Gulf of Slides

Yesterday, during our organized Mt Washington Backcountry Ski Festival tour, we spent all our time doing laps in some mellow glades. It was fun, but after that I was ready for something a little bit more challenging.

So this morning I decided to skin up the Gulf of Slides trail, and take a peek at the main gully. Avalanche risk was „Considerable (3)“ and peeking was all I was planning to do there. With the hard icy base, and new wind blown snow all around the gullies, I was not ready to take any chances.

The skin up is fun. Weather was warm and sunny at the bottom, but got increasingly windier, and snowier, at higher elevations. It is straining, the skin up takes about 90 Minutes, but the real challenge starts once you enter and climb the gullies, which I didn't do.

A guy ahead of me went up into the main gully. He stopped and transitioned right beneath a gigantic bulge of ice. I decided not to go up any further. Even though you couldn't really see really well to the top of the gully, my sense was that with the wind blowing and snow accumulating on the rims, it must've been loaded up there. Just in case something comes down, with the risk of filling up the gully at my elevation, I transitioned in a spot where I thought I can quickly jump to the side into the woods, and be relatively safe.

The ride down is mellow and it was fun. A few fluffy turns could be made, but I had also always an eye out for bare rocks. Uphill traffic had increase quite a bit when I was riding down, so there's that. Looking out to control your speed and not run into people going up.