Tuckerman Ravine

Tuckerman Ravine
Tuckerman Ravine with late spring skiers after the headwall has thawed
Elevation	4,430 feet (1,350 m)
Location	New Hampshire, United States of America
Range	White Mountains
Coordinates	44°15′45″N 71°17′54″W / 44.2625°N 71.29833°W / 44.2625; -71.29833Coordinates: 44°15′45″N 71°17′54″W / 44.2625°N 71.29833°W / 44.2625; -71.29833

Tuckerman Ravine is a glacial cirque sloping eastward on the southeast face of Mt. Washington, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Although it draws hikers throughout the year, and skiers throughout the winter, it is best known for the many "spring skiers" who ascend it on foot and ski down the steep slope from early April through late May. In this period, the temperatures are relatively mild but the natural snowpack — which averages up to 55 feet (17 m) in a typical winter — is still adequate to ski most seasons. The record-setting high winds atop Mount Washington scour a massive amount of snow from the surrounding highlands and drop it here or in the adjacent Huntington Ravine.

Literally thousands of people have been known to ski Tuckerman in a single spring weekend. Skiing or ice climbing is not limited to this time, but the avalanche danger requires special training to assess and navigate the ravine safely during the winter. There have been 10 avalanche fatalities recorded (including one expert rescuer during a 1982 search) from 34 avalanche incidents in the area in the past 60 years.

The ravine is most easily accessed from the AMC lodge on Route 16 at Pinkham Notch, via the moderate 2.4-mile (3.9 km) lower section of the Tuckerman Ravine Trail. This trail is maintained in winter and spring as a "cat" trail, and parallels the Sherburne Trail used for ski and snowboard descents. It is a 1,850-foot (560 m) elevation drop from the foot of Tuckerman to the lodge.

Anatomy of the Bowl

Tuckerman Ravine has many different runs that span the bowl, all as steep as 40 to 55 degrees. From the base of the bowl, the run farthest to the left is known simply as "Left Gully" and is one of the easiest runs. Moving to the right, the runs are more challenging and steeper. More to the right, "The Chute" drops between two large cliffs that slowly narrow the run. Still farther to the right, "The Icefall" is 55 degrees, and requires skiers to go off cliffs as tall as 25 feet (7.6 m). Right of the "The Icefall" is "The Lip". It is an open run that averages between 40 and 45 degrees. "Right Gully", one of the bowl's easier runs, drops into "The Sluice" about halfway down, and averages about 40 degrees.^[1]

History

The ravine is named after botanist Edward Tuckerman who studied alpine plants and lichens in the area in the 1830s and 1840s. According to the New England Ski Museum, the first recorded use of skis on Mount Washington was by a Dr. Wiskott of Breslau, Germany, who skied on the mountain in 1899, while the first skier in Tuckerman was John S. Apperson of Schenectady, New York, in April 1914.

Image gallery

The headwall in late March 2009; several skiers can be seen just above its lip	Tuckerman Ravine viewed from the Boott Spur Trail	Aerial view of Tuckerman Ravine and Mt. Washington from southeast	Boott Spur rising above Tuckerman Ravine in late fall
A view down the run "Right Gully," one of the easier runs in Tuckerman Ravine	The runs "Sluice" and "Right Gully" as seen from the base of the ravine

See also

• Presidential Range
• White Mountain National Forest
• List of New Hampshire-related topics
• Tuckerman Brewing Company

References

This article includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (April 2009)

1. ^ "Routes for Tuckerman Ravine (The Bowl)". SkiCentral. http://www.timefortuckerman.com/routes.html. Retrieved 2008-04-23. 

External links

• Time For Tuckerman site — community and information site for extreme skiing on Tuckerman Ravine
• Official USFS website of Tuckerman area
• "For Daredevil Skiing, the Season Is Now" The New York Times (May 25, 2007)
• "Long Way to the Top" April 2007 article on spring skiing at Tuckerman