Icy Gulley Technique

[Wilhelmson]

When a wooded area runs out into an icy, steep, narrow (8 to 12 feet wide) gulley with some rocks and maybe a few downed trees I find the options are to make fast turns or punk out and resort to hockey style maneuvers. Any suggestions for handling this situation safely with more finesse?

 

[crgildart]

Snowplow?

 

[hbear]

Tough to be stylish, jump turns or just point the tips down and let it rip.

We have a couple paths (typicllaly traverse type paths getting us out of a section) that are incredibly narrow with no place to go. You are locked in your line, have no room to turn your skis (only a slight pole) and are stuck in the bobsled track. Gets a bit hairy as you keep picking up speed as you weave in the trees, duck branches and run over small features. Kids call it Star Wars as it looks like it when things are zipping by. Can get up to 50km/h on the out path. No style just straight ski and hope nobody in front falls.

 

[Wilhelmson]

That's pretty much what we do. When my kids had 110 cm skis they could zip right down and make some smooth turns. Now that they're getting bigger they have to learn the fun of no space to turn.

Jump turn steep, no prob, I handle that pretty well.

 

[kimmyt]

I use a combination of sideslipping and jump turns if its really tricky. Also knowing how to side hop over rocks can be really helpful (basically jumping down the hill while staying facing the same direction, learned it in a steeps clinic once). I call this the fine art of 'billy goating'.

 

[Crank]

With downed trees, etc.. caution, I think, is in order. Hockey stops is just fine. Skied a gully like that a few years ago, not icy, but downed trees at levels from I can ski over that to I can ski under that to stop and crawl through. There was one that was stop and take skis off and then crawl though.

This is what can happen when you make the mistake of following tracks into trees at a mountain you don't know all that well.

 

[oswaldr2]

Tough to be stylish, jump turns or just point the tips down and let it rip.

Have to agree.

For me, this is usually not the time to worry about skiing over a rock or two if that's the safest way out. I find if I ski over the rock straight and don't turn, I typically don't damage my ski other than maybe a light scrape (not a cut). I save the turn for after the rock when I have a patch of snow. Obviously wouldn't be the case if I went straight over a pointy sharp rock.

 

[Erik Timmerman]

Wheels up! To ski those icy gullies and luge tracks you need to keep the skis closer to your body. Also, having a ski with some camber helps here.

 

[Monique]

No votes for falling leaf?

 

[Doug Briggs]

First: slow down. Second: see the path through the rocks and trees.

Maintain continuous motion down the slope as it is much harder to make your first turn, than the successive ones. This is one time where buying your turns is appropriate. If you can make a few good, controlled turns down a pitch but the next decent place to link a few turns is 10 feet to the left or right, don't hesitate to traverse over. But don't stop once you get there to reconnoiter, turn into the new pitch with traverse speed remembering it is harder to make that first turn from a stop than from a moving state.

See far enough ahead that you can choose to make two turns instead of three if making two turns allows you to traverse more easily to the next set of turns instead of making three turns. Far enough could be 30 to 40 feet downhill or 100 feet depending on the obstacle you might have to deal with. It doesn't make sense to take a really nice line and end up over a cliff or a thicket you can't ski.

I guess the most important thing is to be able to look ahead and choose good lines. That allows you to plan and get down the best sections with the least amount of hesitation.

 

[karlo]

Ice, I could ask what you mean by ice. Steep, I could ask you what is steep. Narrow, you specified. But, rocks, fallen trees? Just ski however you can that's safe

 

[François Pugh]

Nothing wrong with a hockey stop.
Skiing ice is a whole lot easier when you have sharp edges and a 0.5:3 tune or a more acute angle, than when you have a dull 1:2 or a dull 1:1 tune.

 

[Frankly]

Sounds like you need a rope and axe....

 

[Burton]

In a good year, this is pretty much the run out from The bottom of Tuckermans Ravine back to the parking lot. Not so steep, but narrow, pretty dodgy, and looooong. Best way to do it is buy some 20 year old legs, do lots of wall sits, a fair sprinkling of squats, and ride that bull as fast as he’ll go all the way down. Turn only when the gully does. In five minutes, you’ll have saved yourself a two hour hike, you’ll be grinning like you won the lottery, and you could cook an egg on your quads.

But seriously, best advice in these situations as stated above is to look where you want go, not at the obstacles.

 

[Crank]

What way are you skiing down from tucks?

 

[LiquidFeet]

The Sherburne trail, which leads down from the Tuckerman Ravine bowl, is wide enough for multiple moguls to develop.
I wouldn't call it a gully. It's wide enough to give the skier some creative line options.

The little headwall, which serves as the start of the Sherburne, might qualify.
It's steeper than the Sherburne, and narrow-ish.
On a crowded day, when conditions are just so-so, it can present a nasty start to the Sherburne.
See #4 in the image below.

 

[crgildart]

Corbett's is going to require some straight lining..

 

[Crank]

The Sherburne trail, which leads down from the Tuckerman Ravine bowl, is wide enough for multiple moguls to develop.
I wouldn't call it a gully. It's wide enough to give the skier some creative line options.

I have skied the Sherburne trail and as your pics indicate I remember it being a pretty wide intermediate pitched trail with bumps and with mud as you got down lower when skied in late spring.

I accidentally skied down the hiking trail my first time there. That was different.

Are there other skiable routes back to Pinkham notch lot?

I keep threatening to go back to Tucks...haven't been since mid 80's.

 

[Doug Briggs]

The Sherburne trail, which leads down from the Tuckerman Ravine bowl, is wide enough for multiple moguls to develop.
I wouldn't call it a gully. It's wide enough to give the skier some creative line options.

The little headwall, which serves as the start of the Sherburne, might qualify.
It's steeper than the Sherburne, and narrow-ish.
On a crowded day, when conditions are just so-so, it can present a nasty start to the Sherburne.
See #4 in the image below.

That's good snow in the Sherburne. ;-) When the skiing is going off in Tuckerman later in the season, the Sherburne can be nothing more than moguls with a trace of snow between them. Or worse. Many a time I've had to walk sections near the bottom only to mount up again to continue.

Maybe I'll be back this spring for a go-round. Hmmm....

 

[Doug Briggs]

I have skied the Sherburne trail and as your pics indicate I remember it being a pretty wide intermediate pitched trail with bumps and with mud as you got down lower when skied in late spring.

I accidentally skied down the hiking trail my first time there. That was different.

Are there other skiable routes back to Pinkham notch lot?

I keep threatening to go back to Tucks...haven't been since mid 80's.

The only regular way is the Sherburne. If you were looking for a bit more adventure, you could go up Left Gulley and work your way over to Gulf of Slides. The GoS trail drains the Gulf and comes out at Pinkham. It is MUCH more challenging than the Sherburne. Narrow, twisty, turny with a couple of blind corners.

For a serious challenge, you can try skiing the Cutler out. I've done some of it, but not all. It is a river and depending on the time of year it can be pleasant and fun or dangerous and scary. It is the river you cross and walk past along the bottom of the Tuckerman hiking trail and passes through Pinkham.