Is Great Gulf still in?

[<Skeezyman>]

I was wondering if after this latest warm-up if Great Gulf was still doable.I was up there last year in late May and it was fantastic, but each year is different. Any info would be great, and if anybody has been up to the ChicChocs in Quebec recently info on that would be great. I've hit all the major ravines already this year except the Great Gulf and I hope time has not run out. If you want to e-mail me directly my address is Skeezyman@aol.com. Well let's pray for a cold wet May.

[targheehucker]

Da ChicChocs rule!!! they are like tucks on roids... When you thinking about going up there??

[BCSKIER]

I was wondering about the great gulf myself... Apparently due to the crappy warm weather, Dodges has just about had it. Probably after all this rain, it's going to be all rock. Hopefully the great gulf has held up though, being kind of north facing and all. Anyway, just trying to bump this one up to get some kind of response.

[KC]

BCSKIER: On monday, I saw two skiers do Dodge's. Though there has been rain since then, I cant imagine one day would make that much of a difference.

[BCSKIER]

Thanks KC, but The Great Gulf has been in our minds for a while now and I think we are going to go there Saturday, depending on the avy report on Friday. Skeezyman, any idea when you'll be up there? We don't have a set plan yet, as far as arrival time and stuff... I'd like to start hiking in the dark, before sunrise, but that depends. Anybody know when the sun starts shining on the Gulf?

[<Jerm>]

BCSKIER, it should be fine. Oakes and Monroe Brook were still in two weeks ago with a decent snowpack. GG generally lasts longer than them. We talked to a skier that day who had skinned up Jewel (this was the sun before Easter) and looked down Pipeline and Airplane, both were well covered. He didnt ski them because it was too cold that day and most everythign north facing was set up all day.

What side are you accessing it from? We'll likely be attempting Dry River Gulf on sat or sun, with Oakes as a backup if there has been too much snow loss since two weeks ago, when it still looked plenty skiable. If you find yourself in the Marshfield Station lot, look for the blue Ford Ranger with an Alta sticker and stop by for a beer.

[BCSKIER]

Jerm, Marshfield is definitely where we will begin. Our plan is to take the Jewel Trail to My Clay. I am kind of discouraged by the forcast though. It's calling for a 30% chance of rain on Saturday. That could make our decision a little tougher. What do you think of that forcast? I know that last weekend, my buddy checked the forcast that morning and it wasn't right. Atleast 10 degrees warmer than expected, and blue skies. I understand that you don't know until you get there, but... If we wait another week, the auto road is supposed to be open!!!

[<Jerm>]

I'm more concerned about avy danger this weekend. It's supposed to snow tonigth and posibly this weekend on top of a recent rain crust. That's a bad bad combination. Rain wont help. Watch and wait I guess...

[BCSKIER]

With a low and Moderate (like today), what would you do? I think we would head up ourselves and check the conditions ourselves. GG is not assessed, but I assume you could base your decision off of the tucks avy danger. Then do your own "checking" once you get there. How much snow have they received? How much more is predicted?

[<Jerm>]

It doesnt take much to shoot things through the roof. It's at low w/pockets of moderate right now but there is a rain crust, so any new precip will not likely bond well with that. If the summit gets any more than 2 or 3 inches of snow and it stays below freezing, I wouldn't ski anything above treeline over 20 degrees in steepness, which rules out pretty much everything worth hiking to. If it stays calms that wont be a big deal, but calm and mt washignton are rarely seen in the same sentence.

On the other hand if it's just a moderate bit of rain and temps doing go too crazy it should remain relatively safe... wait and see.

[RR]

We have "windy" in the forecast....watch your topknots!

[Castlerock]

I wish you luck with the weather. Please let us know how it is. I'm planning for GG on the 3rd or 4th..

[BCSKIER]

Looks like the weather may be a bit rough. I doubt that we're going still. We're probably going to have to settle for next weekend. The auto road is also scheduled to open next weekend. The one question I have is what about arrival/departure times. Does anyone know what time you can have a car up there? Is it advised to just hike up so that you don't get locked in up there?

[targheehucker]

usually when the auto road opens, it is only to the halfway point, just about treeline. they wont open the top until it is totally free of snow and ice, usually late may early june

[Castlerock]

We were thinking auto road as well. The mt-washington.com (autoroad) site says they plan to open to treeline. Anyone know what altitude that is. 5K or so?. Isn't it more than half way up the road? I bet that is an easy walk to Airlplane from there. (easier than from Pinkham or the Cog)

[<skeezyman>]

Glad to see so many interested in the Great Gulf. I had hoped to go this weekend (4/26) but rainfall of biblical proportions have killed that idea. Sounds like the mountain received a mixed bag with mostly rain. The Gulf is very dangerous place with new snow espescially if the snow is wet. Lots of doglegs and cliffs to be pushed off if the chute your skiing lets loose. With that being said I plan to go up from the Marshfield Station the first decent sunny day this week . I usually go up the Jewell trail for the most direct access. Iknow the Auto road is going to open soon but I thought that they didn't let people park up there for any length of time due to space restraints. Anyway if it is only open to treeline that is not much help. If I'm wrong about this let me know, thanks.

[Castlerock]

The space restraint is a good point. I am going to call the Road and find out. I'd love to get up during the week but will be on the west coast. I will watch the board to look for a report...
Mike

[<Jerm>]

GO NOW! If you can...
I can pretty much guarantee GG will be both safe and reaaaaaally good skiing today and tomorrow. We ended up skiing Hilmans and Duchess on Sunday and they were both perfect. Their aspect and pitch are similar to GG so I cant imagine it being much different.

[BCSKIER]

In response to Jerm's post there, I am feeling a bit under the weather... Unfortunately, I think I may have a case of the 24 hour bug. Does anyone else have this? Especially after reading Jerm's post?

[skicdave]

Dr Dave here...

Do you have a sore throat yet bcskier?

If you get that early, then you might have what a lot of peeps had (including myself) which is that dreaded deadbeat 3 week flu. It drags on and on and on and on. The sore throat is followed by endless coughing and hacking.

Luckily I was pretty much cured before our Easter weekend.

If no sore throat, maybe your safe.

Then again.... have you been to an airport lately??? In this case, I'll spell the bad word out backwards here... S R A S :eek:

[M@]

"Time for Great Gulf" website?

I did some research, and found a little info on the Great Gulf, but I've never been. Can someone who has give a little info on it, knowing I've been to tuckerman a bunch of times, so know the deal there, but am looking to explore something else. Are the runs about the same as tuckerman? How long is the hike? I seem to gather there is access from the toll road, do you need to be on the top of the toll road? Can you ski out? Or back to the toll road?

Sorry so many questions in one post. Looking for "The Great Gulf Primer for those expierenced with Tuckerman"

There may be a case of "SARS" here: Skiing At Ravine Syndrome.

M@

[BCSKIER]

I apologize... For the confusion... I don't have SARS, I have just a simple sick(of working)ness. I guess I forgot that sarcasm is impossible to READ. It's soo nice out and I just know it's one of those days that everyone talks about up there. I have experienced a perfect blue sky day up there once, and I'd like to re-create it without burning more vacation time or waiting for a nice weekend (a lot of the snow will be gone by then). Every nice day we have is just another day of me starring out the window, hoping that it's still cold up there. So, again sorry for the confusion, I was basically just saying that I might have to play hookey tomorrow and hit it while it's hot!!!

[Mike Robinson]

BCSKIER - Are you serious about going up there tomorrow? I could be lured out myself (hack/cough) and would welcome the company if you would care to hook up.

[BCSKIER]

Mk, let me do some work here (on the boss), but heck yeah I am serious. So, basically depending on what my workload is for tomorrow, depends on whether or not I can go. It looks pretty good right now, but we'll see. Where in NH are you? Interested in the Great Gulf? Ever been?

[Mike Robinson]

I'm located in Lee.

Never been to GG. Tucks and GOs on the resume though. Have all the necessary equipment.

And you?

[<skeezyman>]

If weather holds I'm going to GG on Wed.. Going up from Marshfield Station up Jewwel trail. Look for a green/silver Chevy at around 9:00( 3 hr. or so drive from Burl. Vt.) GG in my opinion is as scary as Dodge's/Duchess and maybe Center Headwall in low snow conditions.(maybe scarier because you come in from the top sight unseen at least when accessed from the west.).E-mail address is skeezyman@aol.com if anybody gets this in time and is interested.

[jshefftz]

M@, GG is real backcountry skiing, much unlike Tucks. I would not suggest going there unless you have at least some basic skills in routefinding and avy assessment, plus lightweight ski mountaineering gear (skins, crampons, ice axe, etc.). When the auto road opens to the summit, Airplane Gully is easily accessible, but until then, GG is a pretty serious trip.
Here's an old story I wrote, which except for one avy-related typo, plus the fact that I actually skied Activator instead of Pipeline, is still fairly helpful (and oddly enough if the first google hit on "ski great gulf"):
http://www.telemarktips.com/GreatGulf.html
The David Goodman backcountry skiing book also has some useful info.