Skiing – Gulf of Slides

Fine back-country Skiing without the crowds.

Mid-winter skiing on Mount Washington is always a crap-shoot. So the beat the odds you have to go out a bunch of days to get a few good ones. So, when I got a call from Brian Johnston on his day off, I jumped at the chance. Late February is prime time to ski in New Hampshire and it was late February. As usual we did not get an early start, bright blue skies and sunshine make it hard to rush the day. To get into the Gulf of Slides park at Pinkham Notch and follow the signs towards the south. Before heading up it’s worth checking out the snow conditions in the area with some of the locals or at the Mount Washington Avalanche Center. They don’t forecast in the Gulf of Slides, but the information will give you an rough idea on conditions. It’s always painful to have to turn back due to sketchy avalanche conditions, but far less painful than digging out a friend. We skinned up the trail, in an hour or so, under building clouds.  Most of the trial winds it’s way up through a spruce forest, so there’s little or no wind. Like clockwork the sun went out behind the bank of clouds just as we got to the start of the boot tracks. The good news was that there was plenty of stable snow for skiing, only 3 other people in sight with lots of daylight left. At the north end of the gulf there are several “fingers” which are old slide paths cut through the forest. All of them had a smooth white coating of snow in them. Finally, some skiing after all that skinning, hiking and sweating.

Photos: Joe Klementovich

A few more runs and less and less sunshine brought my legs to their limit. There is more to explore to the South, longer runs, bigger snowfields, but we decided to save those for another day. The ski out is a bit of an adventure as well. The trail in was cut back when the Civil Conservation Corp was looking for things to do. In the 30’s no one was thinking about backcountry skiing. With that in mind take care not to pick up too much speed on the way out..