easterntreeskier skiblog

Finally made it up to Tuckerman Ravine after two long years. Steve R and I went up Friday night to meet up with my cousin Ben. Well, Ben and his crew made it up to North Conway around midnight, by which time Steve and I had vacated the Moat to Tina and Kevins for some more liquid refreshments. A relatively early start at 6:30am to head to Ben and company to make breakfast means we were at the parking towards 8:00am....and it was already jammed full. The Inferno race had filled the lot and we had to park 1/2 mile down the road.

No worries, we got the packs put together and started down the short section of asphalt to the trail head. We had gone about 35 feet when Steve keeps complaining about his calves and shins...we walk somemore and he really is in pain....so he sits down to adjust his randonee boots, thinking they are too tight....well, duh.....maybe if they were on the right FEET they would work better. Aside from that, the hike up was pretty easy, since the snow was 4 feet or more and packed in. Tons of people, and then the runners doing the Inferno...

We hit hojos around 10:30 and then the trail became a little hairier. Not packed in at all, kick stepped into the snow with loose deep snow on either side. I post-holed to my nuts when I had to get out of the boot track to let an Inferno runner go by. Snagged a small ledge at the lunch rocks and waited for my cousin and crew to show....

We gave up after half hour since the crowds were growing and we could see the snow coming off the headwall with every skier, so hiked the headwall, stupid route that went up, then cut sideways past a crevass and ice, then straight up a icy ball....the snowfields at the top were nice. Skiing down was weird, because the headwall and underneath had lots of sloughed off snow that wasnt powder, wasnt mash-taters, wasnt corn....skiied super fast but thick and weird...

Well, on arrival back at lunch rocks ben and crew had finally made at 1:00pm. I was too beat to contemplate another hike up so me and Steve sat around, drank a beer and watched people doing great lines on the far side of the ravine. Looked like alaska, especially in the pics! Skiied out the Sherburne(?) trail, but we got lost at the little headwall (?) and ended up in this stupid steep one ski wide with bushes 100 ft or more chute. Ended up side slipping the whole thing cuz whereever you would turn was a bush or a branch. I was slipping sideways when my uphill pole broke through the snow and went up to the hilt just as I was slipping downhill. Poor pole snapped right in half, so I had to ski the to the bottom with no poles. The rest of the trail after hojos was nice and intermediate, soft bumps, but with no poles and beat legs it was a long haul out. Skiied all the way to the parking lot, with only a little undermining at the very bottom.

Made it out for drinkies across the way at Wildcat, in the bar by 3:30pm...Never saw steve charrette til later that night at the Moat.