A walk in the Needham Town Forest

Been there many times, but still noticed a lot of new things this time.

The skunk cabbage crop coming in fine.

 This rock has little lichen bumps...they are like braille bumps on the surface of the rock. Maybe they are anchor pads left over from moss which maybe used to be here? I have no idea. Little rock-hard bumps everywhere.

The Duchess in Tuckerman Ravine

Last Friday, Greg, Alex, Yeuhi, and I skied the Duchess--a run I've been dying to ski top to bottom for years now.

Skinning up the Sherbie, a good view of Dodge's Drop. We made good time up from Pinkham, not much more than an hour.

We booted up Hillman's under perfect, clear blue skies. So lucky. Then walked down the talus to the groove in the buttress marking the top of Dutchess. Here's Alex skiing the upper section.

Next day: Great Gulf

The day after skiing the Gulf of Slides, Erik and I headed up to the Cog Base. The Cog was looking good so we headed up under warm weather and blue skies--a big relief as forecasts were calling for some chance of precip.

Jacob's Ladder--always a great spot to take a photo with bad white balance.

We cut over from the Cog a little too low and had to skin up around the rim to Airplane Gully.

Gulf of Slides in early spring sun

On Thursday, Erik and I got after it in the Gulf of Slides. Erik's first time there and my first time in several years. This was a beautiful early spring day with a mixture of corn and a veneer of windbuff, and temps warm enough that I never wore anything more than two layers of capilene on top. Full conditions, with great skiing all the way out the approach trail.

We started off with Gully #2.

A panoramic Erik shot on his phone.

Camel's Hump with Yeuhi and Alex

Yesterday, Alex, Yeuhi, and I skied Camel's Hump. It's been a fairly poor season in northern New England, and this last 15-20 inch dump was the most significant storm to hit the mountains so far. It brought average snowpack depths up to maybe 3/4 of normal, however, certain terrain features such as creeks and ledges, which may depend on several storms with winds loading in from multiple directions, are still way bony (as in the Little Headwall entrance, prev post). Anyway, Camel's Hump is a good bet for avy-safe tree skiing, so that's where we went.

It was about 45 degrees and bright sun when we left the car at 10:15. When we pulled up to the summit 2.5 hours later, things were much different. As on Washington earlier in the week, the upper mountain was in cold clouds all day, preserving the powder.

 Summit rock.

Right Gully with Erik

Erik and I were looking for something to do, so we schlepped up to Tuck's on Tuesday in spite of marginal conditions. Thanks to Annmarie for taking care of the dog AND the baby.

Freddie Fungus took a lichen to Allie Algae, and now their marriage is on the rocks.

See also: http://wegotthebeet.bandcamp.com/track/love-song-of-freddy-fungi-and-alice-algae

freddy fungus and allie algae took a lichen to each other 
they like to work together; cooperation like no other 
their romance is slowly burning 
but there's no separating 
this lichen couple in love..... 

Skinning up the right side of the bowl, avoiding exposure to suspect E facing aspects.

Bluebird.

Looking up Right Gully, our objective.

Tropical.

The entrance is steep any bony in this low-snow year.

We were staying on old, hard surface due to avalanche concerns, but still slipped in a few soft turns.

The creek which leads into the Little Headwall was basically out, so we followed the upper Tuckerman Ravine trail to the connection cache and entered the watercourse from there. After sketching along for several hundred feet of rocks and crumbling snowbridges over the stream, for sidestepped back to the hiking trail. We then could see that we should have gone high right. We still wanted to get some of the good stuff which did exist on LH, so we dropped off the hiking trail again for three glorious powder turns followed by 5 min of preposterous bushwhacking on a 40+ degree slope.

Erik emerging onto a rock after the 'schwack.

Point 'em.

Gettin' after it. 

We skied some excellent snow from here down the Sherburne Trail until we hit the mank line--the lower mountain was in hot sun, well above freezing, all day--then skinned up, skied the upper Cutler, then finished out on the Sherburne.

Rosie goes tree skiing

Rosie and I couldn't decide what to do. Noting there was as much snow on the ground outside the cabin as ever there is, we decided to stay local and explore the mountain up the street for the first time.

Sammy found a deer bone at the top and went to town.

 Rosie.

 We hit a logging cut off the back. I was vaguely aware of this terrain but didn't realize what great skiing it would be.

 Rosie is getting to be a real New England skier because she is no longer disturbed to find bits of trees in her bindings at the bottom of a run.

 Back up and over the top, we used this radio antenna utility shack as a windbreak when ripping skins. Sammy recognized it as a door and thought we were going inside!

 Rosie can ski the trees! And still be smiling.

 The I went XC skiing with my parents.

 A cool windlip. There were a lot of cool wind artifacts all around.

 The next morning, we went back to the logging cuts.

 There will be creeks.

 Then we went "Cross skiing" with my dad.

Then I turned 30. Then we went cross skiing again. 

Rosie took all these pictures, which is why they are all pictures of me. 

 More whiskey mushrooms.