Avalanche Forecast
The Mount Washington Avalanche Center provides avalanche forecasts for Tuckerman and Huntington Ravines.
Ski It If You Dare
It’s a three-mile, three-hour hike, and about 2,500 vertical feet, carrying skis, boots, and full winter gear, just to get there. Once you arrive, the headwall seems like a 90-degree drop. Why the heck would anyone want to ski there?
We’ve been up in Tuck’s a couple dozen times during the spring skiing season — April to July-ish, depending on the year — and we seem to go back every year. I’m not crazy enough to ski the damn thing, but I love watching the maniacs, mostly expert skiers, go wild.
3 milesto reach the ravine
2,500 ftof climbing just to get there
April–Julyspring skiing season, some years
Crazybut magical
The Ravine
Crampons, Ice Ax, and Semi-Controlled Chaos
I’ll suit up with crampons, ice ax, and the rest of the winter gear, then climb up the headwall or one of the snow gullies. If conditions are right, my favorite run is to just take a dive and let her rip, sliding out of control in full slippery windgear, practicing self-arrest and semi-controlled glissading on the way down.
Too many times I’ve picked up too much speed and gone into a rip-roaring, tumbling free-for-all. The old body always comes home battered, bruised, and hurting.
One good weekend at Tuckerman Ravine and you’ll return year after year.
Snow Tubers and Lunch Rocks
The current craze is the insanity of the snow-tubers. Numerous daredevils with all sorts of sliding tubes climb up as high as they dare, then prepare to launch into space. All the spectators hanging out at the lunch rocks near the bottom — about 2,500-plus crazies the last time I was there on 5/1/99 — are yelling “higher, higher,” no matter how high the tuber prepares to launch from.
Some of those guys are so good that they can reach terminal velocity, launch into the air for several meters, do a triple somersault, somehow regain control, and finish the run while gaining speed all the way down. Often they are going so fast at the bottom of the bowl that they have to bail to avoid hitting the rocks, trees, or stream.
I used to do the plastic sled runs all the time, but on Mondays I was always so bruised and walking funny at work that the old body finally said, “Let the young guys get the standing ovations.”
I usually camp up there after a long day, either down at the Hermit Lake Shelters or somewhere above the bowl near the summit. My favorite thing is to dig a snow cave with my snowshoes for protection and spend the night in the cave. It helps to be a bit crazy, but it sure is fun, and it's my kind of crazy! A wee bit of brandy always helps!
Above the Lip
The beauty of climbing the headwall and topping out above the lip is indescribable. Some of my best memories of late winter and early spring are days spent wandering around up on the plateau, just below the summit cone, after scaling a 55-degree gully, followed by a standing glissade down another gully, then doing it again.
If you have ever been in the ravine at the end of a spring day, when everyone has gone for the evening, and watched the full moon rise in the east over the Carter Range, you will never, ever forget it.
Tuckerman Ravine is truly a magical place.
Check Conditions Before You Go
This is not a casual ski hill. Tuckerman Ravine sits on Mount Washington, where weather changes fast, avalanche danger can be serious, and a fall in the wrong place can have real consequences. Check the forecast, avalanche bulletin, and current conditions before heading up.
Summit Conditions
Current observations from the Mount Washington Observatory.
Higher Summits Forecast
The forecast that matters most before heading above treeline.
Webcams
Live and still-image views from Mount Washington and surrounding mountains.
When the Forecast Lines Up
If the weather ever forecasts three sunny days in a row in May — or June, or April some years — for the White Mountains of New Hampshire, head up to Tuckerman Ravine on Mount Washington.
One good weekend and you’ll return year after year.