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From: Kurt Ries on 02/10/98 07:17 PM To: fdunaway@epix.net cc: cact92x@t4d.carrier.utc.com Subject: WE DID TUCKS!!

No shit there I was Sunday February 8th , 1998 traversing up the corn snow in the bowl of Tuckermans Ravine. As I stepped a little closer to heaven I stopped to ponder the wonder of this moment. The right gully was high above me, the head wall to left and Hillmans highway behind. Even the crowd of cheering skiers on the luncheon rocks were whooping it up setting the stage for one of those pinch me to see if I'm dreaming days.

Ever since I moved out east the stories of Tuckermans Ravine predominate with the Telemark and Backcountry crowd. I listened to the stories, read the books and dreamed of the opportunity ski the legend of the east. This year it happened and Mother Nature graced us with copious amounts of sunshine. The Summit of Mount Washington has clocked the highest wind speeds in the world; this combined with the snow and cold temperatures have caused many treks into the ravine to be aborted. Clear skies, no wind and almost 40 degrees, no problems this day :-)

Eight of started out at 2032 feet, 9:00 AM from Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire equipped with full Tele gear. We skinned up the John Sherburne Ski trail, a good 20 feet wide and a consistent 20-30 % grade with steeper sections. No kick and glide up this baby, but quite do-able with BC skis even without skins. Many folks were waxed tip to tail with red special. An hour and 40 minutes later we were basking in the sun at 3877 feet and starring at the intimidating headwall of Tuckermans Ravine. After refueling on the deck of the AMC Hermit Lake Shelter we strapped the skis to our backpacks and booted it 25 minutes up a single track trail into the bowl itself.

There it was in its full glory a breath taking sight in the intense sun. The top is a rocky headwall with two gullies down each side. Simple known as the left and right gully. The base of the bowl is at 4354 feet with the top of the headwall at 5383 feet. The headwall is some gnarly steeps for a third of the way down and then the bowl tapers out to a gentle slope at the base. The bowl is all open with a few large boulders covered with backpacks and skiers. Something here for everyone not just the adrenaline junkies.

The extreme skiers were there just like the stories attribute, skis over shoulder booting up the snow stairway and pulling some radical turns down the headwall. The condition up top had a thin shiny crust of snow and as the skiers carved turns tiny chunks of snow would come careening down the head wall in a mini avalanche with the sound of intense rain. Below where we were the snow was heavy and chunky making all the turns of the day revolve around getting the skis out of the snow to come back around into the fall line. For me it was a jump tele and a long slight down hill traverse to scrap off some speed. A new technique I learned was a pole arrest, this was a handy maneuver not so much for safety but to keep from loosing many feet of hard earned elevation in a split second after dumping it.

We spent the late morning and early afternoon skiing the lower halve of the bowl. By 1:30 halve the bowl was already in the shade and the snow iced up quickly. By 2:00 o'clock we start the decent back to Pinkham Notch. My 28-minute 2 mile decent didn't break the 5 minutes and 28 seconds record but it certainly felt like it. The day before we were at Wild Cat a great lift service area practicing for the real thing. The decent of the Sherburne Trail proved to be every bit as exciting as the best run at Wild Cat. Even though the trail conditions were icy, Pinkham AMC Lodge has a Snow Cat they run up the trail keeping it ski-able. The width of the trail made for some dynamite turns and an absolutely incredible run down to the lodge!

...Wonder what Gulf of Slides is like?

Any Takers, -Kurt

Kurt Ries Canandaigua, NY kries@viesystems.com ===============================

To: Kurt Ries/VIESystems, fdunaway@epix.net cc: cact92x@t4d.carrier.utc.com Subject: Re: WE DID TUCKS!!

I did too, but it was almost 30 years ago. Memorial Day, 1970. I had finished my freshman year of college and was back with my family (ugghhh!). We were downhill skiers then and didn't know much. My younger brother and I hiked up to Tuckerman's from Pinkham Notch. We hiked in our ski boots--fortunately they were leather and much smaller than the "modern" downhill boot--carrying our skis and poles over our shoulders. We got lots of strange looks but like I said, what did we know. Got up to Tuckerman's. Although it was Memorial Day, the traditional big ski day up there, we'd been told, snow conditions were not good. We could only ski an area well below the headwall. We did just a couple runs and hiked back down, getting lots more strange looks.

Soon afterwards I bought a backpack and a pair of hiking boots.

el after ====================================

To: Kurt Ries/VIESystems cc: Subject: Re: WE DID TUCKS!!

NOTE FROM DAVE SHELDON:

WOW, sounds like you hit the Jack Pot. Great Report..I thought I had tapped into a Jack London book!

It looks very bleak around here as far as snow goes. I think I'd better start pushing the bike shop to get our bikes checked over so I can pick them up..maybe that will bring some snow.

Have a great weekend.

Happy Skiing

============================

To: Kurt Ries/VIESystems cc: Subject: Re: WE DID TUCKS!!

kries@viesystems.com wrote:

> Ever since I moved out east the stories of Tuckermans Ravine was > predominate with the Telemark and Backcountry crowd. I listened to the > stories, read the books and dreamed of the opportunity ski the legend of > the east. This year it happened and Mother Nature graced us with copious > amounts of sunshine. The Summit of Mount Washington has clocked the highest > wind speeds in the world; this combined with the snow and cold temperatures > has caused many treks into the ravine to be aborted. Clear skies, no wind > and almost 40 degrees, no problems this day :-)

Man, did you get lucky!

> The extreme skiers were there just like the stories attribute, skis over > shoulder booting up the snow stairway and pulling some radical turns down > the headwall. The condition up top had a thin shiny crust of snow and as > the skiers carved turns tiny chunks of snow would come careening down the > head wall in a mini avalanche with the sound of intense rain. Below where > we were the snow was heavy and chunky making all the turns of the day > revolve around getting the skis out of the snow to come back around into > the fall line. For me it was a jump tele and a long slight down hill > traverse to scrap off some speed. A new technique I learned was a pole > arrest, this was a handy maneuver not so much for safety but to keep from > loosing many feet of hard earned elevation in a split second after dumping > it.

Did Dicky do the head wall?

Many years ago, NSP held the advance avalanche at Tucks. They had to move off to the side of the left, because of imeanent avalanche conditions. Some how I don't think Dick would take a group into those conditions.

Glad you had a good time (instead of having me kick your butt at Tourathon). It sound like you used some of the turns I taught you along with fair amount of Dick's stuff. Brian S. had a hunch you would do well at Tucks.

Now that Tourathon is over, I will be on the BC's more. I might take a trip to Vermont this summer and see about getting a new pair of Merriels. :-)