Mark Renson [[log in to unmask]] writes:

A whole bunch o' stuff, takin' Janet's name in vain for no apparent
reason... :-)

Janet's take:

Late winter is alive & well above 3k' in the Presidentials!  After a
week of high NW winds and ominous avalanche hazard reportage from the
lee slopes in Tuckerman, we opted to abandon Plan-A, which was Gulf of
Slides<== ==> Oakes Gulf and take the more conservative windward ascent
to Oakes via Monroe Brook.  Even though there had been one good thaw on
Thursday stabilizing Tuckerman, we agreed a priori to treat the Main
Gully at Oakes with respect, since it had most likely wind loaded
earlier in the week givin it's aspect. If the predicted sun & warmth had
found it's way in on Saturday it was a given that it should stabilize
quickly though.

At the Cog Railway parking lot Mark, Jonathan Shefftz & I arrived as a
group, with Rich Ramsden arriving a few mintutes after.  Rich was still
getting organized at ~8:30 as we started skinning up the Ammonoosuc
Ravine trail under slate skies, but we agreed to stay in touch via radio
and hook up- it was expected to be a long day, and we weren't rushing
it. He rejoined us shortly after the intersection of Monroe Brook and
the A.R. trail where we picked our way easily up the somewhat undermined
drainage to the base of a large icefall where the pitch of Monroe Brook
becomes too high for skinning.

At that juncture Jonathan, Mark & I all switched over to crampons, with
Rich kicking steps in our crampon-point boot ladder at a slower pace.
By that time we had made radio contact with Denis Bogan, who was ~45
minutes behind us, so we felt comfortable leaving Rich to solo it, given
that he planned to turn around below tree line and ski down to Denis.

At the split of upper Monroe Brook we opted for the N. branch toward
Monroe proper, given that it was directed more toward our intended
route, was lower angle than the S. branch (~30 degrees instead of ~35.)
There was also an obvious and quite large eroding wind slab hanging
under the SW ridgeline of the S. branch, which didn't look like anything
to toy with- no need to go out of our way to look for trouble...

Bushwhacking above tree line the NW breeze at our backs freshened
considerably to a steady 40mph+ with a few gusts in to the 50s.  We
zigged and zagged a bit, but when I resumed lead I headed to the N side
of the wide saddle between the twin peaks of Monroe rather than skirt
Monroe-proper to the windward toward Lakes of the Clouds, figuring
Crawford Path on the lee side would offer a more sheltered route. While
still on the windward side of the ridge Jonathan stopped to add a layer
of clothing, which slowed us a bit, but we persevered around the S limb
of Monroe with windblown snow & ice whackin' the backs of our heads.

At the top of the ridge in the saddle the gusts were occasionally stiff
enough that standing upright was not an option- a few times I dropped to
a knee to remain stable.  Sure didn't much feel like dallying there to
wait for Mark & Jonathan to catch up, but we maintained visual contact
with each other throughout. I began following cairns which proved to be
the summit trail to Monroe rather than Crawford path, stopped and waited
for Mark, then we backtracked a bit to Jonathan following Mark's
eagle-eyed bushwhack over to the Crawford and the lee of Monroe. Mark &
I briefly discussed plan-C: If the weather deteriorated to the point
where heading NW into the wind became untenable, we would traverse Oakes
and duck down Hillmans Highway to safety.  The NWS forecasts for mostly
sunny skies did not seem to be materializing, but they weren't getting
worse either- even got a few sunbreaks of ~15 seconds duration (totaling
perhaps 3 minutes for the day. :-( )

Directly leeward of Monroe the winds were very squirrelly, sometimes
dropping to 0mph only be followed a few seconds later with a 60mph blast
bringing us down on knee again. Just below the rim of Oakes in the
shelter of some rocks we joined up with two of Jonathan's friends and a
third snowboardin' friend of theirs, whom we had expected to meet up
with. With the high winds and active wind loading nobody seemed
interested in following the ridgeline over to the Main Gully.

Not mentioned in Goodman's guidebook, but potentially _great_ skiing, on
the WNW. flank of Oakes is a broad perfectly pitched wide open 20 degree
snowfield/gully worth ~400-450' of vertical with no overhanging steeper
chutes or cornices. With the cloud deck at about 6-7k' visibility was
good for miles, and the entire expanse of Oakes Gulf was visible- it has
many potential ski lines, many more than Goodman specifies! But rather
than the hoped for perfect mid-day corn we were served up windscoured
firn interrupted by dense chalky windslab & sastrugi- not exactly the
stuff of dreams...  (Oh well, nothing ventured... :-)  )

As the pitch ran out on the low angle snowfield the upper part of the
Main Gully came into view: Discernable in the flat gray light, a set of
ski tracks to skiers left led to a 1-2' crown face 50' vertical below
the rim at the convexity onto the steepest part, running edge to edge in
the gully! Before us in the draw was a 100'long rubble field of windslab
turkeys & cow-heads. It had obviously run 1-2 days prior, and only much
later in the car did we think that beacon-searching the rubble might
have been the right thing to do.

Skiing down below the rubble field into a small hollow we paused to gulp
some lunch and consider the next move.  Take some laps? Wait for the
weather to change...    ...for the worse? Of like mind, with minimal
discussion we agreed to get out while there was still plenty of
daylight- the skiing sucked nearly as badly as the weather!  Skinning
easily to the rim, we needed to portage our skis over 100 yards of rock
& ice.  Prepping for the short hike, a gust grabbed one of Mark's skis,
flinging it 50-70 yards back down into Oakes. Bummer! Spreading out a
bit waiting for Mark to retrieve his ski we reconvened at the Lakes of
the Clouds AMC hut. Taking brief shelter in a nook at the hut I donned
balaclava & goggles before heading out to face the blustery windward
side of Monroe for the descent.

Climbing skins were required for ease of progress the westward traverse
into Monroe Brook, despite it being downhill travel. At one point I
managed to kick off the rubbery Euro-tip of my right skin, and the wind
immediately stripped it from my ski! Fortunately it snagged a scrub tree
directly in front of Mark, making it a less expensive gear day. (Biggest
gear damage was when I cramponed my "10th Mountain Huts" hat- repairable
at least.)

Skiing Monroe Brook was a combination of fun turns & survival turns,
with skiers left mostly powdery windslab, skiers right mostly crust, the
center varying between neve & loose stuff. Below the ice-fall we spread
out considerably, but by ~2:30 we were all back at the parking lot, well
before our previously planned turnaround time of 3PM.  Rich & Denis,
having skied out earlier had already headed for the warmth & shelter of
a greasy spoon, where we stopped to trade notes.

From a skiing perspective the day was about a 2 (on a scale of 10), but
from a mountaineering day-trip point of view it was about a 7-8, a bit
o' adventure & excitement without running into anything too dangerous.
Had the predicted sun arrived on schedule it probably would have
flipped, even with bracing winds on the ridge.

Tour statistics:

        Length: ~11km

        Vertical earned: ~3k'

        Cire du Jour: Skins & crampons (woulda been blue w/ universal
klister kicker on the flatter stuff though.)

I'd do it again, but hopefully in better weather next time! Did anybody
do Tucks/G.O.S. this past weekend?

Janet

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