is there not much snow? How are the base depths? In comparison to other years?

This was my first time up there but someone I met on the way down said that the snowpack looked like usual May conditions. So yeah, not a lot of snow and the spring skiing prime is now unless we get a lot of major freak snow from now on.

btw, there was absolutely NO wind at the top of the slide. That morning I think Mt Washington got close to 2" of new snow but the lack of wind (very odd) did not help to wind load the usual affected aspects - tuckermans, gos, huntington.

Originally Posted by marcski

How solid did those boots feel on the way down. A buddy of mine is only skiing on AT equipment. Said he got the stiffest AT boot made...and he is rock solid going down anything inbounds or out. However, he is a small framed guy, only weighs about 140.

I weigh in at 166, probably close to 180 with clothes + pack. They were fine and fit more snug than my downhill boots (that I really need to upgrade). The skis with bindings weigh MUCH less than my downhill setup so I don't feel I'd need a heavier boot to toss them around. Of course skiing crud would be much easier with my heavier downhill stuff... but I didn't really feel I missed it

[dmc]

Snowpack is really low for the GOS... It looks like late April there...

I love the feeling on the GOS trail when the slides come into view..

[lftgly]

Much appreciated trip report and great photos. That was smart scheduling to fit the ski run in after noon, when the skies cleared!

[Newpylong]

That was great... thanks.