Ski Snowboard 2020-2021

[Rambunctous]

Dalbello boots have warm long lasting liners. You should like them. Welcome back to skiing.

[wiggeywackyo]

https://www.amazon.com/Best-Backcoun.../dp/1934028142
https://skithewhites.com/
https://www.rastavt.org/
https://granitebackcountryalliance.org/

For gear: pick your flavor of splitboard, every mfg makes one now. I am very partial to Karakoram bindings but other brands have made big improvements over the years, just avoid a "pin" setup (old Voile and Spark were pin design). I've finally settled on the Burton poles. All the skins work, the high traction G3 with Spark tail clips are my flavor. I picked up a set of Burton Tourist boots but have yet to use them, normal boots are fine but they will take a little bit of a beating. A pair of shell pants with full side zips are worth the investment. I picked up a set of Arcteryx on ebay for like $150 and I've had them for 9 years now and they're still perfect. Shells and technical layers are the jam, its all about regulating heat - insulated layers usually result in it being way too hot. I just keep a puff in my bag.

If you want to do it on a budget...find a used setup and run what ya brung for the rest. My friend Andrew Runs Ski The Whites and it looks like they rent splitboards - probably the best dude you could ever meet that will have a shitload of knowledge if you stop by.

Oh, and Tuckermans is NOT easy. The amount of people that get seriously injured or die there is too many. Even the most experienced. Its just a flat out dangerous spot and you should tread lightly. I've hiked in there a million times as Mount Washington has a TON to offer, but only actually skied tucks a handful of times due to weather or conditions. Its no joke.

Thanks for the information. In fact, I may have asked you the same thing in the past.

It seems I am late to the party as far as gear is concerned. Every place I've called is sold out, especially bindings. I guess everyone had the same idea this year. Will definitely check out STW.

Interesting about Tuckermans.. That was high up on my list of places to hit this year. I'm not sure where my skill level stacks up but my confidence oscillates between irrational levels and imposter syndrome.

[JettaJayGLS]

Thanks for the information. In fact, I may have asked you the same thing in the past.

It seems I am late to the party as far as gear is concerned. Every place I've called is sold out, especially bindings. I guess everyone had the same idea this year. Will definitely check out STW.

Interesting about Tuckermans.. That was high up on my list of places to hit this year. I'm not sure where my skill level stacks up but my confidence oscillates between irrational levels and imposter syndrome.

Its incredibly steep and the snow is never good. If the snow is good, the avy danger is really high.
Most Tucks deaths are from falling into the waterfalls under the snowpack, never to be seen again.

[JettaJayGLS]

Skied Cannon Sunday. It was pretty terrible.

Toured Tuckerbrook yesterday, pretty darn rocky but some good turns were made.

Some friends went to Mount Washington over the weekend and it looked like there were good lines to be had, but I believe its hike in/out to the Ravine due to lack of snow on the Sherb.

[SteveM]

Considering the lack of natural snow and that warm weekend rain event, the condition at Shawnee are excellent. Today will be day 9 this season for me.

Cruising around for a few hours and then popping off the skis 100 steps from my front door can’t be beat.

[OreoGaborio]

pic

CARLAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

[JettaJayGLS]

CARLAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

She turns ten in February

[snwbrdr435]

Finally started getting snow.
Snowpack as usual is fucked, with a persistent weak layer that will probably be sticking around till things begin to consolidate in march/april. Stil lots of fun/scary terrain to ride. So far we have no fatalities in the immediate area, but there have been several burials locally one of which resulted in a short haul/heli evac to Jackson. Poor skin track choices/ terrain choices led to that one, dug a pit in 6' of snow then continued up and triggered a slide that propagated in a 3' deep section above them and took them out as they were still skinning up. We have had several major wind events in the last month one of which was yesterday with gusts all day between 60-80 mph.




Quick skin up to one of the down the road spots.



Local spot that is extremely popular and will have a number of skier triggered slides once we get our next snow fall

[JettaJayGLS]

That skin track looks like a really poor choice. Is it as steep as the photo looks? That is a longgggg time to be in a danger zone. Better have some confidence in making your switch backs!

[snwbrdr435]

That skin track looks like a really poor choice. Is it as steep as the photo looks? That is a longgggg time to be in a danger zone. Better have some confidence in making your switch backs!

Its not quite as steep as it looks in that first photo but....its 37 degrees.

[obsolete]

What would be a better approach? Doesn't really look like theres one that's not keeping you exposed.

[snwbrdr435]

What would be a better approach? Doesn't really look like theres one that's not keeping you exposed.

Hard to say without having my feet on the ground there. Route finding is an art in itself, that said i would have stayed closer to the ridgeline like they started out. Why they cut so far over into the middle of the face i do not know, but is not a choice I would have made.

[JettaJayGLS]

Hard to say without having my feet on the ground there. Route finding is an art in itself, that said i would have stayed closer to the ridgeline like they started out. Why they cut so far over into the middle of the face i do not know, but is not a choice I would have made.

That was exactly my thought. Once they got past that hump (about the third of the way over) I would have cut back up and zig zagged my way up and get to the ridge ASAP. But who knows, it may have popped right there too.
Then I looked at it a bit more, and maybe they never intended to go to the ridge. Or perhaps they were going 1 at a time to avoid overlapping zig zags and burying each other.
Its tough to arm-chair quarter back this and I know nothing other than some personal education on the matter.

Looking at the first photo, you can see it popped right on the convex portion of it. As soon as they rounded the peak of that little spine it went.

[snwbrdr435]

Judging from the aftermath, it looks like half the group was past the convex part and then it got triggered. Something I have started to recognize as an issue this year is that is seems like slides propagate easier on thinner sections of facets than thick. The south side of the resort had a smaller faceted layer and they got most of that to slide already with control work. The north side had a thicker layer and is now ( last two weeks) began to slide with explosives/ more weight on it. Im thinking that since they triggered this in a section with less snow that this maybe could have been a factor..... but I am 100% armchair quarterbacking this, and didnt sleep in a holiday in last night, although i did have a dog sleep on my face.

We now have a surface hoar layer buried under about a foot of very wind affected snow. A solid system is moving in this weekend and should produce which could mean when it turns blue on Tuesday we see some more burials of people getting after it... hope not. The resort had propagated an 8ft crown on one of their routes today. Windslab that they left sit for a day and then set off with some control work. I am guessing it was the one louder pop i heard from my place this a.m. that sent it, always nice to have morning coffee with a side of explosives.

[snwbrdr435]

This was open terrain last week, had a few decent turns, wind three days ago loaded the hell out of it and ski patrol triggered this while doing control work. 8ft Crown