Tuckerman Ravineroom Furniture Trials
May 20th, 2000

Time for Tuckerman

Its official! The first test of our new prototype Ravineroom Furniture was successful! Saturday was our first trial test of our new line of Ravineroom furniture, suitable for both luxury comfort while visiting Tuckerman's as well as joining in all the action up in the ravine. This test was conducted with our single chair model consisting of a lightweight highly comfortable arm chair with full support back. The chair is made of space aged technologically advanced purple vinyl with duel air bags, similar to that used by astronauts in their livingrooms (I'm thinking Jetsons here...). The Ravineroom Chair was prefilled with standard mountain air before its ascent up the mountain. This reduced the efforts to assemble it in the ravine at altitude, plus it allowed us to test the effects of altitude changes on the internal pressures. As expected the Ravineroom Chair was near ready to explode upon our arrival in the ravine at 10:30am. Our backup pump was not required. Kate sprinted up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail with no problems and managed to avoid any anti-chair trees and brush. Folk were nice... nobody suggested it looked like a portable pottie (I was thinking that) ... Kate initially chose to perform comfort tests on the unit and enjoyed early afternoon relaxing on the Ravineroom chair amongst the hard sharp rocks on Lunch Rocks. The chair got an A+ for comfort (anything is better than hard rocks) and A+ for withstanding possible puncture by rocks or my crampons. At approx 3:30pm we began trial sliding tests having some difficultly avoiding one rock and one ice boulder that all lines down the mountain seemed to intersect. I tried the first runs going slightly higher each time (not very high for sure) and managed to avoid the big rock. After a spill over the jump of the day I passed testing on to Kate who managed to end her second run in a tumble. We called it quits since I had to carry down her backpack. We learned a few things about the future of Ravineroom furniture, and how to sit and ride it... Top 10 things to know about Ravineroom furniture: 1) Best bet is to prefill your chair before ascending the mountain. 2) Enjoy sitting at lunch rocks on your favorite Ravineroom chair before sliding on it (could explode on impact with a rock or ice bolder, or during flight). 3) Let someone else test it out first. 4) Keep your feet out in front and let them control your speed by dragging them. Stay in control! 5) Regardless of the outcome... carry your Ravineroom furniture off the mountain with you. 6) Don't even ponder trying the headwall... 7) Don't wear crampons while enjoying your Ravineroom furniture. We'll be taking orders shortly... Next Up! The Loveseat on our next trip.

8:17am Kate heads for Trailhead With Her Test Ravineroom Furniture secured to her backpack 8:20am Kate checks out flowers, uninhibitted by her new chair 8:40am Kate models her ravineroom furniture by Crystal Cascade 9:10am Kate jumps and does a heel click to illustrate the virtual weightlessness of her ravineroom chair 9:50am From HoJo's, Kate checks out the ravine with binoculars... looking for the perfect place to place and enjoy her ravineroom furniture 10:15am Kate gets her first view of the ravine above the little headwall, already contemplating decorating options 10:25am Finally at the ravine! Wow what a BIG room! ... Now where will I place my ravineroom furniture? Lots of wall space... 10:28am Kate forgets her mission temporarily as she stares at all the action below the headwall... Yipes! What are all these crazy people doing in my ravineroom!!! 10:35am Kate parks her chair smack in the middle of Lunch Rocks and gets comfy. Another rock serves as her coffee table 12:30pm What a view from the comforts of home! Kate watches intensely while a skier is rescued from a crevasse up in The Chute 3:32pm Kate enjoys sitting stationary for the last time... Time to try out her ravineroom furniture on snow 3:33pm HELP!!!! Kate gains speed just barely missing a big rock 3:33pm Smooth sailing from here! ... Now if only the Sherburne Trail was still open... 3:33pm Yipes! Darn she wiped out big time... Oh well good try Kate! Remember whatever you hike in you hike out Kate! 3:45pm Ah the end of the day... Kate and her slightly deflated chair wander off down the trail... till next time I bid you ado my friends...