If you should ever fall from your figurative horse, you’ve one choice: get back in the saddle!  After my dynafiddle disaster last spring I was in bad need of a successful big mountain ski trip, and with dubious weather looming, Rob and I decided to strike at Left Gully while we could.

With the avy hazard recently dropped from Considerable to Moderate, we decided to take a cautious ascent up, with a fallback plan of the Low risk Right Gully runout.  We got into the bowl and were greeted by a party of three who had just skied the bottom 25% or so of the LG.  They gave us the skinny on the snowpack: a thin windslab over some lighter snow.  As long as it didn’t become a thick windslab over this light snow we should be ok.  We booted up until we started to encounter thicker slab and became concerned that there would be no way to avoid the heavily windloaded aspects found just below the hourglass choke point.  From here we enjoyed two solid runs.  Check it out!

Gnar

Breaking Trail

Always a dramatic shot…

Locked and Loaded!

Dropping!

Charging like it’s goin’ out of style…

Slashing some pow!

The money shot!

I also took the opportunity to familiarize myself with my new TNF ABS Patrol 24.  Like my old TNF Patrol 24, and my current Patrol 34, it carries really well.  The Hinch System is pretty great, load is well distributed and provides comfort for a afternoon of dragging heavy gear uphill.  As expected the capacity leaves a bit to be desired.  It’s not nearly as big as my Patrol 34.  Conspicuously lacking any reasonable stowage spot are such things as crampons, emergency bivy gear and first aid equipment.  I did manage to fit my new Black Diamond Absolute Mitts, and a Mountain Hardwear Compressor jacket in there.  On the skin up, I could easily strap my jacket and helmet to the outside of the pack.  In short: great pack, but maybe not for big technical days.  It probably makes the most sense for gnarly sidecountry, and easily accessed backcountry in sketchy conditions.

Gear List:

There’s nothing like some quality time on the slopes to celebrate the holidays, so my family and I trekked up to the Northern Whites to see what pow could be slain.  The conditions were less than epic, but for some crazy reason, none of us had made it onto snow before now, so the tame conditions were deemed tolerable.

I personally was stoked to be bringing my new DPS Wailer 99s out for their maiden voyage.  I finally ponied up the cash for last year’s Pure Carbon, Flex 2 in the 192.  These are expected to be my new daily driver and touring setup; a decision motivated by two separate debacles suffered at the tail end of last season (see Dynafiddle and Daily Driver).  Alas, Santa has yet to deliver Kelly a matching pair of Nina 99s, and she fell back on her trusty Rossi BC 90s – fine for the resort, but decidedly lacking for the backcountry or sidecountry.

Anyway, Kelly and I rolled up to the resort amid a quick but intense post Christmas snow squall and were able to chase freshies around the mountain for the afternoon.  The following day, my parents and sister rallied with us and we continued to get some post storm soft snow.  For the final day, Kelly and I grew desperate, as the resort grew tracked out, and we started investigating ‘alternative’ routes…  Here’s a quick look at the slayage!

Storm Day!

All smiles and ready for action (see the smiles?)

Kelly shreds (if only these were Nina 99s…)

Chase cam on a quick pitch

Runout through a winter wonderland.

Tara, layin’ ’em over.

Mom! Not half bad for a math teacher!

Dad still has it! All those racing days at Andover High pay dividends…

Tara continues to shred.

Searching for some side stashes…

Air time!

Kelly rides out of the sunset.

Overall, the weekend was a great start to the season, leaving us hungry for more.  I’m pretty sure everyone already knew the Wailer 99s are the consummate Rocky Mountain shredder, but it turns out they can rail east coast hardpack like it’s goin’ out of style as easily as a pair of FIS race stock slalom boards.

We wrapped up the holiday by running some recon on the slopes of Mount Washington, but found conditions less than ideal and settled for a day hike instead.  We spent our time poking around Huntington and the Harvard cabin, speculating on how to make the most of a weekend on the mountain.