I had a great day up at Tuckerman Ravine, skied Right Gully, then skied the Sherburne Trail back to the car.
I checked the Mount Washington Observatory at 8AM, and saw they had already broken a 1938 record high temp of 33° with a temperature of 35° at 5AM at the summit. So I immediately changed plans, and was skinning up by 10AM, and skiing down by 1:15PM. By Noon, summit temps rose to 41°, shattering that 1938 record. It looks like April 6th, not February 6th up there.
Right Gully was 2" of corn to 6" of mashed potatoes. Writing about that delicious snow is making me hungry, I'm off to superbowl party at VH.
Right Gully is not skiable to the top, but enough snow to hike up through the krumholtz and access the summit snowfields via Lions Head, had I started earlier.
Several skiers and riders skied The lip; though narrow, it's skiable, the catch being they wiped out the uphill bootrack on the way down. I would not have wanted to be ascending when they were descending.
My first impression was that the snow ranger's Moderate rating for The Lip was way too conservative, that no one will respect "Moderate" if it's used for conditions like today, and that no way could a human-triggered avalanche occur after the weather we've had. However, when I got up into Right Gully, I could see fracture lines above the Center Headwall. Take the warnings seriously, if there is low avalanche danger, then we're probably into falling ice and rock season. It's never "safe".
Left Gully and Chute looked pretty bullet-proof. Left Gully was almost entirely in the shade by Noon.
Little Headwall was technically "not skiable", though a half-dozen free-heeled free-minded individuals scratched their way through trees down the left side, after a short walk down the rocky Connection.
Hillmans was in the shade most or all of the day, so it was probably similar to Left Gully, and I doubt it softened up enough to be worth skiing.
Sherburne was thin, but covered wall to wall. Not as scratchy as I expected! Waterbars are all covered, but not filled in.
Predictably, the Sherburne softened up on skiers left while in the sun, but was setting back up by my 2:15PM descent. The lowest 3-4 turns of the Sherbie were still soft. I was surprised there is still snow on the bridge over Cutler River at PNVC, and I was able to ski all the way to the car.
Sorry, no pictures. Maybe one of the other folks up there today will grace the NBS with a few shots.
I checked the Mount Washington Observatory at 8AM, and saw they had already broken a 1938 record high temp of 33° with a temperature of 35° at 5AM at the summit. So I immediately changed plans, and was skinning up by 10AM, and skiing down by 1:15PM. By Noon, summit temps rose to 41°, shattering that 1938 record. It looks like April 6th, not February 6th up there.
Right Gully was 2" of corn to 6" of mashed potatoes. Writing about that delicious snow is making me hungry, I'm off to superbowl party at VH.
Right Gully is not skiable to the top, but enough snow to hike up through the krumholtz and access the summit snowfields via Lions Head, had I started earlier.
Several skiers and riders skied The lip; though narrow, it's skiable, the catch being they wiped out the uphill bootrack on the way down. I would not have wanted to be ascending when they were descending.
My first impression was that the snow ranger's Moderate rating for The Lip was way too conservative, that no one will respect "Moderate" if it's used for conditions like today, and that no way could a human-triggered avalanche occur after the weather we've had. However, when I got up into Right Gully, I could see fracture lines above the Center Headwall. Take the warnings seriously, if there is low avalanche danger, then we're probably into falling ice and rock season. It's never "safe".
Left Gully and Chute looked pretty bullet-proof. Left Gully was almost entirely in the shade by Noon.
Little Headwall was technically "not skiable", though a half-dozen free-heeled free-minded individuals scratched their way through trees down the left side, after a short walk down the rocky Connection.
Hillmans was in the shade most or all of the day, so it was probably similar to Left Gully, and I doubt it softened up enough to be worth skiing.
Sherburne was thin, but covered wall to wall. Not as scratchy as I expected! Waterbars are all covered, but not filled in.
Predictably, the Sherburne softened up on skiers left while in the sun, but was setting back up by my 2:15PM descent. The lowest 3-4 turns of the Sherbie were still soft. I was surprised there is still snow on the bridge over Cutler River at PNVC, and I was able to ski all the way to the car.
Sorry, no pictures. Maybe one of the other folks up there today will grace the NBS with a few shots.
