Tuckerman Ravine - 04/22/2005

[dmc]

Date(s) Skied: Friday 4/22

Resort or Ski Area: Tuckerman Ravine

Conditions: Sloppy corn - hard ex-sloppy corn

Trip Report: I had the best intentions to get up to Pinkham Notch Thursday evening.. But I had to work until 7PM.. I got to Pinkham at 12:45AM... Decided it was too much to headlamp up to the shelters so I just slept in the car... Froze my but off cause I didnt want to break into my pack and get my sleeeping bag.. Woke up to a bluebird day... Pulled my gear out of the car and started hiking.. The trail up was empty. Must've been aroud 6:30 or so. After the switchbacks the trail turned to snow which was great to walk on..
Met up with my friends at the shelter - made some coffe and oatmeal - unpacked some stuff and hit the trail again..

Shelter life
The bowl and Hillmans didnt look that great - really "played" - very rutted and runneled...
So we decided to take the Lobster Claw up to get above the Headwall and get to the Upper Snowfields.
We put on our crampons - grabbed the ice axes and headed out..

Climbing Lobster Claw
the climb up the LC was awesome!!! Just a beautiful day to be clinging to snow!

Above the headwall - we booted though the Alpine Garden and over to the Upper Snowfields.
Spent a couple hours just haging in the sun - skiing and eating... Very chill - very fun..

TelePaul Hiking up to our rock.

Affix in the USnowfields

After riding the snowfields and having lunch we decided to get back down into the bowl... Some went down the R gully - some down the Chute - I went down the Lip with a friend who had never been and was a little nervous.
The Lip was just messed up... 6 foot pyramid shaped bumps on a 35 degree face!!! I coached everyone through and we all made some great turns in the sloppy corn in the bowl..

TelePaul in the bowl after skiing the Chute

Skied back down to Hojos on the Lower Headwall.. The top was unskiable..

Great day... PArtied on the deck at Hojos pretty late.. Woke up Saturday to an inch and a half of sloppy snow and misty rain..
Packed up and rode down... Sherburn was only open to just above the bridge on the hiking trail...

Great time!!

 

[JimG.]

David and I were across the way at Wildcat. The view of Tucks from the top of the quad is awesome and certainly something I'm glad I got to see. Spent time on top pointing out the various routes down. Sherburne looked like it was cooked after about halfway down, but folks we spoke to said it was skiable 3/4 of the way. David was very psyched about hiking up and disappointed the weather didn't hold out.

Glad we didn't try to hike up Saturday, would have been a waste. Hopefully our return trip in 2-3 weeks will include a few days of nice weather.

 

[dmc]

Me looking at you while you were looking at me...

Lionhead and Wildcat

 

[JimG.]

You still thinking of going in May?

 

[dmc]

You still thinking of going in May?

I'm a solid maybe...

 

[Greg]

Cool pics. Where are the action shots?

 

[JimG.]

We're a definite and will figure out which date to go depending on the weather forecast.

Getting the whole family up there was a little bit of a stress, especially since it rained and we couldn't get out as much as we wanted to, but it was also a good thing. My wife likes the area and now feels tuned into what goes on and why we like going there. She was really impressed with the wilderness areas and the visitor center. By Saturday afternoon she saw I was getting cabin fever and mentioned she felt bad the weather turned on us; I think that's why she supported a return trip.

 

[dmc]

Cool pics. Where are the action shots?

Not many... But I did take some video...

Here's the video..
Tuckermans Video... Probably the best I've ever done...

 

[BeanoNYC]

Awsome pics and video, DMC!

 

[bvibert]

Awesome TR, pics and video! Thanks for sharing. :beer:

 

[Greg]

Here's the video..
Tuckermans Video... Probably the best I've ever done...

Very cool. Thanks!

 

[dmc]

Thanks.. Headed back up in a couple weekends..

You guys know that when I said - "The best I've ever done" - I was joking.. And the soundtrack(the 70's classic "Popcorn") was a joke too..

Kinda a response to all the home ski videos I've seen this year where they take VERY basic skiing and put really intense soundtracks behind them...

No offense to anyone - but I've wasted a ton of bandwidth on what are basically vacation movies...

 

[Greg]

And the soundtrack(the 70's classic "Popcorn") was a joke too..

Yeah, super corny soundtrack, but I didn't want to insult you... :lol:

 

[bvibert]

And the soundtrack(the 70's classic "Popcorn") was a joke too..

Yeah, super corny soundtrack, but I didn't want to insult you... :lol:

I thought it was kinda cool, in a weird retro way...

 

[dmc]

And the soundtrack(the 70's classic "Popcorn") was a joke too..

Yeah, super corny soundtrack, but I didn't want to insult you... :lol:

Funny...
I figured people would react that way...

I only have the video maker that came with Windows - cant do a whole lot... It is fun though..