If you haven't heard of it...it's a bowl on the South side of Mt. Washington. There are hundreds of pictures floating around the internet and posters available from the site at your local adventure store. I always thought of it as a myth. When I skied Wildcat...I would stare at it - marvel at it's beauty and monstrosity - humbled by the non-survivor stories I heard about it. I was in a secret love affair, but had never met.
On April Fool's Day my friend John and I decided to hike up there ourselves and see it with our own eyes. We were both Tuckerman Virgins and we couldn't wait to see if it exists and really looked like that up close.
We both did the research on the AMC maps. Asked lots of our friends and heard all the stories that followed after bringing up it's name. "You ain't skied nothing, until you've skied Tucks." That's what I got from everyone I asked, whose been there. I was envied by coworkers who hadn't made yet up there this year and by the one who had. Everyone seems to have the fever that Tuckerman Ravine gave out.
John and I discussed our trip and decided that the easiest and most frequent trail up to the Ravine, Tuckerman Ravine Trail, would be our best bet. We both didn't know what to expect. Didn't know if they'd be a crowd of people going up together or just individuals staggered on the trail up to the Winter fun spot. We ended up being the first hikers stirring in the parking at Pinkham Notch Visitors Center. We headed for the bathrooms while searching for the trail head. Wouldn't you know it. The trail starts at the restrooms, note to self! We check out the conditions board and it seemed alright for hikers that day. I didn't bring my skis because I wanted to first see it...then ski it. This was an assessment hike for me. I tend to be cautious about dangerous things and didn't want to bite off more than I could chew with skis, ski boots and my pack all strapped to my back. Wasn't too sure what we would encounter.
The trail was a steady but no boorish climb all the way to to the Ravine. There were some nice views and things that made me gasp. A bit up from the trail head you'll see Crystal Cascade. It's a very nice waterfall. It was mostly frozen over when we were there, so I haven't any pictures of it. I do have a picture of me on the platform near the falls (but that doesn't do you any good wanting to see it). It's sometimes worth just going up to that to see, if you aren't a hiker at heart and believe that hiking to Tucks isn't for you.
2.4 miles up the trail we got to Hermit Lake with the USFS Cabins and lean-tos. They were neat. Since Tuckerman Ravine was featured in the latest Warren Miller film "Like There's No Tomorrow" I felt like I'd been there already. If you want see below. It's a very sweet vignette from the flick.
Back to reality. There was still 40 minutes to the ravine left. This is where is got White Mountain-like on us. Lots of rocks to climb up, we were having a hard time deciding to stay with the mini-spikes or take them off because of the intermittent icing. We took them off and stood on the "dry" rocks to stay safe.
Then, like out of nowhere we looked up and there it was! LARGER THAN LIFE...THEE Tuckerman Ravine! It was just as I dreamed it would be. I think I was like a little kid at Disneyland. We both rushed in and noticed that we were the first ones up there. We were only seconded by a Ranger, who'd asked us what our plans were today while we went up to the bowl and did some assessment of his own of the snow and it's pitfalls. He was the only person to pass us.
We rolled in the snow, dazzled and laughed that we both FINALLY made it up there. The wait was finally over and it was there...in front of us. WICKED!!!! I took out my Tuckerman Altitude Brew that I brought up and toasted the place and our maiden voyage to the Ravine. What a sight to see. MAN, I was hungry!!! We ate lunch and watched all the other hikers/skiers/boarders show up. It gave us something to watch and took away a little of the pain from our bit of snow blindness. A group of Canadians head up to the headwall, they said they are doing the whole thing. We stood and watched. Most of the dare devils bailed 1/2 way up and came down. It looked steep there, and I wondered, how steep is it up top! That's crazy! We spend over an hour there because you can without worry. The sun kept us warm and our gear kept the wind out. It was very pleasant to be there for that amount of time. But we knew after checking the forecast that day, a winter snow storm/squall was due into the area after noon. Rule of thumb: you don't want to be on Mt. Washington when a storm hits.
We turn down the trail just as the families started arriving. It looked like people bringing TONS of stuff to the beach. There were skis, snowboards, snowshoes, skate skis, sleds and even butt slides. That looked like that could be fun! Next time, It thought and we headed down. We passed lots of smiling and wildly anticipated hikers and adrenaline junkies. Probably past about 100 people on our way down, easily. I was right there with them. They were in for a very sweet day, if they could withstand the weather coming in.
It was a fast paced hike down. With the deep snow we didn't have to worry about our footing as much because the snow was covering most of the jagged and loose rock footing. It was a breeze, best decent I've had in the Whites. We got to the parking lot at 1:30pm and turned back to look at the ravine. It was covered by a snow squalls. I said, "thank goodness we got out of there in time". Then I thought about the people heading up. I hope they'll be alright.
We changed out of our hiking clothes and settled in for a relaxing ride back to our lives in the real world. Whatta bummer. I'm just happy that I live in the same state of the mountains I can to love to climb. I think it's meant to be. Next hike planned is up the Carter Mountain range. Not sure how many of the 4,000-footers we'll hit, but my saying is: "if you're up there anyway, you might as well get 'em in". Until next trip, enjoy your hiking, stay safe and use your common sense when you venture out.
Bev
Below is an article that we found about Tuckerman Ravine.
Death in Tuckerman Ravine - this death happened the day we were there. That's humbling and so sad.
