50! Gulf of Slides, NH: 05/11/08

[riverc0il]

Reporting in for day 50 of the season today for a new one season high. Not bad for a Monday through Friday 8a-5p working stiff. Last two years living in Vermont should have been way higher but I was skunked for two months last year (49) with wisdom teeth extraction and an in grown toe nail and the year before with my broken elbow (33).

Pulled into the PNVC at 8:05am to land a parking spot right at the GoS trail head. Sah-weet. The lot never maxed out on this blue bird Sunday (another glorious day on the rock pile, my third blue bird on Big George in the past month) so I guess it is safe to say that when the Sherbie goes, so go the crowds. Including a large group of eight skiers, I think I might have seen a total of twenty or so skiers and one canine on the trail or in the gullies.

Gulf of Slides ski trail is fairly muddy down low and up high with most dry conditions in the middle sections of the trail. Snow started shortly below the big turn at the Tux cut thru trail. Given the amount of post holing, skins for the last half mile would not have been a terrible idea. I switched from hiking boots to ski boots for the snowy section as I only had low ankle hikers and was wearing shorts with gators.

Decision time at the avi debris area and I went for that gully. But when I reached the base of the gully, I discovered absolutely no boot ladder. Wow, who says you can't find an isolated section of Mount Washington to enjoy by yourself these days? Shesh!! I had not the stamina to kick in a ladder (why did I play tennis yesterday?) so skied back down to the ski trail and proceeded to the main gully. The 2nd gully was skiable but had a considerable navigational hurdle with a chock half way down.

Main Gully had a respectable boot ladder and still very much filled in. Very little coverage creap compared to two weeks ago but the sides are collapsing inward. Run out is still wide open, thanks to high snows and what I must guess have been some good runs this winter.

First run was da bomb! Perfect corn snow top to bottom. Ripped it up with a major smile on my face. Slight cravass developing at the mid-point. Essentially, two skiable "lines" down the main gully with a pair of options on either side. Really opened the turns up below the cravass on the second half, sweet corn!

Back up for a second run and ran into awf170 while enjoying lunch. We chatted for a bit then took a run. Snow was mashed potato for the second run with some minor wet snow sloughing. Early bird got the worm today and if I had been smarter, I would have set the alarm for 5am instead of 6am and gotten two perfect corn runs. I settled for 1 perfect corn and 1 very nice run despite the snow being baked already. I was tired and the snow was past prime, so called it a day after two runs.

Managed to snap my one of my touring poles on the down hike :roll: Got a little annoyed at the toe pinch in the Garmonts. Really killing me on the down hike. In frustration, took a swing at a rock and snapped it. Oops! Wrapped that pole around a few dozens trees and bent it six ways to Sunday. Go figure a little rock would finally snap the brittle area. Morale of the story? I need new boots that don't hurt my toes (and are stiffer for better performance on the down!).

Should have some pics later tonight. Insane amount of snow up there. Snow coverage looks better today than pictures from myApril 22, 2006 report.

 

[icelanticskier]

very nice riv!
can't wait to get back on the rock this week. wow 20 skiers this time of year! surprised that many ventured up that way. glad you got it good. i gotta wait till tuesday/wednesday. will probably continue my 645 am starts for the reasons mentioned in your report. get up early, get out early. not as important as in some western climates though, we got it pretty darn good out here with the high water content and what not.
rog

 

[Lftgly]

I guess it is safe to say that when the Sherbie goes, so go the crowds. [/url].

Uhh, river, maybe it was Mothers Day?

Great TR, now I know what I should title mine!

 

[riverc0il]

Uhh, river, maybe it was Mothers Day?

People have their priorities screwed up.

:shock:

Okay, to be fair, we visited with my mom Saturday evening.

 

[riverc0il]

Photos are up...
http://www.thesnowway.com/v/0708season/20080511gos

Some damn impressive coverage this late in the season for Gulf of Slides. The bottom of Main Gully was larger than I cared to go wall to wall for big sweeping turns and I was really trying to crank them hard. GoS may go the distance for the month of May.

 

[icelanticskier]

ya riv, the snow just won't go away up there. yesterday 5/14 was amazing all 3 prominent gullies skied tremendously well t2b. the hillmans/lower snowfields exit was a treat as well. the cover in hillmans is still t2b from both skiers right and left with 1500 vert of fat skiing, we chose skiers right. hillmans is better filled in than anytime last year as is gos. can you imagine at what it would look like up there if the temps hadn't been pushin 80 and we'd had normal snowfall lately? we'd be puttin these same pics up 3 weeks from now!
who said we wouldn't be skiing well into june?
good stuff
rog

 

[J.Spin]

who said we wouldn't be skiing well into june?

June is certainly looking fine, even for car-assisted skiing based on what we saw this weekend up on the mountain. The weather was looking so nice that we took the boys up for some skiing on the snowfields via the Auto Road. It was their first time visiting Mt. Washington and we all had a lot of fun on our own private little snowfield. I sent in a brief conditions report and a few pictures to SkiVT-L, which can be accessed at the link below:

Mt. Washington Snowfields area conditions update & pictures from May 25th, 2008

J.Spin

 

[riverc0il]

Due to various factors, I still haven't fixed up my pictures or posted a trip report, but East Snowfields yesterday were sensational. Should be fine for next weekend for those inclined. Unfortunately, I'll be heading to Florida for business :roll: Should have some pictures posted sometime next week though there are plenty already posted on AZ and T4T for those who need immediate beta. Love the slacking vibe up there... can never ever have enough days like yesterday. I figure one per year on average if I am lucky until I can no longer earn turns? Gotta get as many as you can cause boy there are so fun.

 

[Patrick]

Unfortunately, I'll be heading to Florida for business :roll:

That's unfortunate...I was hoping to tag up (and get those pics from MRG 07 :wink next weekend. :wink:

Have fun in Florida. :roll: (sorry)

Maybe later in the season? 8)

 

[Tony Crocker]

You got a 5-year-old to earn his turns on that snowfield? Impressive!

 

[riverc0il]

That's unfortunate...I was hoping to tag up (and get those pics from MRG 07 :wink next weekend. :wink:

Have fun in Florida. :roll: (sorry)

Maybe later in the season? 8)

I meant to mail those out to you but I think I lost your address. Email that over to me and I'll mail out that CD.

Later in the season is definitely doable. I will be looking for at least one day in June. And of course, the annual July suffer fest. So I should have at least two more days up there. Unfortunately, this June is going to be really busy for a variety of reasons so two more will probably be it for me.

 

[J.Spin]

You got a 5-year-old to earn his turns on that snowfield? Impressive!

It ended up being a good ski outing for both boys, but it felt like it was touch and go for a bit there in terms of whether or not Ty would actually ski. The low point of the trip for him (and therefore the rest of us) was about halfway through our hike to the snowfield. It was a very short hike, probably only 10 to 15 minutes, even at the excruciatingly slow pace created by Dylan walking a good portion of it himself. But, it was enough time for Ty to change his mood. Ty initially charged right up the trail with E, and Dylan was lagging behind with me as he had to work to negotiate the big rocks on the trail. Then, Dylan finally got his stride, and I looked ahead only to see that Ty and E had stopped and were discussing something. Ty was sent back to me soon after that to let me know that he’d decided he needed to take a dump. This is just another one of the 15 million things that can arise when you have younger children out in these places. We’ve actually had to do emergency dumps with Ty before, even once in the alpine region on Mt. Mansfield, but for some reason he insisted he needed to go back to the summit buildings to take care of the issue. That would have meant at least a half hour round trip between hiking back, changing into my regular boots, driving, etc, etc. and it would have been a big pain in the context of the afternoon. After several minutes of what seemed like a brick wall discussion with him, everything miraculously resolved itself when he agreed to do the hike, but he wasn’t going to ski. Naturally we didn’t have a problem with that, although we suspected (once he agreed to just the hiking and knowing Ty the way we do) that what had happened was that he had suddenly become intimidated by the thought of skiing in those surroundings and was looking for a way out. I’m sure he did have to use the restroom, but once he could go ahead with the knowledge that he didn’t have to ski if he didn’t want to, it was easy to suppress any bathroom issues until much later. I’m not sure why he even got it in his head that he absolutely had to ski, since we would be starting at the bottom of the snowfield and if he didn’t want to hike up he didn’t have to. But, Ty is Ty, and we were psyched that he was at least going to make the hike to the snowfield so the rest of us could ski. He hiked the rest of the way to the snowfield with gusto, and then to nobody’s surprise, he was raring to ski after a few minutes of becoming comfortable with the environment. I’m not sure why he was feeling out of his element, as he’s done similar skiing on our trips to the Hanging Gardens Snowfield at Logan Pass in Glacier National Park, but who knows how much he remembers about those or what goes through your head when you’re five years old. Ultimately he wound up hiking the snowfield for five laps, which was more than anyone else in the family. He even down climbed one of his laps instead of skiing down to help out Dylan with his turns. So as usual he had a lot of fun, and as a bonus, I got to work with him on keeping his hands/poles/weight out in front more so he ended up making some great turns. Dylan struggled a little in the middle of the snowfield where it was the steepest (probably single black diamond pitch in that area) but he also managed to get in some good turns. So overall it was a great experience that we’ll probably try to repeat when available because we know it will be a while before both boys are able to haul themselves up into Tuckerman Ravine (even with parents taking care of hauling their gear like I see many do). Also, I’d rather not have them up in the bowl trying to dodge car-sized blocks of ice until they’re much older and understand the hazards associated with the ravine.

J.Spin

 

[Harvey]

Jay - I've got to say I am always in awe of your patience and at the same time glad to know you are human - showing some frustration with what can happen with little kids along.

You do seem to get a lot of days on your own, seeking your own adventures. So that may improve your patience level. Not sure how many days you get, but I know it's a lot more than me.

In my own defense, only skiing 30+ days a year, each day, each turn, may be more precious. I do have pangs of guilt as I'm pushing everyone out the door to get to the mountain early. For now, for me, real BC will have to wait until Neve is older, or we can work out some "daycare" we trust outside of her daycare "pass" at Gore.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Jay - I've got to say I am always in awe of your patience

The bar is being set very high here for children's instruction. I thought I did a fairly decent job at it in this age range, but the gap grows wider each season.

My friend Richard, who is a more casual intermediate skier, expressed the opinion that young children will tend to follow the lead of their parents and often plateau at the parents' level, as both of his daughters did. I was quite determined to prove that hypothesis wrong by seeing that Adam got a few days of high level intruction each season from about age 8.

But I think the parental influence is working here with Jay in a positive way. Since he routinely earns his turns, the kids must absorb this and don't think it's strange for them to be doing the same. I doubt many of the rest of us would have contemplated getting our kids to do this at ages 3 and 5! Adam was not interested in hiking/skiing a 700 vertical patch on Beartooth Pass (NE of Yellowstone) in summer 1995 (age 10) as he had just skied lift service at Mammoth a week before. I'm guessing Patrick wouldn't contemplate taking Morgane to earn turns on Mt. Washington at a similar age now.

 

[Patrick]

I'm guessing Patrick wouldn't contemplate taking Morgane to earn turns on Mt. Washington at a similar age now.

I have to agree that J and E have pretty good patience. We had similar frustrating issue with Tara (5) this winter and maybe even Morgane on the odd time.

Actually, Morgane would probably be fine on the snowfields via Otto Rhodes, the problem I would have is to have her ski as long as I want to. Plus if I head up, I'd like to check GG out.

I've never done it myself and GG has been on my list, weather and road opening didn't cooperate last year for me. I was set to go this weekend, unfortunately after x amount of sunny days...forecats is for rain all weekend. :roll:

 

[icelanticskier]

I've never done it myself and GG has been on my list, weather and road opening didn't cooperate last year for me. I was set to go this weekend, unfortunately after x amount of sunny days...forecats is for rain all weekend. :roll:

patrick, gg ain't goin anywhere and if ya feel a need to get in there, airplane gully should be doable for a couple of weeks at least down to the top of the spaulding run out. the gg is highly over hyped in my opinion. it's got some nice runs in there but, not any better than many elsewhere and gets skied a bunch more than many other spots especially late season. one thing it does offer is a very remote feel but ya gotta hike outta there so you never get a last run.
see ya up there somewhere
rog

 

[J.Spin]

Jay - I've got to say I am always in awe of your patience and at the same time glad to know you are human - showing some frustration with what can happen with little kids along.

I think that being patient really helps in these sorts of endeavors, but we also try to go into each adventure knowing that almost anything can happen. Not being obsessed with just one goal for an outing but trying to make the whole process enjoyable is probably a good way to go into any trip, but it really seems to help with the kids. On this outing we knew that it might end up just being a drive on the Mount Washington Auto Road with the boys, so we would have been fine with that. It still would have been their first trip to the Presidential Range, and actually my first time on the auto road, so that was pretty cool in and of itself. I can recall the point on our hike to the snowfield when Ty was having his issues and I was starting to get frustrated, when I looked up the trail a bit and saw that E was taking it all in stride and getting ready to relax on the rocks. When I saw that, it quickly put everything into perspective. E has an even better perspective on these sorts of situations than me, and one of the best examples of that was our 2003 trip to the Uintas to hike King’s Peak with Ty. About halfway through a 28-mile hike with several thousand feet of elevation gain, she was able to call it off because the wind was getting too strong for Ty. We were only about a mile or so away from the goal of reaching the summit on a trip that had been very strenuous and taken a lot of planning. I at first thought that it was ludicrous to turn around when we had come so far (on a trip that we would probably be unable to repeat for a LONG time), but she knew that that’s what had to be done. Once I was over the shock of turning around so close to the summit and had time to think about it, I realized that she’d of course had the right perspective.

You do seem to get a lot of days on your own, seeking your own adventures. So that may improve your patience level. Not sure how many days you get, but I know it's a lot more than me.

It seems that for the past decade or so I’ve been averaging about 40 to 60 ski outings a season. I don’t really have hard counts on “ski days”, just the numbering of my entries on my web page. I occasionally have reports in my list describing someone else’s skiing, but the list at least gives me an idea of how many ski outings I’ve been on. I haven’t thought much about tallying up my days lately, because after seeing various discussions about the subject on SkiVT-L, I’m not sure what it even means. Some people contend that for a ski day to count it has to have X number of runs or vertical feet skied if it was lift served, or X number if it was backcountry, and somehow Nordic days don’t count etc. One thing I have noticed after checking out my web page lists is that I’m getting a lot more outings here in Vermont than I was in Montana. Whereas in Vermont (both now, and prior to living in Montana) I seem to be closer to the upper end of my usual range of entries, while we were in Montana from 2001 to 2006, I was averaging closer to the low end, and some of the seasons were even below 40 web page entries. The boys were very young while we were in Montana, but I don’t think my increase in ski outings has as much to do with their age as it does the fact that there are so many factors that make the access to skiing comparatively easier in our current location. We’re less than 10 minutes from our local ski area, it’s on my way to work, they have night skiing, there are many more ski areas in close proximity to the house, there are several local resorts with relatively long ski seasons, the access to backcountry skiing is much more convenient than it was in Montana, and we even have backcountry skiing right from the house. We’ve also got family here for those occasions when one of the boys might not be skiing for some reason, so a day that might otherwise be held up due to childcare concerns could work out easier. So with regard to your comment quoted above, I think it is easier to go skiing with the boys and not care about my own turns because I can get out on so many other days, and catch all or most of the best days if I want to. Certainly skiing at places like Lost Trail and Bolton where there’s not such a mad dash for the powder helps as well. We can ski at a slower pace with the boys and still get plenty of powder turns, and since that’s probably our favorite type of skiing, it doesn’t feel like we’re missing out on too much.

J.Spin

 

[Harvey]

We were only about a mile or so away from the goal of reaching the summit on a trip that had been very strenuous and taken a lot of planning. I at first thought that it was ludicrous to turn around when we had come so far (on a trip that we would probably be unable to repeat for a LONG time), but she knew that that’s what had to be done.

You sound like a more civilized, reasonable version of me. I remember being 14 and throwing a fit because a group of cyclists I was with decided to "call a bus" to drive us the last 15 miles on a 220 mile ride because it was getting dark.

I haven’t thought much about tallying up my days lately, because after seeing various ...I’m not sure what it even means. Some people contend that for a ski day to count it has to have X number of runs or vertical feet skied if it was lift served, or X number if it was backcountry, and somehow Nordic days don’t count etc.

For me, if I ski it's a ski day. There WAS a time in my past, that if it was an alpine day it didn't count. 8)

Jay - as usual - a complete and thoughtful response. To me, not counting means you are one with the hills. It's only the flatlanders who count their days. To you it's just life. You are livin right up there for sure.