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Marc's
Conditions Web Log
Thursday April 24, 2008
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The top of Right Gully melted out |
Yesterday I took the afternoon to head up to the summit of Mount Washington for a ski down. I headed up through Tuckerman Ravine and up Right Gully to the East Snowfields. I then skinned up the East Snowfields to the top of the snow then hiked up to tag the summit. My descent route brought me down the East Snowfields then near the bottom of those were I started traversing both on skis and walking around the top of Tuckerman Ravine till I got to the top of Hillman's Highway. After skiing down Hillman's I made my way down the Sherburne.
The conditions have been impacted by this prolonged period of warm weather particularly the above freezing nighttime temperatures on the mountain. For me unless we get a substantial spring snow storm I will be putting the skis away. It's not because there is no snow left to ski on it's due to both the quality of the snow and the lack of snow on the Sherburne and soon on the lower Tuckerman Ravine Trail. Since the rock season is getting a good start, carrying my skis up and/or down a mile from Pinkham before I can put them on my feet and start skinning reduces my motivation. Add to that the soft snow and the bumps and runnels forming and it just seems time to put my skis away. Remember I have had the opportunity to get some great skiing in since late March so I am a bit spoiled. If you haven't had the chance to get up to ski there is still plenty to do. The East Snowfields and Hillman's both had good coverage as did Left Gully, the Lip and Right Gully are showing signs of wear. I would also suspect the Gulf of Slides still has good coverage but getting there may be a bit difficult.
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Monday April 21, 2008
This morning I woke up and thought that I would have a leisurely morning then head up to Mount Washington to do a little skiing. I wasn't too motivated because I knew the snow would be very soft and the Sherburne or the Gulf of Slides Ski Trails would be pretty messy from the warmth and traffic of the weekend. As I was trying to get motivated I headed over to the local coffee shop, The Front Side Grind, and there I ran into Bayard and Elliot who guide for IMCS. As we talked they invited me to join them for some rock climbing this afternoon.
We headed over to the South Buttress of Whitehorse and I was surprised with how much rock climbing both had already been doing. I have been so preoccupied with skiing, I knew the rock was getting in shape but I was pleased to see how good a shape it was in. As we walked the trail to the South Buttress things looked pretty dry given how much snow was on the ground just a few weeks ago. When we got to the the base of the cliff there were a few parties already climbing. We started our route and more people showed up. In the end I would say we saw about six other parties out climbing today. The climbs are drying out nicely in this warm weather and it looks like the rock season is nearly in full swing. So I'll be putting away the ice screws and getting the rock rack out but I think I'll still keep the skis out for a little while longer.
Sunday April 20, 2008
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Topping
out on South Gully |
On Friday after posting I decided to head up to Mount Washington to get a ski in. Normally an early start is warranted to get the best snow, this avoids running into snow that is too soft from the prolonged sun and warm temperatures or getting crusty in the afternoon shade. However since the air temperatures were to remain above freezing that night and had been above freezing for a number of days and nights the snow was already soft and a crust wasn't going to be forming. I wanted to ski as high as possible and as I got lower down hit something with a northern aspect, I figured that the snow would be best that way. I made a plan to head up to to Huntington and climb Central then head to the summit, from there I would ski down the East Snowfields then continue down South Gully and out the Huntington Fire Road to the Sherburne and finally to Pinkham. I left the Pinkham parking lot at 1:15, a nice civilized after lunch start with my office work for the day finished up! After a two and three quarter hour ascent I was on the summit ready to head down. I was able to ski right from the summit down the Auto Road to the top of the East Snowfields. Once I was on the Alpine Garden I had to walk a little to the top of South then down that to the floor and out, the descent from the summit took 45 minutes. The East Snowfields were little soft but still very fun, the top of South was nearly perfect but from the mid way point to the floor it was very soft. The Fireroad was in good shape and the Sherburne was pretty good but very bumpy.
Yesterday Art Mooney and I were climbing with a high school group, two teachers with climbing experience and 6 students. Our goal was to do South Gully and descend the Escape Hatch. We met at 8:30am and it was clear this would be an exceptional day on Mount Washington. Two things were converging to create the perfect storm of a crowded day. First it was the big race day for the Inferno Pentathlon and it was the first weekend of the spring with a good forecast. The previous two weekends had either been poor weather or forecasted to be poor which dampened the crowds, so with a good weekend forecast I believe there was a pent up demand and that was pretty evident with estimates of nearly 4000 people (yes that is four thousand, not a typo) heading into Tuckerman Ravine, the spring pilgrimage was on!
After our group left the very crowded Tuckerman Ravine Trail and turned onto the Huntington Fireroad things quieted down substantially. In the end we had South to ourselves as well as the Escape Hatch. Overall we saw about 10 other people in Huntington spread out over 3 other gullies, a nice escape from the pilgrimage. The weather was warm, almost hot and the snow was showing the signs of what I estimate to be about 96 hours of above freezing temperatures.
It's hard to keep up with conditions right now, we are losing snow quickly but we had significant amount to lose. Yesterday it appeared that skiers were making it down to the parking lot on the Sherburne but I am sure that the bare spots I got through on Friday got enlarged. We are still in a warm spell and the mountain has seen very little time below freezing at any elevation with no freeze predicted for the summit through tomorrow. Once the entire snowpack warms to the freezing level it begins to disappear quickly and we are closing in to that isothermic snowpack now. Bottom line is if we don't get a hard freeze soon things will change very quickly. As always in thawing conditions watch for ice and rockfall, enlarging glide cracks and undermined snowpacks.
Friday April 18, 2008
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Dom
on the East Snowfields |
Rereading my last post I am struck by the fact I was skiing icy snow a week ago. After that run it started to rain and we got quite a bit of rain that night, it looked like the forecast of a poor weekend would come true. Interestingly though the skies cleared and Saturday ended up being a pretty nice day. Sunday and Monday turned cold again and I got reports that things didn't soften. On Tuesday it looked like things would get soft after a cold start, I was planning on climbing and skiing with Dom on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Dom and I have climbed quite a bit together and he wanted to end the ice season with a lead of Pinnacle. I had suggested that we do a combination of skiing and climbing. Our plan was to head up to the base of Pinnacle with skis, store them there, climb the route, downclimb Central and pick up the skis for the descent of the Fan and down to Pinkham. Dom skied when he was younger and he still does some XC Skiing but he hasn't Downhill Skied for 10 years and had never done any backcountry skiing!!! After skinning up to the base of Huntington we started up the Fan. By the top of the Fan Dom was starting to get the hang of the all critical uphill kick turn. After dropping the skis we started up Pinnacle which Dom lead in good style. From the top we cramponed down Central, earlier in the day Central had softened and it had gotten skied but at this point in the day it was in the shade and firm, making for good cramponing. Once we got to the skis the only part of the Fan that was still in the sun was the south facing area below Damnation. A quick transition and we were off skiing, racing the shadows. The last bit of sun was just leaving the slope as we started down and a light crust was forming. Conditions were not quite perfect but pretty good and Dom quickly made that first turn in ten years on the 30-35 degree slope of the Fan. After a few turns I could tell Dom was going to be a skier again! A quick ride down the fireroad then onto the Sherburne and we were back at Pinkham.
On Wednesday Dom and I had another plan, this time we would focus on skiing so we left most of the climbing gear behind. Again we skinned up to Huntington and up the Fan and Dom was cruising up with good uphill kick turns. Once we got near the Central Ice Bulge we packed the skis and donned the crampons and ice axe. After a quick climb up Central we put the skis back on our feet and headed up to the summit of Mount Washington, soon we reached our destination. After a short break we headed down the East Snowfields, our goal was to head over across Bigelow Lawn to the top of Boott Spur and down the Gulf of Slides. After some fun turns on the East Snowfields we made a long traverse across the top of Tuckerman Ravine to the low point on the Bigelow Lawn. We skinned from there to the top of Boott Spur and after a short walk down we were at the top of Gully #3 in the Gulf of Slides. After a fun ski down that we continued down the Gulf of Slides Ski Trail and back to Pinkham. Dom and I had two great days, on the first we skied to go climbing and on the second we climbed to go skiing.
Yesterday, I climbed with Jeremy in Huntington Ravine. Jeremy had done a fair bit of climbing in Scotland and had been on Mount Washington in the summer but hadn't been on a technical route in this area. Yesterday was a beautiful day with sunny warm temperatures but unlike the previous nights Mount Washington did not go below freezing. I knew this would have an impact on conditions and I was expecting things to be pretty soft. The Fan was easily ascended without crampons right to the base of Pinnacle. Jeremy had mentioned that he had a fair bit of leading experience so after seeing the first pitch of Pinnacle he decided that he would like to lead the climb. While we were at the base we could see water pouring out the bottom right side of the first pitch. Jeremy started to lead up and we could hear the water getting louder. By the time Jeremy climbed the first pitch the amount of water pouring down the right side had easily doubled if not tripled, despite that there was plenty of good ice to climb. After Jeremy lead three ice pitches, I led the final snow to the top. From the top of the Pinnacle Buttress we descended down to the top of the Odell's ice bulge and I lowered Jeremy down so he could top rope that pitch of ice. After that we unroped and with nice deep bucket steps made our way to the Alpine Garden via Odell's. We crossed the Alpine Garden to the top of Lobster Claw Gully (AKA Right of Right) and did a fun quick glissade down to the floor of Tuckerman Ravine. From there a nice hike down brought us back to Pinkham.
Condition overall are good but I am sure the few bare spots I saw on the Sherburne and Gulf of Slides Ski Trail a few days ago have gotten larger. For two nights now we have stayed above freezing except for a few short periods. The warmth of the past few days and nights have changed things pretty fast. Although there is a lot of ice in Pinnacle I wouldn't want to climb it again till we get a good solid freeze. The snow is also very soft for skiing so fat skis seem to be the best tool. For hazards keep an eye out for glide cracks as the snow begins its creep to the ocean. By far the biggest concern with this warmth is ice and rock fall so keep a watch above. Also loose snow avalanches could be a problem above falling hazards, these avalanches are not likely to bury you but could knock you down so watch for those terrain traps like cliffs etc. These sluffs are likely to be skier generated so watch your partners on steep terrain with an eye to sluff management. And most of all remember the sunscreen!
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Friday April 11, 2008
With cold temperatures and high winds forecasted yesterday I took the day off. Today the temperatures were forecasted to go above freezing on the summit with moderate winds and rain later in the afternoon. I wanted to ski down South Gully in Huntington today so I headed up through Huntington Ravine hoping the warm temperature would soften the snow. I was trying to time it so I could get to the summit just before it started to rain and take advantage of that softening the snow before the rain would cause any instability in the snowpack.
As I headed up to Huntington I ran into three friends in separate groups. The first two had headed up Diagonal but the wind and colder temperatures on the Alpine Garden forced them to ski down Escape Hatch. The other had skinned up and dropped off his skis at the base of Pinnacle, soloed that route, downclimbed Central and skied out. All this occurred before 11 am!!
Once I got to the summit today I waited around for as long as I could but it didn't appear that things would soften so I started down. I still wanted to go via Huntington but I would follow my friends decision to head down the Escape Hatch. As I was descending it started to snow a little and nothing got soft till just before I hit the bottom of the ravine.
Sorry I don't have any photos but I forgot the camera today. As far as conditions it appears that things will change considerably this weekend with rain and mixed precipitation in the forecast. Things should hang in pretty well due to the exceptional coverage but until we see how much precipitation we get and what form it takes any guess about conditions will be just that.
Wednesday April 9, 2008
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The Clay Col Gully in the Great Gulf |
The spring ski season is definitely upon us, last night's low temperatures on the summit of Mount Washington stayed above freezing. Fortunately there was a temperature inversion so the lower elevations did freeze. Today's forecast was for light to moderate winds with temperatures in the lower to mid forties on the summit. With such a warm spell it seemed time to hit more northerly aspects. The plan today was to climb up through Huntington and head over to the Great Gulf to ski one of the longer runs on Mount Washington.
Jay and I left Pinkham this morning and started skinning up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail to the Huntington Fire Road then up to the base of Huntington Ravine. We continued skinning up the Fan to near the ice bulge in Central. From there we cramponed up Central to the Alpine Garden. The snow was pretty soft in Central and the climbing was fairly easy. On the Alpine Garden we put the skis back on an headed up towards the summit to the 6000 foot point on the Mount Washington Auto Road. At that point Jay decided he wasn't up for a long descent into the Great Gulf and a long climb back out so he continued to the summit and I headed over to Clay Col. From the auto road I had to boot to Clay Col due to the lack of snow but a quick hike got me to the top of the Clay Col Gully.
At the auto road the wind had picked up but as I reached Clay Col I was more protected from the southerly wind. At the col I put on my skis and started down the gully, the snow was mostly nice corn with a little wet windblown mixed in. The skiing was fantastic and it seemed I had the place to myself with no tracks in the gully, just a beautiful setting. I skied right to the bottom knowing that each turn made my climb longer but it was just too good to pass up. From near Spaulding Lake I packed my skis onto my pack donned my crampons and ice axe and started making my way up. As I started up I noticed 3 skiers high in Pipeline Gully booting up so it appears they had skied to the ice bulge of Pipeline. On my ascent I ended up taking the Great Gulf Trail back up because it would dump me closer to the summit. The trail wasn't really visible except for a marking here or there and there was a mixture of hard snow and ice bulges on the ascent. At the top of the very long climb out the Great Gulf I put my skis back on and skinned up to the summit.
On the summit I met back up with Jay, it was time now to head down the East Snowfields to the Alpine Garden down Tucks and back to Pinkham. From the summit we skied down a couple of hundred feet of the Tuckerman Ravine Trail then took a left that put us right on top of the snowfields. The East Snowfields were in great shape with nice snow. From the Alpine Garden we headed over to Right Gully where we ran into some very soft snow. The skiing down Right Gully wasn't as good as the snowfield but it was pretty good, albeit soft. After a little break on the floor of the ravine we continued out Connection then cut over to the Lower Snowfields and down the Sherburne to Pinkham.
The conditions today were noticeably softer than the last couple of days and I am sure we lost a fair bit of snow with the warm temperatures. Not to worry though the snowpack has a long way to go still! The ski down from the floor of Tuckerman Ravine is in pretty good shape but the Little Headwall is pretty blown out. If we keep having sunny days the tops of the south facing gullies like Right Gully will start to melt out but today we could easily ski from the Summit to Pinkham.
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Tuesday April 8, 2008
Another beautiful day on Mount Washington and another great ski day. Jay and I headed up to Gulf of Slides this morning and arrived at the top of the South Snowfields for our first run at 10:30. The first skin up was a little firm but soon after arriving at the top the snow was just getting soft. After a little wait we started down our first run and the snow was very good. We skied to the bottom of the run and did a quick transition back to skinning. Soon after we were back at the top for the second run. This time the snow was great! Again we skied to the bottom and put the skins back on. We headed back up but now we traversed northward to the top of Gully #3. After a little lunch at the top and we started down Gully #3 to very good snow, as we got lower though it was starting to get pretty soft. At this point it was about 12:15 or so. Jay and I had some great skiing and we wanted to get some good snow down to Pinkham, so we headed down. Again for the most part we hit the trail just right with firm snow in the shade at the top and some too soft snow at the bottom, for the most part though it was a nice ride down!
The condition of the Gulf of Slides is great, lots of snow and the trail to Pinkham has good coverage. On warm days good timing will get you the best skiing. Today the best snow up high in the Gulf was around 11:00 with a good run down the trail starting before 1:00.
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Monday April 7, 2008
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The skis on the summit |
With a forecast of sunny warm weather today, I had made a decision to head onto Mount Washington for some skiing. I wasn't sure what I wanted to do but I figured I would head into Huntington Ravine and see what looked good. On my way up this morning I ran into 3 skiers from Vermont heading into Huntington, their plan was to ski Central Gully. I had been thinking about Yale but I wasn't sure if this would be the day. I have skied Yale 3 times before, twice I have had to down climb a short ice bulge about 350 feet below the top, once I was able to get around the bulge on skiers left. As I arrived at the base of Huntington I ran into a group of 3 climbers heading for an ascent of Pinnacle. I continued skinning to the base of the Diagonal ice bulge then switched to crampons.
During my transition from skis to crampons one of my cheap lightweight work gloves tumbled down about a hundred feet. I had spares so I left it and started my climb of Yale. The climb of Yale went quickly but it had not softened much and the crampons and ice axe were very welcome. I arrived at the top of Yale and had decided that I would not ski it, at least not right away. I put my skis back on and and started skinning towards the summit. As I was climbing the East Snowfields I could see the 3 Vermonters getting to the top of Central. Once I arrived at the summit I removed the climbing skins from my skis and started down the East Snowfields. The summit area was still pretty firm but it was good fun skiing down to the Alpine Garden. As I was descending I could tell that the 3 Vermonters had descended Central, so figured I would head that way to see how that Gully looked, after all I wanted to get that glove! After walking back up and across the Alpine Garden to the top of Central, things had softened and it felt nice and warm. I clicked the skis back on and started my descent and the skiing was pretty good down to the ice bulge
Now the ice bulge wasn't very long and I have skied it before but as I closed in it just didn't feel right. It was pretty clear to me that the Vermonters had skied it but it wasn't my day for it. I stood there for a few minutes but finally made a quick transition to crampons and down climbed the short bulge Once at the bottom of the ice I switched back to my skis and headed down the fan picking up my lost glove on the way to the base of Huntington Ravine where I ran into that group from Vermont. This was their first time skiing in Huntington and they picked a nice line and did it in good style. I congratulated them and we chatted a bit. They headed back down and I put the skins back on and started to head back up. Yale was still drawing me in so I headed back up that way. Things were much softer and I was able to skin to the top of the Harvard Slab. From there I was able to boot up without crampons to the ice bulge that I mentioned before, the one that often has to be downclimbed. I figured I would start my ski from there rather than have to do a transition to crampons since the ski line around the bulge wasn't in shape.
I found a nice place to put my skis on and started my descent. The start is a little narrow so a few turns and some side slipping got me to where it opens up. Some fun turns on the wide section to another narrow section. A few turns later I was at the top of the Harvard Slab and a short traverse got me to the base of the Diagonal Bulge and onto the fan. At this point I was getting pretty tired and I started to relax from the no fall skiing I had been doing. As if it was written in a script as soon as I relaxed and started to open it up I took a fall. Nothing too bad but a good reminder that keeping your focus is an important part of mountaineering. A little while later I was at the base of Huntingtion and skiing the fire road back to the Tuckerman Ravine Trail then onto the Sherburne Trail to the base. All in all an awesome day of skiing.
What can I say about conditions. We didn't lose much snow in the areas I was in today. The wind and temperatures just let the snow soften nicely. The Huntington Fan and Fire Road are pretty fat and should last for some time. The Sherburne is in good shape with good coverage all the way down to Pinkham. Bottom line a great spring skiing season is shaping up!
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Friday April 4, 2008
Yesterday I went up onto Mount Washington to see if I could get some spring skiing. I had mentioned in my April 1st post that it was raining on Mount Washington and I had heard that there would be some snow after the rain as the mountain cleared. Well virtually no snow fell so when the cold hit on the 2nd the snow got very hard. The forecast for Thursday the 3rd was for sun with temperatures on the summit around 20 degrees. If the snow was going to be fun to ski, it would have to soften and with those temperatures it would need to be a sunny aspect relatively low down with no wind. The wind forecast for the day was 40-60 mph on the summit out of the west. I gave the day a 50/50 chance of being OK and I knew it would be south facing slopes that I was looking for. The easy choice was the area around Right Gully and Lobster Claw Gully in Tuckerman Ravine, but I wanted to go further afield so I decided to head over to Oakes Gulf.
On my way up I ran into two friends, Jeff and Brian and they had the same plan. Together we headed up through Tuckerman Ravine and up Left Gully. From the top of Left we headed over to Oakes to find Dave who had heard we were going that way and had climbed Hillman's Highway to get to Oakes. To our dismay the wind was having its negative effect on the snow and there didn't appear to be any softening. We finally found a protected gully that had softened enough to get an edge in but you couldn't call it corn! We took one run after waiting as long as we could for the sun to do its work. The one thing we all noted was how little snow there was in Oakes. Compared to the east side of the mountain Oakes had much less snow.
After getting to the bottom of the run we climbed back out and headed over to the top of Boott Spur and down to the Gulf of Slides. We downclimbed with crampons abut a quarter of the way down one of the fingerlings climbers right of Gully #3 and skied down from there. To say the least it was a teeth chattering run with good ole eastern hardpack. We finished out the day skiing the Gulf of Slides Ski Trail and that was a little softer. In the end it wasn't great skiing but it was a great ski mountaineering adventure in a nice quiet area of Mount Washington.
Today I took
a quick skin up to the base of the Gulf of Slides with an icy ski
back down. At the time it was snowing but the forecast is for some
mixed precipitation then cold and cloudy so it appears some firm
snow could remain for the weekend. Let's hope some snow fall finishes
off this storm so that there might be a little blown in snow to
ski on, just watch for the avalanche
hazard. The long term forecast looks more promising with warmer
and sunnier weather predicted next week.
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Tuesday April 1st, 2008
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Harold on his way to the summit Tuesday March 25th |
Normally the last week of March is pretty slow for me as winter gives way to spring but last week stayed pretty busy. For a few years now Harold has climbed with me the last week of March, some years we have skied others ice climbed and quite a few times we have rock climbed. Harold always comes ready to do whatever weather and conditions dictate. Most years Harold is the only person signing up for some climbing this late but this year things were different. Tuesday last week Harold and I climbed Mount Washington via Right Gully on Wednesday I took a personal trip up to the Gulf of Slides for some skiing then Thursday Harold and I climbed Standard Route, on Friday I climbed with Tim and his son Tom in Huntington Ravine where we climbed Pinnacle Gully. This weekend Nate and Eric had signed up for a weekend of climbing, on Saturday we climbed the Practice Slabs at Frankenstein and Standard Route, on Sunday we climbed South Gully in Huntington then up the East Snowfields to the summit of Mount Washington. All in all a pretty busy week of winter climbing and some skiing.
This time of year conditions fluctuate quickly and this year with
the size and type of snowpack we have, those fluctuations seem to
be amplified. Weather has been extremely varied with warm spring
like days of low wind and sun to snow with half a foot of accumulation
and then severe winds upwards of 100 mph and temperatures that fell
to around 0 degrees on the summit. This kind of weather creates
large swings in the avalanche hazard that ranged this week from
low to high and back down again with a lot of time spent at considerable.
From my analysis there was a time this week that within 18 hours
Huntington went from a Moderate rating to High then back down to
Low, with variability like that, timing and careful routefinding
with an honest assessment of the human factors that are influencing
ones decisions, is critical to getting things accomplished with
reasonable risk.
So the question now is, how are conditions looking for this week? Right now it is raining on Mount Washington and temperatures are above freezing on the summit, it is supposed to cool down with some snow before this precipitation is too end. During this time winds are pretty high and importantly winds are forecasted to continue through tomorrow so it will be moving around any snow that falls. This will mean that any snow now on the ground should lock up pretty well and new snow will likely fall on a wet snowpack and then the wind will blow snow onto lee slopes. Bottom line is it looks like we will have a crust with areas of blown in snow. At least we will have locked up everything that now exists and only have to deal with whatever snow falls and blows around.
For skiing this setup doesn't bode too well unless we get warm weather and or sun with no wind to soften this likely crust. There will be places were you could find some blown in snow that is stable enough but widespread spring skiing is still a ways away. For climbing things in Huntington could be good if the wind scours out some of the gullies, that will depend on wind speed and direction but the forecast looks good to have that happen with 100 mph winds forecasted for the summit tomorrow. Keep an eye on the avalanche forecast for more information. The best day this week appears to be Thursday given that the wind is forecasted to last through the day tomorrow. Thursday is supposed to be sunny with forecasted temperatures in the valley in the upper 40's. Low south facing slopes in the alpine zone should soften if we have low winds and if that temperature forecast is correct There should also be some stable wind deposited snow around to ski on as well, much like conditions have been for the last week or two on sunny days. The wind will be the final factor and right now I don't have any good forecasts for that far out but it looks like there is a pretty good chance of low wind.
For lower down ice climbing, tomorrow should be pretty good, with cold temperatures and some wind it will feel wintery at Frankenstein and other areas. This means thaw generated ice fall should be limited to sunny aspects that are protected from the wind. Thursday staying in the shade or going onto Mount Washington is a better bet given the temperatures and clear skies that are forecasted.
April is a great month to do things in the mountains but you have to let the conditions dictate what and where you go, skiing, ice climbing and even some rock later in the month are all going to be possible, even exceptional on certain days, if you pick the right place at the right time you can have super fun in great conditions.
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