Mats Roing
New member
Sunday April 6
Players:
Frodo
Arm
Dr.Dasypodidae
Giggy
Woody
Annalisa
Stev-o
Jeff Stone
Mats
Most of us went up Saturday already to be in pool position for the gullies the next morning. Annalisa hosted in Gorham for half the team. On the way up I also ran into Meb, Little Sister and Drewski coming out of the woodwork on route 16 after negotiations with the Carter administration. I gave them a ride back to 19-mile Brook trail. Great to see them as always and they are always smiling and happy in the Whites
The planned start at 7am in Pinkham Notch was slightly delayed due to someone had to call AAA to get the keys out of the car Giggy, Woody and Annalisa got a little itchy so they headed up to take on Yale Gully in Huntington. Frodo, Jeff, Arm, Stev-o and me met up with Dr. D and his three students who were doing snow analysis in Tuckerman. It was getting a bit warm by the time we got going up to Tuckerman and the gaping hole his students had been digging. Frodo and I jumped in and dug the last part down to the ground. Then the scientist took over measured temps at different depth levels etc. The snow depth there at 3,800 feet were 223 cm or appr 7 1/2 feet. Closer to the ground it was -2 C and close to the top it was 0C or maybe even +1. Top layer pretty solid so we felt good about heading to the ravines. we decided to go on Central in Huntington.
Sun was shining when we arrived at the base of Huntington and there were parties on most gullies. We tried to identify which group was Giggy, Woody and Annalisa. We were sitting by the big rock at the bottom of the snowfield when a big "detonation" was heard. A big chunk of ice the sice of a small bus broke off on the left side of Yale. It started to move downhill. Dr. D says after a few seconds: "I think it's gonna reach us". We ran for cover as the big chunks accelerated down the slope. One piece stopped 10 feet in front of Arm's backpack, a 700-lbs (estimated) piece stopped 20 feet on our left......a monster sized one continued passed us into the small trees on our right and stopped after demolishing some of the trees. What we didn't know was that Woody, Giggy and Annalisa was the group of three who not too long before had passed to the right of the big piece that broke off.
After rethinking our plans, we decided to head up Central Gully as originally planned since there were no visible objective dangers and avalanche risk was low, both from posted signs and the tests we witnessed earlier by Dr. D. and his students. Dr. D decided to head back to Pinkham at this point. The rest of us moved up 400 vertical feet to where a couple of climbers had been waiting for another couple of climbers to move up Pinnacle Gully. In was busy in the ravines today. We roped up in two teams. Jeff Stone and me on one rope and Arm, Stev-o and Frodo and the other. Jeff and I switched leads on the first rope while Arm was in charge the whole time on the second rope. The conditions were great and we enjoyed the rays of sunshine before heading into the shade behind Pinnacle Buttress. The fog rolled in pretty soon and with it colder air. We did running bealys so we moved up pretty quick and after 2 1/2 hours both rope teams were standing at the top at 5,500 feet.....it was windy here and it was 4:30pm and motivation for summiting Washington was on the low side so we continued to Lions Head trail and went down the main drag where Giggy shortly caught up to us to our surprise. Yale, which they went up are a bit harder than Central Gully. Soon Annalisa and Woody showed up and we went down together to Pinkham and exchanged gear and ropes we carried for each other. We departed in our different directions.
Thanks Annalisa for hosting Saturday night and one of these days we need to get you a username on vftt
Another wicked awesome weekend in the Whites. Lessons learned from this weekend: Always look up for what may come down We knew that already but it was greatly re-emphasized on this trip.
I believe Stevo and Frodo took some pictures.......
Players:
Frodo
Arm
Dr.Dasypodidae
Giggy
Woody
Annalisa
Stev-o
Jeff Stone
Mats
Most of us went up Saturday already to be in pool position for the gullies the next morning. Annalisa hosted in Gorham for half the team. On the way up I also ran into Meb, Little Sister and Drewski coming out of the woodwork on route 16 after negotiations with the Carter administration. I gave them a ride back to 19-mile Brook trail. Great to see them as always and they are always smiling and happy in the Whites
The planned start at 7am in Pinkham Notch was slightly delayed due to someone had to call AAA to get the keys out of the car
Giggy, Woody and Annalisa got a little itchy so they headed up to take on Yale Gully in Huntington. Frodo, Jeff, Arm, Stev-o and me met up with Dr. D and his three students who were doing snow analysis in Tuckerman. It was getting a bit warm by the time we got going up to Tuckerman and the gaping hole his students had been digging. Frodo and I jumped in and dug the last part down to the ground. Then the scientist took over measured temps at different depth levels etc. The snow depth there at 3,800 feet were 223 cm or appr 7 1/2 feet. Closer to the ground it was -2 C and close to the top it was 0C or maybe even +1. Top layer pretty solid so we felt good about heading to the ravines. we decided to go on Central in Huntington.Sun was shining when we arrived at the base of Huntington and there were parties on most gullies. We tried to identify which group was Giggy, Woody and Annalisa. We were sitting by the big rock at the bottom of the snowfield when a big "detonation" was heard. A big chunk of ice the sice of a small bus broke off on the left side of Yale. It started to move downhill. Dr. D says after a few seconds: "I think it's gonna reach us". We ran for cover as the big chunks accelerated down the slope. One piece stopped 10 feet in front of Arm's backpack, a 700-lbs (estimated) piece stopped 20 feet on our left......a monster sized one continued passed us into the small trees on our right and stopped after demolishing some of the trees. What we didn't know was that Woody, Giggy and Annalisa was the group of three who not too long before had passed to the right of the big piece that broke off.
After rethinking our plans, we decided to head up Central Gully as originally planned since there were no visible objective dangers and avalanche risk was low, both from posted signs and the tests we witnessed earlier by Dr. D. and his students. Dr. D decided to head back to Pinkham at this point. The rest of us moved up 400 vertical feet to where a couple of climbers had been waiting for another couple of climbers to move up Pinnacle Gully. In was busy in the ravines today. We roped up in two teams. Jeff Stone and me on one rope and Arm, Stev-o and Frodo and the other. Jeff and I switched leads on the first rope while Arm was in charge the whole time on the second rope. The conditions were great and we enjoyed the rays of sunshine before heading into the shade behind Pinnacle Buttress. The fog rolled in pretty soon and with it colder air. We did running bealys so we moved up pretty quick and after 2 1/2 hours both rope teams were standing at the top at 5,500 feet.....it was windy here and it was 4:30pm and motivation for summiting Washington was on the low side so we continued to Lions Head trail and went down the main drag where Giggy shortly caught up to us to our surprise. Yale, which they went up are a bit harder than Central Gully. Soon Annalisa and Woody showed up and we went down together to Pinkham and exchanged gear and ropes we carried for each other. We departed in our different directions.
Thanks Annalisa for hosting Saturday night and one of these days we need to get you a username on vftt
Another wicked awesome weekend in the Whites. Lessons learned from this weekend: Always look up for what may come down
We knew that already but it was greatly re-emphasized on this trip.I believe Stevo and Frodo took some pictures.......
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