With multiple freeze-thaw cycles, the snowpack was much safer from avalanches and was predictably soft with mid day temps and sun. This AMC trip started off with 15 people signed up and on the waiting list, but to my shock, all but 1 person cancelled. Our small but mighty group of 4 may have been a blessing though, as it opened up more options since we all had experience skiing the presies.

Our initial plan was to ski Tuckerman Ravine and then double up with Hillman’s Highway, but the multitude climbing the Tuckerman Ravine Trail (TRT) made us rethink our ski destination. Instead, we used Hillman’s Highway as an approach to cross over to the Gulf of Slides (GOS). After topping out of Hillman’s, we made the alpine traverse over, targeting gully 3 because it’s the closest. The snowpack took a huge hit from last weekend, with lots of warmth and rain.  There was much less snow from my recon last weekend. Then, I was able to ski all the gullies, which were top-to-bottom in.

So, we scrambled down through small rocks, big rocks, punchy snow and thick trees. If you look closely at the treed-in picture, you can make out a couple sets of skis! After some type 2 fun, we guided straight into Gully #3, thanks to my past GPS track.  The area we left, Hillman’s and Tucks, was crowded with more people than you’d find at a resort on a powder day.  But there was not a soul in sight in the Gulf of Slides! Skiing fresh corn with no hooligans in sight was well-earned –  and more earning was needed to ski out.  At the top, we had to do some slide-slipping and jump turning to navigate the narrow, melted out band, then got some awesome turns.   Halfway down we hit a mini cascade of water that spanned the entire gully. Not a problem for this group though – we were able to keep our skis on by skirting into some dense trees and creatively picking our way back to the gully. We then got some more great corn gully turns, hit some more streams at the bottom and picked our way out carefully, still with skis on the whole way. We got about 20% down GOS’s approach trail before taking off our skis near the intersection with the Graham trail. Then we sneakered-up and continued on foot down to the cars.

A great, creative, corny day to cap our last AMC backcountry ski trip for the season!