Mark Renson
New member
Huntington Ravine was a great cauldron of wind, clouds and spindrift glowing in the brilliant morning sun high up on The Rockpile as I drove up Route 16. It was as if the Presidential Range was flipping Spring the bird. <BR> When I got to Hermit Lake, there were gusty winds under brilliant skies AND 20"+ of snow on the ground where there were bare rocks 2 weeks prior. Two weeks prior we were doubtful of skiing on Memorial Day, but now we think that it is highly probable. With 2+ feet of snow and violent winds, an estimated extra 5 feet of snow was added to the snowpack in the Bowl! <BR> But with this came a "Considerable" avalanche danger. On the prior Wednesday, 2 slides caught 3 people with a "Moderate" danger. ..... uh, oh. <BR> At HoJo's and the bottom of the Bowl, I was assigned to do outreach to the public reminding them of the dangers. Hillman's and Left Gully were the best of the bad choices and if people were to go there, we recommended that they stay to the sides when climbing and when they stopped on a descent. We can only advose as we are not the public's moms. <BR> What ensued was a horrendous display of avalanche safety. Many heeded the warnings but many did NOT. Even with a large debris pile at the bottom of the Bowl from a slide on Friday that left a 3-4 foot crown under the Headwall rocks, the Bowl was loaded with skiers. Once one took a chance, everyone else assumed it was safe, I presume. <BR> I did not ski. <BR> On Sunday, the snowpack settled. Time to ski! Early, I climbed up Left Gully as it was the most stable of the ski runs on the prior day. Left Gully has huge amounts of snow with a generous sized bowl at the top and a more "gentle" entrance on the climbers left as opposed to the death cornice on the right. <BR> Skiing was fun on the unique snow. It was kinda' like wet powder or dry mashed potatoes. Very exhilirating in the morning sun and I made some tracks. <BR> I climbed and launched off down Right Gully and had to hop in the glop. It was heavy, man. I did find some good corn turns, but mostly heavy stuff on the descent. <BR> The rest of the day, I spent chilling and watching and doing minor tasks and finding more heavy snow as I hiked around. I was the last out of the Bowl and I stumbled upon an injury on the trail to which I tended to. <BR> Folks: Tuck's Lives! There will probably be worthwhile skiing for the remainder of the month. Go get it.