Gulf of Slides, NH: 04/22/06

this was probably it for my and GoS this season. tux and jay or bust for how ever long they respectively hold out. brought the skins, but probably wasn't worth it. definitely quicker to hike and things never softened up so it wasn't like people hiking the snow were post holing. i skinned from shortly below the first first aid cache to the bottom of main gully. oh well, it is still always fun to ski up. i "skied" back down to the same place i started skinning up on the way down, though i am using the term "skied" liberally and includes many sections of walking the skis over dirt, root, and rock.

arrived at PNVC at 7:15am and nailed a spot in the lot right by the GoS trailhead, sweet! setting the alarm for 5:30am paid off! i expected the crowds to be worse even at 7am, but i beat the inferno traffic and decided GoS would be the best choice with an option of climbing out of the Gulf and skiing hillmans perhaps. weather report was calling for "partly cloudy" skies but we got completely cloudy. the temp last night flirted with freezing and then the combination of a cool breeze, no sun, and temps not getting as high as expected meant things never really softened and corned up

i should have foreseen what happened with the snow conditions, but i was fully expecting things to warm up and the sun to be a factor. the previous days were excessively warm which caused melting and wet snow. things froze up a bit last night, the snow essentially became frozen corn. it still looked like corn, but the pieces of corn were all frozen. it made for really great skiing, but horrible climbing. i would have appreciated a set of crampons.

i followed an aweful boot ladder up lookers left of main gully. i should have went for the less established but gentler grades of lookers right up the mini-gully we ascended last week. about halfway up the ladder, things got pretty sketch. the snow was very hard kicking new steps in and the existing steps were not making me happy. when i went to kick my own steps, i found a nice sheet of frozen snow/ice under the frozen corn layer. nice! it made kicking new steps pretty damn hard and in some places damn near impossible. i was working hard and not feeling very comfortable at the halfway point, so i found myself some shelf space, kicked out a spot for my skis, and clicked in. the skiing was fantastic right down until the upper first aid cache. great turns, too bad the run was so short. especially fun was the run out between the gully and the cache. it is getting very narrow in my places, less than a ski width wide in my locations, and i just love those tight turns, sweet. skiing back down on the ski trail was nasty. the snow was pretty well frozen and lots of obstacles. i worked it hard though and squeeked out every last turn i could and refused to side slip every even when the snow patch was only four feet wide

probably would have been better off staying home and trying to get tool tickets for the orpheum on ticketmaster, as much of a long shot that would have been, or even paying not many singles for stowe. just wasn't feeling today despite getting in a few really sweet turns on some nice snow.

Too bad it never got soft for you. Way to go though! How long did it take you to reach te first gully from PNC? How was the mud? Bugs? Undermining?
Thanks for taking the time to post these reports for the B/C deprived!
((*
*))NHPH

gee wiz, i wish i had a watch. i certainly felt like i hiked quick, the GoS trail is a nice trail to hike up since it has no steep sections. i think i only took two breaks and one of those was to apply skins.

the trail is very muddy in many sections but generally fairly dry. the section right after the avalanche brook split is a nightmare and just below where the snow ends is pretty bad but nothing like the nastiness near the bottom of the trail. no bugs though!

i did forget an undermining section to my report. as the trail ascends from the upper cache to the gully, you could hear the water surging underneath the snow! :shock: but a post hole revealed a solid foot or more of solid snow. up in the gully, no undermining was noticable, though a small cravase is opening up at half way up main gully where the rocks are now visible. only about two inches wide, a guy skied right over it while i was climbing up.

some pics later, though there isn't much of interest in the visual presentation.

riverc0il":34apjrdn said:

i followed an aweful boot ladder up lookers left of main gully. i should have went for the less established but gentler grades of lookers right up the mini-gully we ascended last week. about halfway up the ladder, things got pretty sketch. the snow was very hard kicking new steps in and the existing steps were not making me happy. when i went to kick my own steps, i found a nice sheet of frozen snow/ice under the frozen corn layer. nice! it made kicking new steps pretty damn hard and in some places damn near impossible. i was working hard and not feeling very comfortable at the halfway point, so i found myself some shelf space, kicked out a spot for my skis, and clicked in. the skiing was fantastic right down until the upper first aid cache. great turns, too bad the run was so short. especially fun was the run out between the gully and the cache. it is getting very narrow in my places, less than a ski width wide in my locations, and i just love those tight turns, sweet. skiing back down on the ski trail was nasty. the snow was pretty well frozen and lots of obstacles. i worked it hard though and squeeked out every last turn i could and refused to side slip every even when the snow patch was only four feet wide

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Freakin idiots kept skiing right over the bootladder. After my second run there was a sweet boot ladder, but then 2 idiots decided that it would be a good idea to ski down over the whole bootladder. :x :evil:

And NHPH about the time getting up there it took me about 2:50 to reach the top of the gully from pinkham but that was with a long break to wait for my dad. If I didn't have to wait I probably would have done it in 2 and a half hours. Not sure about the time to reach the bottom(also not sure if you cared about my time but I thought I would throw it out)

a few pictures for those interested in the current snow cover.

from sunday's avi report:

In addition to all these hazards hard icy conditions in association with the runnels developing around the Ravine will increase the danger of long falls on cooler days. This occurred to at least 50 skiers yesterday as losing edges sent them falling 600 to 1000 ft down the Lip and Headwall. We treated 20% of these individuals with a myriad of injuries. At one point we were treating 5 patients at the same time, but people kept climbing and falling. Remember to give the current conditions a true unbiased assessment. Although you packed your ski's a long way to get into the Ravine be ready to hike them back out unused. It's just not worth serious injury or worse just to "do it". The Ravine will always be here and we want you to be as well. Be safe. It was days like yesterday that demonstrate the extraordinary contributions of the MOUNT WASHINGTON VOLUNTEER SKI PATROL, a group of Forest Service volunteers who love the Ravine and taking care of people. For nothing in return they spend their spring weekends every year to help you. I couldn't imagine working in the Ravines without them. Give them a "Thank You" when you see them.

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given the conditions yesterday in combination with the inferno, i remember thinking that i might see something like this in today's avi report. i think my decision to bag the climb halfway up was especially sound seeing this report from over in the ravine. props to the volunteer ski patrol for being there when people don't use the best judgement and get hurt.

Thanks for the report,Riv. Tomorrow looks fuggly, so I think I'm doing yard work.

Glad to see you're still getting out there.

Just out of curiosity: Did you hike up all the way from the base in your ski boots, and did you just switch when you started skinning?

switched when i started skinning. i down hiked last week in my AT boots. i could have down hiked yesterday as well, but i opted for my day hikers to free up the ankles. i think down hiking would be easier than up hiking in boots, at least the way i hike.

Looks like I chose my vacation timing well; that does not look as nice as it was last week.

The tuckerman.org site chronicles the many falling skiers in the bowl yesterday as well. The boot ladder in the lip area was very degraded and alot of folks bailed halfway up. Many of those who continued wound up falling.

Apparently there was a better ladder to climbers right of the Chute and Sven's post from earlier in the week confirms this.

You made a wise choice to bail and ski down. You're much more on your own in GOS and an injury would have been a disaster.

riverc0il":33a1h2hi said:

it made for really great skiing, but horrible climbing. i would have appreciated a set of crampons.

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This statement bears some examination. I have crampons and always bring them when I'm at the rockpile. Very useful tools. But, without good judgement, they can get you in trouble, or even more trouble than you're already in.

I remember a day a few years back. The weather all week had been warm, but temps plummeted the day I drove up and it was damned cold (in the teens for a high) the day I hiked up. Everything was flash frozen, hard as a rock. Tucks was out, but I thought Hillman's would be a good choice. Lots of direct sunlight, no soft snow. The boot ladder was also frozen solid, but I was confident and serene climbing to the top with my crampons.

Problem was, I then had to ski down. The boot ladder was on climber's left of Hillman's and I had fooled myself into thinking the right side of Hillman's would be soft. Not even close, it was bulletproof. I managed to ski down, slowly and carefully, without falling or getting hurt. Not much fun. Potentially dangerous.

Fortunately this was not the case for Steve this past weekend. The skiing was OK and those crampons would have been a bonus. But, it's important to remember that the best equipment on Earth won't make life easy if conditions are poor.

Fortunately this was not the case for Steve this past weekend. The skiing was OK and those crampons would have been a bonus. But, it's important to remember that the best equipment on Earth won't make life easy if conditions are poor.

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absolutely. a few other folks made it safely up without crampons and the boot ladder wasn't completely frozen but sections of the ladder ascended over frozen sections, so my desire for the cramps were more a desire to be safe ascending those icy sections that my boot wasn't holding well. a good point though that often times we place too much trust into our gear to keep us safe. we need to realize the limits of the gear and not get in over our heads.

This is pretty amazing:

http://www.tuckerman.org/accident/Summa ... ts2006.htm

2 things stand out; on 4/2, Hillman's was exactly the way it was on the day I mentioned in my previous post. I was there on a weekday and was the only idiot up there trying to ski. These folks saw the carnage and still decided to give it a try.

Same for all the 4/22 accidents. And what's with these people glissading while wearing crampons? I'm no mountaineering expert, but not wearing crampons unless your climbing was one of the first rules about them I learned. Could you imagine ascending a boot ladder while some knucklehead is sliding down towards you on their butt, feet first with crampons on?

I can't express the respect I have for the volunteer ski patrol. They must stand on the floor of the bowl and cringe on busy weekends like these.