riverc0il
New member
Quite a day today. Got a later start than planned and paid the price as the main and aux lots were full by 8 A.M. so I joined the masses lining Route 16 with parked cars. Got a few odd comments regarding wearing shorts and putting on my boots ("You gonna hike up in those?"). Nah, I'm gonna skin! Skinned from the Sherburne/Avalanche Trail connection to shortly up the GoS Ski Trail, hiked for about 20 minutes, and then skinned the rest of the way with two or three portages. Much better than I had expected regarding skinable and skiable coverage on the ski trail. Though I will admit on the ski down, I really pushed the definition of skiable coverage to the breaking point. Avalanche damage where the first major gully crosses the GoS trail is stunning. Was having a heel blister issue on the ascent which only got worse throughout the day but I didn't let it stop me.
Started with the Main Gully which had seen the most traffic so I figured I would hit it first. A little bumpy and choppy but a really great ski. Brought the InBigs which haven't seen much action this year. These skis are sensational for this type of skiing. Snow was already getting a little sloppy, especially with the traffic. Not quite mashed potatoes but beyond perfect corn. Climbed back up the excellent boot pack in the Main Gully and had myself a snack above the snow pack which is creeping down. Hiked over to the next gully skiers' left and dropped in to more sensational turns. My heel was really giving me problems at this point and skiing was somewhat uncomfortable. But the heck with that, I had time to be sore when I got done skiing.
Skied down to the Avi Debris zone and went up the next gully. Again, no choke points or ice bulges. Just a fine canvass to open up some really wide nearly edge to edge turns and charge it hard. Not usually my style but was enjoying milking the big turns today. All the gullies skied sensationally well. There were about a dozen or so skiers in each of the gullies skiing or climbing at any given time with a few hanging out down below. There were probably as many people or more just sitting on lunch rocks in Tux at any given time.
The ski down was adventurous. I would say I "skied" just over halfway down. Of that just over halfway, 1/3 was quality skiing, 1/3 was survival skiing, and the last 1/3 probably suggests the need of a sanity check. But I will do just about anything to keep my skis attached to my boots rather than my pack. Skied down to where I started skinning, hiked down to 1/4 mile away from Avalanche Brook, and then skied it back to the Sherburne. Probably skied more verts on the GoS than most people could have done on the Sherburne with a very short 15 minute down hike. That is almost as good as an uncrowded GoS compared to a crowded Tuckerman. Though coverage is going very quickly and I suspect even those needing a sanity check on what constitutes skiable coverage will not be skiing nearly half of what I managed within the next few days even with cooler weather coming in.
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Started with the Main Gully which had seen the most traffic so I figured I would hit it first. A little bumpy and choppy but a really great ski. Brought the InBigs which haven't seen much action this year. These skis are sensational for this type of skiing. Snow was already getting a little sloppy, especially with the traffic. Not quite mashed potatoes but beyond perfect corn. Climbed back up the excellent boot pack in the Main Gully and had myself a snack above the snow pack which is creeping down. Hiked over to the next gully skiers' left and dropped in to more sensational turns. My heel was really giving me problems at this point and skiing was somewhat uncomfortable. But the heck with that, I had time to be sore when I got done skiing.
Skied down to the Avi Debris zone and went up the next gully. Again, no choke points or ice bulges. Just a fine canvass to open up some really wide nearly edge to edge turns and charge it hard. Not usually my style but was enjoying milking the big turns today. All the gullies skied sensationally well. There were about a dozen or so skiers in each of the gullies skiing or climbing at any given time with a few hanging out down below. There were probably as many people or more just sitting on lunch rocks in Tux at any given time.
The ski down was adventurous. I would say I "skied" just over halfway down. Of that just over halfway, 1/3 was quality skiing, 1/3 was survival skiing, and the last 1/3 probably suggests the need of a sanity check. But I will do just about anything to keep my skis attached to my boots rather than my pack. Skied down to where I started skinning, hiked down to 1/4 mile away from Avalanche Brook, and then skied it back to the Sherburne. Probably skied more verts on the GoS than most people could have done on the Sherburne with a very short 15 minute down hike. That is almost as good as an uncrowded GoS compared to a crowded Tuckerman. Though coverage is going very quickly and I suspect even those needing a sanity check on what constitutes skiable coverage will not be skiing nearly half of what I managed within the next few days even with cooler weather coming in.
Photo Gallery
