Junk show at Tuckerman’s Ravine?
Rumors of mayhem and unorthodox backcountry etiquette on the slopes of Tuckerman’s Ravine on Mount Washington last Saturday, buzzed on skiing forums over that last few days. Enough so, that the popular forum based website, TimeForTuckermans.com, ended up removing a thread from a snowboarder caught in a wet-slide (one of four that day)…only to be cheered on by lubed-up observers. However, through the power of the world wide web, his initial post has been resurrected…with video too!
Saturday I hiked up to the summit with my roommate to enjoy some record temps at the summit, it hit 56 at 6288ft.. The East Snowfields were buttery soft and untracked lines were plentiful. Traversed over to The Bowl, hiked up a bit to get over to Center Headwall. Standing at the top, I noticed the runout of an avalanche below, under the skiers left side of the main headwall. Figuring I’d be alright more to the right of this I started hammering turns down at a pretty good speed, snow was fairly smooth still. I made it to below the rocks before my routine run changed.
At this point I felt the whole slope give way and start groaning underneath me. I realized quickly I had just touched off an avy and my first instinct was, “Oh $h*t, just point it.” I was able to stay on my feet for a hundred feet or so as the snow was breaking all around me thinking I might beat it. But it had me and soon I was on my ass “paddling” back, just focusing on keeping my board downhill and myself on top of everything, popped back up on my feet and rode it till falling at the very end. At a certain point before coming to rest, I realized I would end up OK and actually started to enjoy it a bit, crazy, I know. At the time of the slide, I was wearing a foam big hand, which also ended up safe on top. The Lunch Rocks erupted into a cheer, hopefully a once in a lifetime experience. Fortunately it was a pretty shallow fracture, only 8-12 inches maybe tops with a clear run out, I was lucky. Here’s what I looked at just after coming to rest below. –TDawg
Many critics say that the crowds cheering on the snowboarder should be given a good tongue lashing (to put it lightly) for turning a potentially serious situation into something...at the very least...entertaining. Others comment that things have totally gotten out of hand on Tuckerman's, with people sliding down the headwall on blow-up dolls and people camped out and eating lunch in obvious run-out zones...all while chugging beers and sipping vino. And still others say that TDawg was irresponsible for riding his snowboard in such hazardous conditions. Seems to me that there is an accident waiting to happen at Tuckerman's, but hopefully those who enjoy the ravine will learn a lesson from last weekends events before that accident strikes.
Now it's easy for us, sitting here in front of our computers, to armchair quarterback this one. Trust me, I've been the center of a few slanderous remarks on this very website for things I may, or may-not, have had control over...and it's not fun. Personally, I try to keep most of my thoughts to myself in these kind of situations because I never know what might happen in the future and you better be willing to take the same heat when the tables are turned.
Steve,
This is a good one.
Folks should have taken the blow up doll to Daisy pass two weeks ago! Hey we have all seen some crazy things happen when the booze is added, but I would hope that we mostly would have a sense of safety at the same time. But you never know what can go on. Just this winter I saw in the Gallatin Avi report of some stupid lines being taken right next to recent slide activity on Saddle Peak in the Bridgers.
http://www.mtavalanche.com/photos/photo_popup.php?photo=1236727635
Those of us that spend the majority of our time in the mountains most likely are just more aware. That’s just how it is, in the summer I am much more bear aware than someone that has never had to even think about bumping into a Grizz. From looking at all of #’s the people that attend this event I doubt that i would even think of going. I feel pretty spoiled sometimes living the life I do.
Oh BTW — It’s dumpiing again in Northern Yellowstone today !!
not that strange though, i always ski with a foam finger
Give me an A….A
Give me an V…V
Give me another A…A
Give me an L…L
.
.
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What’s that spell…AVALANCHE!!!
It’s funny that he thought straightlining would do anything. While I know better now, when I was in high school, I got caught in a 6″ – 12″ slab slide at squaw valley, CA and had the same thought. I was OK, and ended up on top of everything (and vomited verry verry close to the ski patroller who asked if I was ok…), It really makes me wonder why this is the reaction.
It’s trite, but I think dumb action movies are to blame…
Darwin came up with the solution to these problems long ago, no need arguing about it on message boards.
First of all, Mt Washington does claim lives, and most people who venture there know about it.
http://www.mountwashington.com/deaths/index.html
However, backcountry skiing in the east isn’t very popular beyond Tuckerman’s Ravine and most people there probably have never heard of a beacon. People just aren’t backcountry savy. Case in point: there were a handful of weekend warriors skinning up the trail that morning on their flashy marker duke setups while everyone else passed them on foot 🙂
I was up there on Saturday and it was one of my best days at Tucks ever. The bowl definitely had a sports arena atmosphere this past weekend, and some of the 1000+ (2,000+?) people were certainly drinking alcohol, but be careful about making generalizations that everyone was drinking, because that is a bit far from the truth. Sans-booze, I certainly cheered for a couple of well skied lines and even got a some cheers myself. Some people just want to have fun.
The forest service staff and volunteers do their part too. The local avy report that day warned of danger on areas that did not yet slide after 14″ fell with tons of wind during the middle of the week before the record high temp sun began to slam the area. The avy board at the Hermit Lake shelter that day also had high hazard warnings for the headwall and the lip. Even more, the forest service have signs that tell people to plan for falling ice especially around lunch rocks. Lunch rocks, where maybe half of the crowd hangs out during the day, are in a major ice fall zone. There is a reason why there’s a pile of boulders there. Some people get it; others don’t.
I’m glad that no one got injured in the slides and think it’s good that many people got to see multiple slides end up in the same area in the bottom of the bowl. Anyone who went near the debris also got a good idea about how solid snow can get in an avy. It was an eye opener for many. It sounded like the camera person gained some respect. Another positive that we can focus on is that it is good that the crowds stay away from skiing Tuckerman’s until late spring. It is generally known that there is consistent high avalanche danger before spring warming and that VW beetle size ice fall becomes more dangerous as summer approaches. Given this, people flock to the bowl around this time of year, including me (when I happen to be on the east coast).
After skiing the mellow snowfields at the top, I traversed well above the starting zone(s) to get to a more sun protected aspect and reminded the two others in my group of the looming hazard below. It wasn’t until we got down to the bottom of the bowl that we saw the first avy debris pile. There were no less than 5 people “playing” in the debris, mostly kids on sleds. No good. But what are you going to do? I agree with jeffw in that Darwin came up with the solution to these problems long ago… It sucks that some people have to learn that way, but the forest service does their part to let people know what is going on and how to be safe. They aren’t out there with a megaphone and handcuffs and if they were, that would be the most lame thing EVER.
Anyways, people are not going to stop hiking up to tucks at any point in the near future. Danger looms, but for the amount of people that head up there each spring, the safety record is pretty decent. I highly recommend heading up there if any of you find yourself within shooting distance of NH during April or May.
The bowl definitely had a sports arena atmosphere this past weekend, and some of the 1000+ (2,000+?) people !!!!! Holy SH_T ! No thanks !
Awesome 🙂
That is the best avy education ever for those cheering, however, they probably weren’t sober enough to learn much 🙂
Notice that no one is running to help the guy nor offer a beer 🙂
Maybe he has one of those beer hats on…you know…the kind with the straws down to your mouth…wouldn’t surprise me.
As long as we have genes like this in the pool, as mentioned above, things will sort themselves out.
Nice days in April on a weekend are always like that in Tux. One of these days the side will be bigger and/or big ice will fall, and it will be ugly at Lunch Rocks.
I would take exception to the characterization of it as a wet snow slide. While it did get warm that day, and therefore the snow was wetter & heavier than say, March), this was a classic upside down slab situation. Lighter snow fell, and then got buried by a thick 2-3 foot wind slab in colder night temps. While temp/water contributed, the way the slabs jigsawed when they went point more to slab than wet, IMHO.
This vid gives best view of the 1st slide that happened before too much solar gain…
http://vimeo.com/4411388
Skip to the 10 min mark. Guy stops above cliff (lucky for him), and his spillage sets of 1st slab of day.
The original poster removed the post himself. It was not an action of the moderators of the T4T website.
M@