Gulf of Slides - 4/13/03

L

Lftgly

New member
For a Sunday, there was a good size crowd ascending to GOS along with us. Four of us were on AT gear, determined to ski up at any cost; a dozen or more were tele skiers, of whom all but a few diehards were hiking up; and one snowboarder was on a split board kit, skinning up. <BR> <BR>We followed the crowd straight to the end of the ski trail, to find a large debris pile in the Left Gully from a wet slide Saturday. Rather than follow the crowd any further, we decided to go back to find a gully without a pile of debris in it. It turned out the next two gullies also had debris piles from wet slides on Saturday. Interesting to note that although Tucks had a Low avalanche rating Saturday, the GOS had several large slides. <BR> <BR>So here's the first Main Gully, where we decided to ski anyway. It was great above and below the debris pile! <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2167.jpg" ALT="041303GulfOfSlides01"> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2168.jpg" ALT="041303GulfOfSlides02"> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2169.jpg" ALT="041303GulfOfSlides03"> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2170.jpg" ALT="041303GulfOfSlides04"> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2171.jpg" ALT="041303GulfOfSlides05"> <BR> <BR>After the Main Gully (#1), we skied the next gully to the right (#2), which I'd skied Monday. <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2172.jpg" ALT="gulf_of_slides3"> <BR> <BR>It started out nice at the bottom, until we rounded the corner to find another debris pile. <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2173.jpg" ALT="041303GulfOfSlides06"> <BR>Once again, it was fantastic above & below the debris. <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2174.jpg" ALT="041303GulfOfSlides07"> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2175.jpg" ALT="041303GulfOfSlides08"> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2176.jpg" ALT="041303GulfOfSlides09"> <BR> <BR>The GOS ski trail descent was challenging. After cutting corners to stay on snow further up, a couple of us turned off of the GOS ski trail around 2800', and skied out roughly along the New River drainage to Avalanche Brook Ski Trail. There was some bushwacking, but there were some good turns, too, and we were able to ski out the whole way without any hiking. Though it was fun, I wouldn't recommend it. The other half of our party, who stayed on the GOS ski trail & hiked where necessary, was back at Pinkham well ahead of us. <BR> <BR>Comparing notes back at Pinkham, friends said that Hillmans was bullet-proof, as well as the Left Gully in Tucks. Apparently it only softened up right of the Chute. <BR> <BR>A fine day to end the weekend!
 
Oops... sorry, weird thing, the first time I saw the page, the pics were not there... and 2 minutes later, they are.... it should be my computer, sorry. <BR> <BR>real great pics !!! thanks !
 
Thanks, Frank, I hope I have that problem solved. <BR> <BR>On the note that Tucks had a LOW avalanche rating Saturday, but the Gulf Of Slides had several large slides: <BR> <BR>We talked to a couple guys descending Sunday morning, after they had camped out overnight. They said one of those slides stopped "20 feet from us" on Saturday. I got the impression they were <I>natural</I>, not human-triggered slides, i.e. CONSIDERABLE rating, two notches <I>above</I> Tucks LOW rating on same day. It would be wise to keep this in mind when trying to extrapolate what the conditions are in GOS from the Tucks forecast.
 
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