 |
|
|
#1
05-13-2007, 06:31 PM
|
||||
|
||||
Great Gulf Circuit 5/13
AWF170 and I hiked the Cog up to Airplane (2 hrs) again today. We took a long run down it and found the conditions turned hard below the dogleg, even though they were pretty nice up top. No matter. It's a great run! Airplane has lost lots of snow: 2' since Wednesday!
Despite ample sun, our other objectives in the GG were prevented from softening up by wind and the temperatures around 30º. So we repeated the traverse of the West face to get to Monroe Brook. Snow levels were much lower than last weekend and we had to remove our skis twice for short carries to reach the central couloir. Interesting threading of talus -- including some fairly large and eerie blocks. The Central couloir was still eminently skiable, but, after passing one discontinuity with a turf jump, we had to remove skis once to cross a rock slab. The next section involved fly over some seriously undermined snow and skirting some crevasses. The skinning back up towards Lake of the Clouds went well except at the end, where we encountered some thick but short bushwhacking because the snow level had dropped 3-4' since last Sunday. A bunch of people were yo-yoing Monroe Brook, which boasted great snow conditions. We skied into it via some interesting tree chutes, and then, booted up to the top and skied the whole run. There is probably now 2/3 mile of walking to reach the road. Airplane skis top to bottom now, but rocks are sprouting and skiing around them is getting more technical. It's narrower now than Pipeline on Wednesday! Airplane probably won't last too much longer. Hit it quick. Monroe Brook should last a while as there seems to be tons of snow there. The snow pack has locked up in the past two days with the low temperatures, and we heard little running water. However, there is lots of undermined snow. Beware. The Cog is irritating skiers again with a $5 fee for parking, which means they really want skiers to file complaints with the Forrest Service about their piles of ancient junk above tree line. Make sure you carpool so as to minimize their take and make them realize it is not worth paying someone to collect the fee. You can leave cars in the Forrest Service hiker parking down the road ($3 or an annual sticker), or in Bretton Woods proper (free). AWF170 dropping into Airplane, May 13, 2007  Steve ripping up Airplane on slalom skis, May 13, 2007  John executing a jump turn on upper Airplane, May 13, 2007  John digging the corn on upper Airplane, May 13, 2007  Great Gulf Trail, May 13, 2007  East Face of Mounts Clay and Jefferson, May 13, 2007  AWF170 smokin' the Central Couloir on the West Face, May 13, 2007  AWF170 cruising Monroe Brook, May 13, 2007  Last edited by jumpturn : 05-13-2007 at 10:07 PM. 
|
|
#2
05-13-2007, 09:37 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Another great report! Cool pix too
__________________
 Can't live a whole life following tracks: ...that's a wrap: 7 - BC/3-P; 6 - BC/T; 9 - IB/T; 3 - IB XC
|
|
#4
05-14-2007, 10:45 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Reps for another attack on the GG! AND for the usual good beta detail and pics.
What's this trip in the GG this season? #4? You're a madman as well!  
__________________
 Carvé Diem! Energy follows thought
|
|
#5
05-14-2007, 01:20 PM
|
||||
|
||||
No, that was only the 3rd time skiing Airplane.
This year I have 10 days skiing on Mount Washington and 24 descents, not including the Sherbie -- and I think I'm done for this season. Ticked off lots of cool descents, and looking forward to more next year.  Time to start getting in shape for the Fall climbing season....
|
|
#6
05-16-2007, 05:17 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
First few of the West snowfields. We skied through that then cut right.
 Burt Ravine still looking very good  Looking down the Cog  Looking across to the top of the GG trail  L to R: Clay, Jefferson, Adam, Madison  Jumpturn sitting on a point  Nice pile of trash, freakin' cog!  Top of the West snowfields  Jumpturn loves the thickets  Jumpturn in Monroe Brook    Monroe Brook looking ready for another weekend 
__________________
-Austin
|
|
#7
05-16-2007, 05:50 PM
|
||||
|
||||
Nice photos, Austin!
Observe that long-term trash lying around the Cog in more than one photo. The dumping is especially egregious at about the 6000' level, where we have been crossing to access the top of the West snow fields. Quote:
  Observe that deep bush technique!! Come to think of it, Yosemite has some nasty bushwhacking too, for example, decending the East Ledges off El Cap, or anywhere off route on the Half Dome approach slabs....Where it is well travelled, you get tunnels through the mazanita....Heck, we should have ratings for it!  Of couse, the good news is that we don't have black flies and mosquitos (yet!).
|
|
#9
05-16-2007, 07:01 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Interesting how just a slight temp drop hardened up Airplane from the previous day.
(Interesting also how the Airplan's weekend helmet:bare ratio seems to have been only 4:3.) So judging from your pictures, looks like Jefferson snowfields are all broken up now? Speaking of the cog trash (ugh), that reminds me that we saw some discarded window frames a ways below the AMC hut (more ugh).
|
|
#10
05-16-2007, 07:37 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
 We carefully observed the correlation: in the wind = hard, out of the wind = soft.  Helmets are pretty basic; you just need to watch somebody take a 1500 footer, and why you want a helmet becomes pretty obvious to almost anyone. I've seen them save ice climbers on a number of occaisons.Might have been able to link up some Jefferson snow fields on Sunday, but we were taking it easy...
|
|
#11
05-16-2007, 07:57 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
The wind factor reminds me of this day last year:
http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing...p?topic=4562.0 http://new.photos.yahoo.com/jonathan...60762307698323 The avy forecast's main concern had been for excessively soft snow -- instead, with higher than expected winds (though still very warm temps) the snow never got close to being too soft even at the height of the day.
|
|
#12
05-16-2007, 08:19 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
 
__________________
-Austin
|
|
#13
05-16-2007, 08:24 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Jefferson has no easy access.
Hiking up the Ridge Caps trail is difficult (and hiking down with skis on a pack is even worse): http://www.jshefftz.photosite.com/2004-05Jeff/ ...plus Jeff Notch road is staying closed very late this year. Attempting to skin over from Gray Knob hut is usually difficult too, alternating skinning, hiking, and postholing: http://www.jshefftz2.photosite.com/2005SufferSkiTrip/ And access from Mt Washington is, well, you already did the math...
|
|
#15
05-16-2007, 09:56 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
I'm getting dizzy from all the excellent photos on this site!
__________________
Can't live a whole life following tracks: ...that's a wrap: 7 - BC/3-P; 6 - BC/T; 9 - IB/T; 3 - IB XC
|
 |
| Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests) | |
| Thread Tools | |
| Display Modes | Rate This Thread |
|
|
Linear Mode
