St. Patricks Day at Tucks started off great: 50 degrees at 10AM in the Pinkham parking lot, under sunny, blue skies. Here's the view of the Bowl from HoJos. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2068.jpg" ALT="Tucks from HoJos"> <BR> <BR>Skied up the Little Headwall to Connection Cache. Here's the poor man's wish-I-had-a-wide-angle-lens composite view. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2069.jpg" ALT="Judy Holmes has nothing to worry about"> <BR> <BR>Skied up along the right side, under the Lions Head gullies, until I hit a good boot track headed for Right Gully. Hung out below Right Gully for lunch, and watched a couple skiers come down the Lip. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2070.jpg" ALT="The Lip from Right Gully"> <BR> <BR>This spot under the cliff to the right of Right Gully proved a popular resting spot, and I was joined briefly by two hikers and a tele skier, who headed up Right toward the summit. After lunch, I followed them up. The view from above Right Gully, towards the Chute, gives you an idea of the relatively thin snow cover on Davis Lawn. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2071.jpg" ALT="The Chute from above Right Gully"> <BR> <BR>The Chute is wide and Lip is fat now, but they may not last very late in the season. There's still a chance of getting significant additional snowfall at high elevations, but it's looking slim. The snowfields looked great above Right Gully, and I was tempted to go to the summit. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2072.jpg" ALT="The snowfields above Right Gully"> <BR> <BR>I put the skins back on, and followed the tele skier's tracks up the snowfields. I caught up with him near the upper right of this photo. We both quit there, around 5700' at about 2PM. It was getting late, and the shadows were falling across the Bowl, and I wanted to come down the Lip while it was still in the sun. At this elevation, the turns were sweet, in 1" to 3" of mashed potatoes coating a firm base. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2073.jpg" ALT="Tracks"> <BR> <BR>Over the Lip and below, it got progressively heavier and stickier, and the last turns on the way to Lunch Rocks were about 5" to 6" of mush. <BR> <BR>You have to get over a band of krumholtz to drop in at the top of Right Gully. So I got down the Lip in time to catch Jeff, the tele skier, coming down Right Gully. Notice the pile of debris around the top Lunch Rocks, from a wet slide that came down right of Sluice during the noon hour. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2074.jpg" ALT="Right Gully"> <BR> <BR>He traversed above Lunch Rocks, and took a few more turns below the Lip. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2075.jpg" ALT="The Lip"> <BR> <BR>It was time to call it a day. At 2:30PM, the shadows were falling across the ravine. <BR> <BR><IMG SRC="http://www.firsttracksonline.com/discus2/messages/8/2076.jpg" ALT="2:30PM"> <BR> <BR>Although thin cover, it's possible to ski through the Connection. The Little Headwall was great, but completely in the shade at that hour. I could hear running water at the bottom, so who knows how long until it gets badly undermined and washes out. <BR> <BR>The shadows falling on the Sherburne turned out to be a blessing. It was too warm for the snow to set up in the shade, but it did get faster - the sunny side was really sticky and slow. Many more bare spots on the Sherburne than I'd like to see this early in the season. We've got a couple more unseasonably warm days on tap this week, and as the snow rangers have reported, one heavy rain storm would do it in.
Tucks2 - 3/17/03
- Thread starter Lftgly
- Start date