Hillman’s Highway

Hillman's Highway Area Gullies

Hard to believe it has been ten years since my last time skiing Hillman’s.

I haven’t skied half of Tuckerman Ravine’s routes, but I’ve skied enough to know that I enjoy skiing and climbing Hillman’s the most. Hillman’s is far from the ravine circus and offers drama free climbing. There is a chill vibe. The gully has the easiest pitch in the ravine area, but also the longest run. And there is no need to down hike if the Little Headwall isn’t in, either.

Hillman's Highway

With 80 degree temperatures forecasted Friday and Saturday, I rearranged my work schedule to get to Mount Washington on Thursday. The Tuckerman Ravine Trail was skinable bottom to top, and the Sherburne ski trail was skiable top to bottom. Neither of those conditions would be present by the weekend, with as much as one-third of the Sherburne trail closed after the big melt down.

Tuckerman and Summit from Hillman's Highway

I had a “summit to car” adventure in mind. The better climbing route would have been Right Gully to the East Snowfields. But with the Little Headwall out, Hillman’s would be the only summit to car option from Pinkham. That assumed there was a skiable connection from the bottom of the summit cone to Hillman’s, via the lawn above the ravine’s lip. I suspected such a connection may not exist, so I opted to ascend the better ski route rather the better summit route.

Summit from Top of Hillman's Highway

Which was ultimately the best decision. After climbing out of the gully, I started skinning up to the Davis Path looking for a connection to the summit cone. But despite Hillman’s being quite full, the plateau around the summit was quite melted already despite the early time of the season. I wasn’t going to hike in ski boots across the rocky summit trails, so I turned around and headed back to Hillman’s.

It is just as well that I bailed on the summit option as Hillman’s was already quite cooked by the time I started descending. It would only get softer and mushier as the afternoon progressed. Turns were quite nice but a major workout given the soft snow.

By the time I reached the Sherburne, the snow was extremely wet and sticky. I pointed my skis straight down the Sherburne and often needed to poll to keep momentum. The final few turns were quite barren, but still retained enough snow that I did not need to down hike or side slip.

Wildcat from the Davis Path

The Highway to the Highway

Mount Washington Summit from the Top of Hillman's

“This is going to hurt.”

Foreboding feelings of pain were strong going into this weekend. I am in the worst shape of my life. An honest self assessment suggested I could get the job done but only at the cost of several days of pain. But even in the worst shape of my life, I’m still more capable than I give myself credit for and I’ll need to remember that as I start rebuilding my body and, perhaps more importantly, the rest of my life.

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April Turns on Hillman’s Highway

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Sometime during the halfway point of my third run down F.I.S. at Sugarbush yesterday, I recalled that due to the injury and other variables, Saturday was my first day of the season pumping out big bumps on a steep slope. Also at about the same time, I realized I needed to save some leg for Tuckerman Ravine the next day. But I am never one to save up potential energy for potential good skiing when I already AM experiencing good skiing. So three more F.I.S. runs later…

I got the days backwards this weekend. I figured Sunday would be warmer and the Ravine would experience less freezing over night so I thought it would be the better day for the Ravine despite tiring my legs out on Saturday at da’ Bush. Turns out it was too hot on Sunday so I should have reversed days. Not that the skiing in the Ravine was not fantastic, but hot days are not fun for lugging forty pounds of skiing equipment a few miles.

The parking lot was slammed more than the previous week’s Inferno Race, likely due to perfect weather this weekend and less than acceptable snow conditions the previous weekend. I tossed the skins in my bag based on a report indicating traction on the upper third of the TRT would have been helpful. Glad I did, as my fair weather hiking sneakers did not like hiking up the snow. I switched over to skins about 100 verts above the second bridge and only needed to take off the skis once until reaching HoJo’s, woo hoo! Better traction and less weight for around a quarter of the hike to HoJo’s is cool by me. Next weekend I would not have bothered.

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Blue Bird Day on Hillman’s Highway

Hillman's Gullies from HoJo's

Driving through Jefferson on Route 2 passing by people ascending the stairs to their houses of worship, I spotted the white caked peaks of the Northern Presidentials dead ahead. While the faithful of small town northern New England filled into their neighborhood churches, the skiing faithful of New England descended upon the Mecca of backcountry in New Hampshire.

My church is the snow covered mountains and the stairs leading up to the church are skin tracks. I worship the snow and get down on my hands and knees to pray when I am ascending the steep boot ladders. My deity of choice is the Earth which brought me here and can take me out when ever it deems I have had my time to enjoy life. At which point I will rejoin the Earth and have my ashes dumped out across the mountains I worship. Today would not be that day though.

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Hillman’s Highway

Foggy Hillman's

My first day of May skiing ever brought my season total up to 34 days which is just one shy the goal made months ago. My gear must have weighed in around fifty pounds in the morning. I did not have the heart to weigh it in the morning to verify but everything weighed in at 42 pounds at the end of the day (sans 3 liters of water, lots of food, my hat, my gloves, ski pants, and a fleece). Hiked up through the long switch backs before seeing some snow around the one third mark. After the second time seeing a long stretch of snow, I got the skins out and went for it. Not a bad decision as I only had to take the skis off about a half dozen times during the ascent. There were a few areas that I barely managed to navigate that will not be passable next weekend. Always glad when I do not have to lug gear up the entire way. I figured more of the Tuckerman Ravine Trail would be bare by now so I lucked out.

While I was set on going into the bowl, various factors at HoJo’s suggested alternative plans. A misty rain and occasional sprinkle was developing with wetter weather not entirely out of the question. Ski patrol was suggesting limiting skiing to the left side of the bowl. Due to the questionable weather, I opted for Hillman’s as it allowed for the quickest descent without need of down hiking. If weather turned foul, Hillman’s allowed an easy ski onto the Shurburne without hiking.

Hillman’s was still covered with exception of a small open stream near the bottom of the gully which required some careful foot placement and a lot of luck to cross high and dry. I managed the crossing on the ascent but ended up with a submerged boot on the way down but no leaks thankfully!

The climb up Hillman’s was a lot easier for me this time around compared to my ascent the previous month. I think the combination of not having skied the day before and better steps kicked into the boot ladder both helped. When i got tired, I made the observation that I had the tendency to try to climb faster which was ironic and amusing, including the implications of creating additional fatigue. Got nearly to the top of the gully when the steps became progressively smaller. My legs were fatiguing due to the extra effort of double kicking in each step, so I bailed just shy of the top. The weather was starting to turn foul as I faced more wind and rain, so just as well.

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