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Gashes in Granite Mount Washington’S Huntington Ravine Offers the East’S Most Accessible Ski Mountaineering

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Gashes in Granite Mount Washington’S Huntington Ravine Offers the East’S Most Accessible Ski Mountaineering adventure guide get lost GASHES IN GRANITE MOUNT WASHINGTON’S HUNTINGTON RAVINE OFFERS THE EAST’S MOST ACCESSIBLE SKI MOUNTAINEERING. BY BRIAN IRWIN » Hugo Harrisson sends Diagonal Gully while filming for Warren Miller Entertainment in 2011. Brian Post Dana Allen Mahoney; of Kevin courtesy left: Brian Post; From 58 || 12.2013 4 5 Ben Leoni’s Right Coast 6 Backcountry Left » Lines of Huntington Ravine. Haunts 3 Above » Guide Kevin Mahoney THE MEATHEAD FILMS 2 climbs Diagonal Gully. STAR DISHES ON HIS 1 7 FAVORITE LOCALES. Gulf of Slides conditions touchy. But choose the PINKHAM NOTCH, right day and partner and your face NEW HAMPSHIRE From the visitor center, follow will ache from smiling. the Gulf of Slides trail. Lines I slide into Diagonal’s portal, tips in the cirque are exposed but 1. Escape Hatch and tails inches from the flank- offer long descents. This is serious avalanche terrain, so 2. The Bottom of South Gully ing granite. The snow softens as I 3. O’dell’s Gully have your safety gear and 4. Central Gully hop-turn down the pitch, manag- your brain. Stay away after 5. Diagonal Gully ing my slough as I feel the gentle, big storms or high winds. 6. Yale Gully reassuring tug of Mahoney’s belay. 7. Damnation Gully Hillman’s Highway The slope angle eases and we arc PINKHAM NOTCH, carefully down the line. Our hoots NEW HAMPSHIRE The plod up Diagonal Gully Tooth, an ascent that earned him a reverberate from the gully walls as Follow the Tuckerman Ravine trail to the Hermit Lake requires focus. It’s a 15-foot-wide Piolet d’Or nomination, the Oscar of Mahoney dances down. Shelter. Hang a left onto slot that obliquely slices the face climbing awards. So when Mahoney At Diagonal’s terminus, we the Sherburne Trail to the of Huntington Ravine on the east tensions the rope between us as I glide to the top of the ice pitch bottom of Hillman’s Highway. Start on east-facing Hillman’s aspect of Mount Washington, New slip into the couloir, I feel confident. we’d climbed to access the line. in the morning and work Hampshire’s crown jewel and the Huntington is striped with An anchor Mahoney left from our toward north-facing Dodge’s Northeast’s highest peak. Diagonal steep, classic lines: lower-angled ascent waits in the iridescent ice. Drop in the afternoon. is no-fall terrain, with a techni- gullies like Central or South Gully. We thread the rope, gingerly weight Chic-Chocs cal ice-climbing pitch at its outlet Moderates like Escape Hatch. And it, and rappel onto the slope below. SAINTE-ANNE- and slopes up to 55 degrees at its narrower, steeper ones like Damna- I stash my technical gear, push in DES-MONTS, QUEBEC entrance. Not a bad line on which to tion Gully, with its ice flow midway some earbuds, and turn up the vol- Champs de Mars and Mount Hog’s Back offer accessible have a guide. down. Skiers approach the ravine ume for the run-out back to the car. Chic-Choc terrain right off The sun is starting to cook the by a three-mile, 2,100-vertical-foot As I thread the trees in the ravine’s Route 299 south of the corn when guide Kevin Mahoney skin up established fire roads from bottom, shins slicing though slabby entrance to Parc Nationale de la Gaspésie. Champs de and I top out, having eased up 1,000 the parking lot. It’s a ski-mountain- drifts, the voice of Trey Anastasio Mars offers quality glades. feet of water, ice, and crunchy Sty- eering toy box that lacks the crowds echoes in my ears: “Nothing I see Hog’s Back has long, steep rofoam in the predawn hours. We of neighboring Tuckerman Ravine. can be taken from me…” runs reminiscent of lines in Colorado. strip skins, holster axes, and stuff The environment is uniquely alpine, away our crampons. Mahoney, 44, is more Teton than New England. Brian Irwin writes about uphill access Big Jay vetted; he’s one of the country’s few Weather can be harsh, avalanche policies at U.S. ski resorts on page 16. JAY, VERMONT UIAGM-certified ski-mountaineer- Deep snow and prime hard- wood glades can be found ing guides. His family grew up just just down the road from Jay a few miles down the road, where IF YOU GO… Peak Resort. It’s easy to get they run a small ski area named lost in these woods, so go Guide » Kevin Mahoney guides skiers of all ability levels from his Rich- with someone who knows King Pine. Mahoney has guided mond, Vermont, home base. [from $300; mahoneyalpineadventures.com] the area. Washington countless times. He’s Equipment » Avy gear and basic mountaineering equipment, including ice also guided the Haute Route. And ax, harness, and crampons, are needed for most lines in Huntington. Either Northeastern Avy attempted the first descent of AT or telemark gear is appropriate. Resources Season » mountwashingtonava Denali’s south face. And climbed » You can ski Huntington most of the winter and all through spring, but avalanche conditions often prohibit midwinter trips. March and April are lanchecenter.org new alpine routes in Nepal, Alaska, the most popular months. » centreavalanche.qc.ca and other far-flung spots, includ- Brian Post Dana Allen Mahoney; of Kevin courtesy left: Brian Post; From Drink » The Moat Smokehouse and Brewery in North Conway, New ing a new route on Alaska’s Mooses Hampshire, is the post-Washington tradition among locals. 59 Be sure to catch Ben Leoni skiing his favorite East Coast backcountry in the new web series Working for the Weekend on skitheeast.net..
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