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Tuckerman's Ravine
She opened the album and showed me an old picture of a young woman holding a gigantic bouquet of red roses across her lap. Her smile radiated beyond the fading colors of the photograph. “That’s me, the day I skied the Headwall at Tuckerman’s,” she said.
Skiing Tuckerman's is the extreme skier's Rite of Passage. They say you should go when the forsythia’s yellow flowers bloom in late April, and so I did; however, as I do not have the skillset and — whatever else it takes — to ski off a cliff, I left my skis behind. I just wanted to see The Ravine. It was wild: a beautiful bluebird day. The hike from the Trailhead at Pinkham Notch to the Lunch Rocks, where you have a great view of The Headwall, is about 3-1/2 miles with an el gain of about 2500 feet. Bagpipers, skiers, and hikers flooded the floor of The Ravine, some waiting to climb, others watching, the crowd cheering with every skier’s turn, but If one fell, tumbling past the Lunch Rocks and then sliding down to the base of the ravine, we would watch in silence until the skier waved his poles, and then we’d cheer. When the forsythia blooms, go to Tuckerman’s. They say it’s skiable through June.
Two skiers make the ascent up Tucks on a glorious, sunny spring day. (Andy Gagne Photography) From New England Ski Journal
Submitted by Dorie Valenti
