Hey Rick, where ya been?

Friday night: Been a great vacation week of skiing and chores at home. It's late, and I'm tired. There are plans to hook up with my brother-in-law and his son Brad who are coming over from Vermont to spend the weekend in Tucks. Great weather forcast...you can't pass up a sunny, spring day this time of year. Then Rick called to say he was heading north on I-95 with his AT gear and he'd pick me up in the morning at 6:15. So westside skiing is the call and sorry Scotty for missing you and Brad and your two-thousand friends in Tuckerman bowl.

Rick-VIP parking at the Cog

We got there early enough to get a front row parking spot in the deserted Cog parking lot, and were on the trail by 8.

Buried cable ROW left, Cog track right

Skinning up after about fifty people had passed us, I reassured Rick, "No problem. I packed a headlamp."

Burt Ravine

We left the Cog at the Westside trail, measured our stamina, and decided to pass on a run in Burt.





                                                   

West Snowfield

A look at the West Snowfield convinced us to head  to the top of that, taking a turn toward Ammonoosuc, Oakes, and Monroe Brook areas.


Skin track heading back up to Monroe






The fields above the Ammonoosuc steeps were chock-a-block full of snow and made for great touring.

 


Mount Monroe, Monroe Brook


 




I was careful not to repeat the route of a few days earlier. This time we dropped into a chute just north of the main, which spit us out into Monroe Brook about a quarter of the way down, and above the prominent slide path shown lower right in this picture.






Smooth corn all the way to the throat where we hit some pretty bumpy avilanche deposition for about a thousand feet.

Monroe Brook

Rick is pleased, doesn't what's below; a narrow track that skirts the rim of a swirling pool of ice cold water. We stayed out of the drink, beat the bushes until we were back out on the Ammonoosuk Trail, and rode it to within .3 mile of  the car. 

 

For all the negative buzz on the westside this season for the crowd, we had a delightful day. We just let everyone go on ahead, into Burts, Oakes, Great Gulf , East Fields, Huntington...and jumped into what was left, all by ourselves. Never leave good snow to find good snow.

                              

             Rick Gronneberg photo






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