Skiing Huntington...

[DMC]

Some guy was trying to tell me that he planned on skiing Huntington...
I told him I doubt you could... Cause of ice and rock... And diagonal lines and wot not...
But I was talking outta my a$$ - I'm really not %100 sure...

Can you actually ski HR?

[RR]

Can you actually ski HR?
I've seen pictures of folks skiing Diagonal Gully....and, no, I can't see myself intentionally skiing Diagonal Gully.

[Tommy T]

Some guy was trying to tell me that he planned on skiing Huntington...
I told him I doubt you could...
Can you actually ski HR?

Sure you can ski some of the gullies. South is frequently skiable at 35 - 40 degrees with nothing more than a small band (10 feet vertical ??) of 50 degree ice at the constriction at the bottom. Central is skiable if it is really full of snow, otherwise there is about 20 vertical feet of 60 degree ice in the middle.

I've ridden both of those on snowboard.

Escape Hatch is usually snow only and is lower angle (30-35 degrees ??). North Gully is also reported to be skiable, but it does have a steep ice bulge about half way up that would take a lot of snow to cover.

The Harvard Cabin is a good base for exploring Huntington.

This year, with the low snow, there was a lot of ice in all of the Huntington Gullies. I doubt if there is anything skiable over there right now.

Tommy T.

[Castlerock]

I've never been, but I remember in the big snow year, a couple of years ago, The Egan bros. "extreme" tours was advertising the options of taking folks to Tucks and Huntingtons

Tommy, from the bottom, do you ski out, or climb back out and over into Tucks or maybe into Raymond's Cataract?

[el-bagr]

When I've skied HR, I've always descended out the bottom of the ravine onto the HR Trail. There is a boulder garden to navigate (almost in a position parallel to TR's Little Headwall), but the descent below there is fairly straightforward. While I have skied both South and Escape in HR (and a partial on Central), as well as Raymond, I have never done both in a day. That would be a good challenge -- harder, I think, than an Oakes Gulf/Boott Spur Gully double-combo.

[Tommy T]

Tommy, from the bottom, do you ski out, or climb back out and over into Tucks or maybe into Raymond's Cataract?

My few trips to ride in Huntington have been dedicated to to Huntington and have involved going in from the Harvard Cabin, climbing the intended route and hiking out the same way. I'm a much better boarder than I am telemark skier and have never skied into HR. After ice climbing trips in HR I have descended by hiking/climbing down South or North or by hiking across the Alpine Garden to the Lion's Head Trail. Any of the right side routes in Tucks would be accessable that way if you can find them. I have had occassion to look for some of them when coming off the snowfields and have found that they are not easy to locate unless you happen to find a boot track going up out of one.

Until reading el-bagr's note, it never occurred to me that ravine of Raymond's Cataract was other than a miserable bushwack through krummholtz. There's one for a summer recon and maybe a new line to ride next winter. Thanks el-bagr!!

Tommy T.

[jdw]

Bagr & Tommy,

Following up on RR's note - ever check out Diagonal (visual or hands-on )? Route descriptions (NE Ice guide) indicate a snow climb. From the below it looks like a reasonable escape skier's left over the top of the Harvard Slab. Would appear that a decent snow year would help on the exit, too.

http://www.tuckerman.org/photos/huntington/020104%20Harvard%20Bulge%20and%20Diagonal.jpg :)

[Tommy T]

Bagr & Tommy,

Following up on RR's note - ever check out Diagonal (visual or hands-on )?

No, I have not ridden or climbed Diagonal. However, the reason I never climbed Diagonal was that it is not considered much of an ice climb and was rated at levels below what I was looking for. That, of course, may suggest that it is ridable. I have the impression that it is pretty narrow.

Tommy T.

[jshefftz]

I’ve skied the fan in Huntington, then taken the fire road out - nice mellow ski. Some of the climbing gullies make for great ski routes, snow conditions permitting (big caveat).
Raymond’s Cataract would be a great route were it not for the ice bulge that almost always forms at the bottom - bring your rappeling gear!