Home > Trip Reports > 5-5/6 Mt. Washington, Tuckerman Ravine

5-5/6 Mt. Washington, Tuckerman Ravine

5/15/08
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Posted by danhelmstadter on 5/7/08 7:09am
I flew out to Mass. a week ago to be here with my family in the aftermath of the recent tragic death of my brother Chris Helmstadter.

Mt. Washington is ~2.5 hours away from the Boston area, and with reports of a good snow year, I had to take a look. I got to the P.N. trailhead around 330 pm on Monday, and made good time the ~3k - 3miles to the base of the bowl, It was already in the shade by the time I got there, and the snow was wet and deep with a breakable surface crust. I skied "the Chute" which had some good 45dg terrain, and was ~900' of v. Then I booted up the "Left Gully" which was lower angle, but slightly longer. It has been skied so much this season; it was all moguls with slick hardening surface.

The next day I left the Pinkham Notch trailhead around 10 and hiked back up to the bowl. I climbed up almost to the summit (end-of-snow) then skied down and through the lip, avoiding many large glide cracks. There were many people there but people were only sking the lower-mid-section. It felt good to lay down some proud tracks for an audience. Then I went down to Hermit Lake cabin at ~3800' and booted up "Hillmans Highway" a 1500v' shot off the north face of the ravine, which was a nice sustained 40dg tapering to 30>dg down low. This was also heavily moguled. My first hike up Hillmans, I traversed the ravine rim, and dropped into Dodge's Drop, pretty knarly for the East, with an 50+dg entrance, then sustained 45dgish skiing for a good bit, this also ended 1500v' below. It was also scarily icy, I dropped in, and I knew it was going to be survival skiing on the 3"+ gray/blue ice crust which lay an ~inch below the corn surface. I iceaxed/sidesteped several sections, including a small frozen waterfall. Then hiked back up Hillmans, and skied it from the top.

I was surprised how rockymountainesk Tucks was, truly some quality skiing, and the locals of North Conway are pretty interesting. The last time I was at Mount Washington was with my brother Chris, 15 years ago when we did a 2 day Presidential Traverse, which included cold-wet camping in the rain, then a scary panicked rush off the summit plateau in a thunderstorm, a hike out at night using only the flick of a lighter for light on the trail, some spectacular northern lights, and finally a head-collision with a black bear on the way home, which resulted in a repair shop visit for the vehicle.



*edit 8/26 - more pics***************************************************************************************









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1 -- Dodges Drop 
2 -- Hillman's Highway
3 -- The Lip
4 -- The Chute
5 -- Left Gully

sorry to hear about your brother.  Glad you got some turns.  thanks for the tr and great pics.

Nice to see a Tuckerman's TR here. I am flying back to NH (I grew up there) on Saturday for my wedding, but won't be getting any turns in though. Last time I was at Tuckerman's (about 17 years ago) we saw a couple of guys riding down the headwall in a blow up 3 man raft, crazy!

Jesus, Dan, sorry about your bro.

***

The Cathedral (left of Dodges) and The Duchess (b/w Hillmans and Tucks proper) were two skis I never completed in the Tucks area.  But will someday.  Thanks for the pictures.

The steeps in the White Mountains are my barometer of skiability I live by even today.  If you have the sack to ski over the lip of Dodges (with it's weird fall lines and "firm" - New England-ese for "icy" - snow conditions) then you can ski anything, anywhere in the world. 

Thanks for the report Dan!

Very sorry to hear about your brother  :'(. Stay safe out there and best of luck.

I'm very sorry to hear about your brother.

I hope there was a good crowd on lunch rocks while you were there and perhaps some folks in inner tubes or other non-ski contraptions getting cheers from that crowd (and perhaps you even got a cheer or two!). That's an important part of the quintessential Tuck's scene.

Thanks for jogging some memories of spring days at Tucks.  A unique location and the weekend crowds at Lunch Rocks bring out the "best" in costumes and downhill devices.  ;)

My condolences to you Dan and your family.
It cheered me to see you out on Tuckerman, it has always been a dream/goal of mine to get out there experience first hand the lore of Tuckerman Ravine.

To those of experience what is the best time of year to get out and spring ski this?
From Dan's pictures it appears to be melting away pretty quickly.

Good report Dan
Thanks
Joe

Joe -

April is the season of the Whites.  Try earlier rather than later so you can ski the complete Sherburne trail back to your car.  Oh, the Sherburne is the ski trail that exits the bowl and follows a CCC route back to Pinkham notch where you park your car.  Excellent skiing and beats the hell out of walking.  Combine with a summit bid and you've got a 4,000 VF descent.

SKiing later than April in the Whites is typically the realm of the addict.  Long approaches, steep skiing and sometimes laughable verticals.  But the addict needs his fix (eh, Dan?).

Hey Dan,
Real sorry to hear about your brother. My condolences to you and your family. Glad you got some turns in. Nice pictures. Sounds like you've been hitting the Pacific Northwest pretty hard. Snow's melting fast on Mt. Shasta. You hit it at a good time. Have a good rest of the ski season. Looks like lots of snow in the Pacific Northwest. I may be heading up to Mt. Adams in late June, early July. Maybe we can hook up. Robin

author=danhelmstadter link=topic=10005.msg40249#msg40249 date=1210198190]
It felt good to lay down some proud tracks for an audience.


I'm sure your brother was watching with pride, Dan.

Thanks for the TR Dan.  Many of us refugees from the NE fondly look back on spring trips in the Presidentials as the "gateway drug" that got us hooked on the North Cascades.  If your trip has you sticking around longer, you may want to get away from the Tuck's and Gulf of Slides crowds and check out Madison Gulf, Oakes Gulf or the big daddy, Great Gulf, and it's hairball lines like Airplane Gully (not far from the summer summit road).  I sorta regret never checking that out.  Go Saux.  Papi hits it wicked hahd.

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5-5-6-mt-washington-tuckerman-ravine
danhelmstadter
2008-05-07 14:09:50