Tuckerman Ravine, NH: 5/8/11

A few weeks ago my son was lamenting the fact that ski season was basically over when I told him about Tuckerman's. It has always been on my list of places to ski but for one reason or another I never made it. I forgot about our conversation and then one night he said “we have got to go." When I asked where he said "take a look at these pictures of Tuckerman's Ravine." After drooling over some photos and researching routes we decided to drive up this past Saturday afternoon, stay at the Joe Dodge Lodge at the trailhead and then hike in and ski Sunday. We arrived around 10:00 p.m. after almost hitting a very large moose about a mile from the lodge. The rooms are quite basic but functional and could not be any closer to the trailhead. We woke up with excitement at 5:30 a.m. to see Mt. Washington behind our room. Even though the forecast called for showers, the sky was blue and the temperature was in the high 30s. We had a quick breakfast at the lodge and hit the trail at 7:00 a.m. After all of the stories I have heard about crowds at Tux we were surprised that almost no one was around.



We made our way up the trail which is quite wide to allow emergency access to Tuckerman’s. While there was almost no snow around the lodge, as we gained elevation the snow pack began to increase and about half way to HoJo’s the trail was covered. We were waiting in anticipation for our first view of Tux. Finally, with Nick in the lead, we got to the top of a small rise and I heard him say “Oh my god!” Neither of us was fully prepared for the scale of the place as no photo does it justice. One guy passed us on the trail without skis and then we saw a few people around HoJo's but otherwise we were by ourselves.



We arrived in the ravine at 9:00 a.m. and saw the guy who past us on the trail making his way up the chute. Other than the lone hiker, no one was in the ravine but the two of us.



Since neither of us had been to Tux before we were not entirely sure what was the best route so we decided to follow the hiker’s lead and headed up the Chute. Nothing fully prepares you for how steep the terrain is at Tux. As we started climbing I realized it was time for a quick refresher on self arrest techniques. Nick told me that when he was 7 his first race coach at Gore had taught his group self arrest techniques on Lies and he was fully prepared! At the top we nervously clicked in and headed down. The snow was very deep corn and it sloughed off in massive quantities around us as we skied.



After getting over the first run jitters we decided to try Left Gully. We slowly made our way up making sure that every step was secure. The climbing was a little mellower than the Chute but it is always a little nerve wracking when you have to traverse across the slope to complete the route. As we got to the top we were still surprised that we were the only people in the Gully and very few people were in the ravine. We took a break near the top and enjoyed the view down the Gully.



The Left Gully was totally bumped up corn. There was some dirt on the snow in the narrowest part of the Gully but over all the coverage was excellent with no bare spots or rocks. Nick blasted down the Gully non-stop top to bottom. It is good to be 15!





As we neared the bottom of the Gully we encountered a conga line of about 30 skiers headed up. This was the first large group we had seen all day. We headed over to the Lunch Rocks and hung out for a while eating and taking in the scene. It was remarkably empty with maybe 75 -100 people around.  We spent some time watching a drama unfold with a skier who had taken a young black lab up the Chute. He had confidently told us the dog liked steep terrain. Unfortunately, the poor dog became trapped on the steepest section and was unable to go up or down. After some time the guy tried to ski down with an 80lb lab in his arms. They both went down and tumbled most of the way down the Chute. Fortunately, the dog got up with his tail wagging!



We were both feeling rather content so we decided to head down to HoJo’s to look at Hillman’s Highway and make a decision whether to give that a go or head out. Hillman’s looked really awesome with excellent top to bottom coverage but since it was 1:30 p.m. and Mother’s Day we decided it was in our best interest to head home. The AMC caretaker suggested that we not bother with the ski trail because it was significantly melted out. Of course we decided to disregard his advice and put on our skis! We were able to ski about ¾ of a mile down the Shelbourne Ski Trail. It was bumped up and had numerous bare spots but was well worth the effort as it probably saved us a half hour or so of hiking.  We arrived at the parking lot at around 3:00 p.m. and headed home. My guess is that by this weekend the Shelbourne Ski Trail will be mostly melted out but there is still excellent cover on the Chute, the Left Gully and Hillman's so if you are looking for one last weekend of skiing this one may be it!

Nice you had a good first experience. I was there as well and saw the guy coming down the Chute with the lab. Later I met him hiking up Left Gully with the lab. The dog seemed to have less trouble there :)

Great report.  It so reminds me of my first trip with my sons to tux.  Thanks so much for your report and great photos.
Bill Nealon

Thanks for the great report!!!

Nice!  Love that reaction to the first view of the ravine.  It's hard to believe you're not out west somewhere.  So lucky to have a beautiful day with light crowds, good for you guys!

zach wrote

Love the pics, especially this one. When you remember how the camera flattens everything out - yowza.

Sounds like the danger of a tumble is just as great on the ascent?

How does the skiing compare to the slides?

Any trouble with the wrist?

Great job of conveying the excitement of encountering something that was a step beyond any previous experience.

Thanks for banging this out Zach. Can't wait for my turn.

Nice Tux reportage. Tough reading about the dog having to tumble because of the human but glad the pup was okay. Tuckerman really is no place for dogs. I have seen dogs do well in Gulf of Slides. Hoping to get up there soon now that the ankle is almost 100%.

Love the pics, especially this one. When you remember how the camera flattens everything out - yowza.

Sounds like the danger of a tumble is just as great on the ascent?

I am sure zach will chime in, but I find climbing gets the adrenaline going more than the skiing. The risk of falling is infinitely higher climbing than skiing. You can tell the climbing is steep when you gotta go hands and knees as in the post above. I actually feel more comfortable sometimes with the extra points of contact even though it is steeper.

You are right about how steep it was in the photo. It is funny how I took that one. I knew we were in an intense spot and I wanted to capture it somehow but it was just as steep where I was so taking a normal photo was out of the question. I had the camera strap over my shoulder so I spun the camera around under my arm so it was pointing down hill and pushed the button without even looking through the viewfinder. I was lucky it captured the scene.

The ascents definitely got the adrenaline going. Having 4 points of contact was the way to go in that area. We felt at risk of falling on the ascent more so than the decent. We carried our gear with us everywhere so having a pack on made you feel like you were going to fall backward every once and a while. In retrospect it might make sense to leave gear in the ravine if you are sure you are going to return there.

Since I have been chasing 3 young ski racers around the Northeast for 8 years I have never had the opportunity to ski the Slides so I am not sure how this compares but it reminded me of some stuff I have hiked to at Alta and Whistler.

As for my wrist, it has healed pretty well since smashing it to pieces at WF in January. It still hurts doing routine stuff but I never felt it or thought about it up there.

Good stuff. Thanks for sharing. This makes me want to gather up my Dad & Brother for a (men's only) family ski trip ASAP. I'm sure this was one that you and your son will never forget.

Snagged from Nick's YouTube Channel...

Smaller size seems to play more continuously ... just got to see this now...

WAY to RIP IT Nick!

I think a little explanation on the video is in order especially the Chute portion. The video was shot with a GoPro camera. Nick was experimenting for the first time with a new mount on a pole extended above his pack. We had some trouble getting it going and angling it correctly. In addition, we triggered a large slide of slush/corn. He started it and then I set off another up hill from him so he had to traverse over to the side and hang out until it passed. It was a strange phenomenon. When we approached the Chute from below we stood there looking up at these long vertical 2-3 foot deep u shaped troughs running about half way up the Chute. We could not figure out what caused them until we triggered the slush slide and discovered that they were created by the sliding snow that would get funneled into the trough and then get discharged into the base of the ravine. As long as you stayed away from the troughs you were ok. Unfortunately, his pole mount broke so he used a chest mount for the second half of the video. I am still not sure how I feel about the GoPro footage overall. It can be a cool perspective but often all you see are the tips of skis and snow and the terrain is completely flattened out.

zach wrote

I am still not sure how I feel about the GoPro footage overall. It can be a cool perspective but often all you see are the tips of skis and snow and the terrain is completely flattened out.

I am with you on this. But mounting issues aside, if I'd skied MTW and that was the simplest or only way to record it, I'd go for it.

Seems like the helmet guy should ski down first, get his own footage and then try to follow the path of the second skier down. Can you get steady enough footage with the cam on your head?