Tuckerman Ravine- Sunday April 1st

[awf170]

Super fun day. Probably one of top 5 days ever. Perfect corn snow since it was only around 35-40 degrees in the bowl with sun all day long. Ended up doing Lip and the Upper snowfields for my first run and Chute for my second run. Also, my freakin' camera decided that it didn't want work about half way through the day, so I didn't get a ton of pictures. Also, it didn't seem to like the contrast between the snow, sky, and rocks so some pictures look quite crappy.

Anyway here is some beta on the conditions:

• The lip is almost cooked. Another week of warmth and it is done
• The top half of right gully is gone
• Lobster claw is very narrow but still doable
• The lower headwall is doable but not really that safe (I chose to walk down) You can cut over to the lower snowfields, which have good coverage, but you still have to cross a very sketchy area.
• The sherburne has a couple warm days before it is completely done. It will close as a whole this year, not in parts.

Pics:

Dodges looking sad


Bowl area


Hillmans area


Booting up the lip


Tele skier in the upper snowfields






Hiking the upper snowfields


Looking down




Wildcat and bowl


Wildcat zoom


Looking down on the lip bootpack

[RR]

Excellent report! Looks like hero snow in The Ravine

[M@]

MMMmmm... fresh tux. Thanks for pix and report, good job catching all the important conditions. I just KNEW it was an awesome day to be there.

REP for you.

I've never heard the sherb close all at once.

M@

[cwfish]

Better pics than anything I got. Sunday was my first time to Tux. All the info posted on the site was much appreciated BTW. I just loved the whole scene. The scenery, the weather, the skiing, the people, all of it. We did right gully, sluice, upper snowfields and the lip. I really wanted to get into Chute but some other skiers talked me out of it because it was already in the shade. What did ya think of the guy huckin' the headwall!? I would guess somewhere in the 30-40 foot range. A very memorable day indeed.

[awf170]

Originally Posted by cwfish

I really wanted to get into Chute but some other skiers talked me out of it because it was already in the shade.

It was awesome except for the shady part in the middle, super sketchy. Once the snow goes into the shade it instantly becomes rock solid. Just barely edge-able on my old beat up skis. Getting over there is also quite scary if you are afraid of exposure (if you hike the lip). Just knowing the headwall was below made me want to pee my pants.

Originally Posted by cwfish

What did ya think of the guy huckin' the headwall!? I would guess somewhere in the 30-40 foot range. A very memorable day indeed.

Hopefully crap! I missed that. Must have been after I left. That is nuts! Even getting to the huck must have been sick given the current snow conditions.

[pulverschwein]

Originally Posted by cwfish

What did ya think of the guy huckin' the headwall!? I would guess somewhere in the 30-40 foot range.

No sh!t! Did he land it? Hope someone got pics of that.

Fine pitchers n details awf170. Reputation for you.

[JayTux]

Great shots! You certainly picked a good day, and just in time too, looks like its gonna be frozen up soon...and for a while.

Reps for awesome shots.


Oh, any info on Left Gully????

[davidhowland14]

Originally Posted by cwfish

We did right gully. I really wanted to get into Chute but some other skiers talked me out of it because it was already in the shade. What did ya think of the guy huckin' the headwall!? I would guess somewhere in the 30-40 foot range. A very memorable day indeed.

you might have seen me hiking right gully on the way up. and that dog that got stranded? pretty stupid and irresponsible of the guy. great day in the ravine. chute was solid ice, you could see the glare from the bottom of the bowl. and that huck. insane. i'll type up my TR later on today, i got tons of pics.

[surf88]

Argh.. I missed the huck. I looked for me in your pics, but no cameo apperances
Is it just me, or did it seem a lot steeper this year, than normal??

[cwfish]

[QUOTE]

Originally Posted by awf170

It was awesome except for the shady part in the middle, super sketchy. Once the snow goes into the shade it instantly becomes rock solid. Just barely edge-able on my old beat up skis. Getting over there is also quite scary if you are afraid of exposure (if you hike the lip). Just knowing the headwall was below made me want to pee my pants.

That makes me feel better. I think I made the right choice. My skiing muscles felt great but my climbing muscles were killing me.

Hopefully crap! I missed that. Must have been after I left. That is nuts! Even getting to the huck must have been sick given the current snow conditions.

Totally sick. One misplace edge on entry and he'd be going over the icefall head over heels. He back checked the landing and skiied away strongly. Just about stuck it in my book.

[cwfish]

Originally Posted by davidhowland14

you might have seen me hiking right gully on the way up. and that dog that got stranded? pretty stupid and irresponsible of the guy. great day in the ravine.

Jeez that dog. It wouldn't leave us alone! My partner was fighting vertigo from the exposure and he's got to deal with a dog between his legs! I saw it later riding down the lip in a backpack.

[awf170]

Originally Posted by davidhowland14

chute was solid ice, you could see the glare from the bottom of the bowl.

Chute was not solid ice at all. The whole thing was perfect corn except for the one shady section which was very hard but still edge-able.


BTW: Was it Molly that got stranded.


Also, about getting freaked out in the bootpack: I had the pleasure of having some guy basically freak out if front of me and just lay down crawling his way up. Getting out of the bootpack in the steepest part to pass him was quite scary.

[davidhowland14]

Originally Posted by awf170

Chute was not solid ice at all. The whole thing was perfect corn except for the one shady section which was very hard but still edge-able.


BTW: Was it Molly that got stranded.


Also, about getting freaked out in the bootpack: I had the pleasure of having some guy basically freak out if front of me and just lay down crawling his way up. Getting out of the bootpack in the steepest part to pass him was quite scary.

weird, chute look solid from the bottom and the ranger was waring people away from it. and yup, molly was the dog. i talked to woman walking up with another dog, black lab-ish. small, small world.

your bowl area pic makes me feel alot better about myself. I was above the visible part of the lip before I turned around.

[surf88]

Originally Posted by awf170

I had the pleasure of having some guy basically freak out if front of me and just lay down crawling his way up. Getting out of the bootpack in the steepest part to pass him was quite scary.

I had the pleasure of a drunk guy ahead of me in the boot pack sunday. I don't think he could have stood up straight on flat ground. I ended up holding my board in front of me and digging the edge in horizontally, as I leaned on it to arrest his several slides back into me. I rigged up a leash to keep the board from getting away from me in case he took me out. I'm glad I had hard boots on to rekick the steps he had ruined.