10,000ft of Spring Skiing - 4/9/26

Apr 10, 2026

By: Spencer Ralston

With almost summer-like temperatures in the forecast, I gathered the crew to explore some spring skiing on Mount Washington. Lianna, Julian, and I skinned from the parking lot of Pinkham Notch at 6 a.m.

We passed by Hermit Lake, waving hello to the caretakers, and continued up onto Hillman's Highway. The wind was slowly picking up, creating a very icy boot pack up Hillman’s. We crested the top and began the slog over to Gulf of Slides. Boulder hopping, we made our way to the top of Gully #3, where we found a soft blanket of untracked snow. We clicked in and skied some hot pow to the bottom of the line.

We slogged back up to the top of the ravine and moved over to the Fingers in Gulf of Slides. Once again, we enjoyed untracked hot pow in the alpine sunlight. After munching on some snacks, we started the mega boot pack over to Oakes Gulf.

The alpine was starting to be full on, and wind and cold ripped into us as we moved over to Oakes Gulf. We did some more extreme walking over to Airplane Bowl. Luckily, we were able to ski down the entire line. Spotting Double Barrel from across the way, we hoped to skin from the end of the line over to the main chute of Double Barrel. Julian led a beautiful skin track up to the meat of Double Barrel.

We booted up an untracked Double Barrel and enjoyed more hot pow and fresh turns down to the trees, grinning from ear to ear. We skinned from the bottom and started the traverse over to Main Gully. We weren’t the first ones down, but we opted for skiers' right and left of the center slope and scored more untracked turns.

From the base of Main Gully, we prepared for the long slog over to the summit of Mount Washington. It was a unique position to be in, with the Lake of the Clouds Hut and Mount Monroe covered in their winter outfits. Skinning most of the way and connecting small snow ramps, we made it to within 500 vertical feet of the summit. The boot pack to the summit was unenjoyable, with us slipping over the snow-covered rocks of the summit cone.

After a summit selfie, we made a plan to quickly exit to avoid descending Tuckerman Ravine in the shade. The summit cone featured chopped-up hot pow that drained the last remaining energy from our tired legs. Fighting through the trees, and since the entrance to Right Gully had melted out, we had to down-climb into the line. Right Gully and the lower Lip area were bumped up, covered in ski tracks and wet, loose avalanche debris from an earlier slide. With blown-out quads, it was a challenging descent.

We opted to walk out of the bowl rather than ski. The walk out went smoothly, and we watched a few people side-slip and struggle to ski out of Tuckerman Ravine. The Sherburne Ski Trail was actually quite good. Corner Shot required us to take our skis off, but we were able to keep them on through Cut Off #3, where the rangers had put up rope to stop skiing.

All in all, it was a great day of spring skiing on Mount Washington.