Gulf of Slides: 4-20-06

[awf170]

Wow. Amazing day. Best east coast day of the season.

GoS officially rocks and will now go there over Tucks any day of the week. The glades on the edge of the gullies are just amazing and even better when there totally untracked top to bottom like it was for me. Anyway I don't really feel like typing so I'll just sum everything up:

Left at 8:20 from Pinkham and didn't encounter any snow until about 3/4 the way up, plenty of mud though...

Got 3 top to bottom runs in: First run right down the middle, then a few glades at the end. Second run I did a glade to the lookers right, untracked the whole way. Third run I did a glade to lookers left, untracked all the way. Amazing.

First run: Green
Second run: Red
Third run: Blue(The dots is where I had to bushwack out after going left a little too much)

Arriving at the gully:

Looking down the bootladder(about 2/3 the way up)

Random telemarker ripping up some untracked corn:

My dad getting chased by some psycho dog:

My dad in the bootladder:

Nice little chute/glade on my second run:

Dad in bootladder again:

Looking down halfway through run 2:

Dad again:

 

[awf170]

Start of run 3:

1/3 of the way down run 3:

Looking out:

The end of the skiing:

Last few of the GoS:

 

[JimG.]

Nice job Austin! Still looks really nice even after the recent warmth.

You might have had the last real nice day up there with the NCP forecasted for this weekend.

 

[riverc0il]

sweet, i needed that beta to help on my decision tomorrow. rep! did you bother with skins? how much snow is there below the first first aid cache? sounds like it is still about the same as it was last week! the snow in the gullies looks similar, maybe not as much snow higher up though..

so, do i get over to PNVC for 7am and try to avoid the crowds by skiing hillmans (benefits include more snow to skin up and ski down, shorter hike each way) or nail GoS again (benefits include no crowds but far more crowded than usual i would guess). :-?

 

[awf170]

did you bother with skins?

No, but I wish I did. Postholing is not fun.

how much snow is there below the first first aid cache? sounds like it is still about the same as it was last week! the snow in the gullies looks similar, maybe not as much snow higher up though..

There is probably about 200-300 ft. of vertical below the cache. Its only a very thin strip along the edge, but its enough to skin or to ski down.

so, do i get over to PNVC for 7am and try to avoid the crowds by skiing hillmans (benefits include more snow to skin up and ski down, shorter hike each way) or nail GoS again (benefits include no crowds but far more crowded than usual i would guess). :-?

You head up to GoS do one run over there then hike the ridge and ski down hillmans. Thats what everyone was doing yesterday, but my dad didn't want to hike up and do a 3rd run so we didn't do it. Hiking down the GoS trail is horrible IMO. If you can only do one I'm not really sure though because I have never down hillmans(hopefully will next weekend). If I was going up this weekend I would probably choose hillmans but thats pretty much because I have never skied it before.

 

[awf170]

Just remembered something. The exact spot where you get that view of the gully(you have a pic of it in your TR) is where I stopped skiing and there is no way you can ski or skin any lower than that.

 

[riverc0il]

doesn't sound like there is much left, that view of the gully is between the two caches i believe. taking a run or two in GoS then going down hillmans might be an option, not if it is bad weather though. i wouldn't head up on the ridge line for that long a period unless i knew the weather was going to be solid. maybe it will be... the forecast has changed quite a bit since yesterday and i haven't read an update yet except to see that it will be mostly sunny. ahhhh, decisions decisions.

 

[awf170]

doesn't sound like there is much left, that view of the gully is between the two caches i believe. taking a run or two in GoS then going down hillmans might be an option, not if it is bad weather though. i wouldn't head up on the ridge line for that long a period unless i knew the weather was going to be solid. maybe it will be... the forecast has changed quite a bit since yesterday and i haven't read an update yet except to see that it will be mostly sunny. ahhhh, decisions decisions.

Oops. Sorry, my view was from way lower down. You lied in description, that was not the first view. :roll::wink: Here are 2 pics from that exact spot:

Heres the last spot I skied to:

 

[riverc0il]

okay, word. that is what i thought you meant. looks like not much has melted since last week on the ski trail surprisingly! my description was the first view of the gully, not the first view of the ridge line

 

[eatskisleep]

Awesome pictures man!

 

[andyzee]

Nice report and pics, thanks!