Written by John Lounsbury
For nearly 80 years there has been an annual spring right of passage for skiing in the Eastern US: Tuckermans Ravine. This large cirque on the eastern face of Mount Washington collects snow blown over and off the summit all winter providing good skiing into early June many years and occassionally past the 4th of July.
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Only the most physically conditioned skiers ski the upper reaches of Tuckerman. The headwall of the cirque has slopes approaching 55 degrees.
Caution: This video contains foul language.
Source: YouTube
The physical conditioning conditioning required to get there eliminates many of the unfit. It is a 3 mile hike covering nearly 2,000 feet vertical just to get to the base of the “lower headwall” and another several hundred feet vertical (up to a maximum of nearly 1,400 feet, depending on how much steep skiing you want to attempt). This final steep section can approach what is called “technical mountaineering” and should not be attempted without sufficient equiment such as crampons and ice axe. The approach trail and Tuckerman Ravine (the low saddle left of center) can be seen in the photo below.
Below is a video taken of a skier decending from high on the headwall 30 March 2021. The snow cover in the ravine is less this year than many past seasons and skiing safe from avalanche dangers is occurring earlier in the season this year as a result.
Source: Reddit
One of the great stories in US skiing lore involves an intermitant ski race held four times on Mount Washington from 1933 until 1969 from the summit to Pinkham Notch – The American Inferno. (The last race held in 1969 ended at the bottom of the Little Headwall.) The record time for the race was set in 1939 when 19-year old Austrian skier Tony Matt did the unthinkable and flew straight over the lip at the top of the headwall, descending is a straight schuss at speeds up to 90 mph into the Sherburne ski tail to the race finish in Pinkham notch. The caption graphic at the beginning of this article shows Tuckerman on 16 April 1939, the day of the race. The photo below is Tony Matt taken in 1939. Note the “high tech” 1939 ski Matt is holding. He was riding similar primitive boards when he achieved immortal fame.
There is no record of anyone else ever schussing the headwall in that manner (full speed descent from the summit). It is not believed that Matt had planned the run – it may have unfolded when he miscalculated his location and went straight over the lip by accident. Matt’s time record of 6:29.2 was a full minute better than American icon Dick Durrance. To recap: Matt covered over four miles and more than 4,200 vertical feet in less than 6.5 minutes on the primitive ski equipment of 80 years ago more than a minute faster than anyone else ever. For comparison, the final abreviated Inferno in 1969 saw 7/100 of a second separating the top 2 finishers.
Tuckerman’s Ravine is also the most popular hike to the Mount Washington summit, at 6,288 feet (1,917 m) the highest peak in the northeastern US. See Tuckerman Ravine Trail Is Reported To Be The Most Deadly Trail In New Hampshire. The picture below shows a section of the Tuckerman Ravine Trail above the headwall.
Here is an area map:
For the less physically ambitious, summertime access is available from the east side of the mountain by auto on The Mount Washington Toll Road (2nd picture below) and from the west side via The Mount Washington Cog Railway (1st picture below). In the winter months the cog railway offers trips part way up the mountain. There are also snow coach tours on the toll road in the winter.
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