Gulf of Slides, Main Gully - 2/21/25

Feb 22, 2025

A wind advisory was in place for the higher summits yesterday, so we opted to seek more sheltered terrain in the Gulf of Slides area. We got blasted with sustained 20-30 mile per hour winds in the parking lot at Pinkham, which set the tone for the day.

The tree cover on the GOS trail provided excellent respite from the wind, and the sun peeked out which made for a near perfect ascent up to the gulf. The region had received an inch of fresh powder overnight, covering up much of the trail litter from the previous week's winds. The GOS trail itself is in exceptionally good shape.

Main Gully was extremely firm down low, so we opted for crampons for the booter. The snow became softer about halfway up the gully and we were able to actually kick steps.

Winds were about 40-50mph during our transition, so we went fast and started descending.

The skiing up high was firm and chalky, with wind textured sastrugi that made for some challenging and chattery turns. Down low, conditions improved markedly, with firm but smooth chalky windboard that allowed edges to bite in nicely.

Winds were high but tolerable, so we booted up for another lap and did Main Gully a second time. Winds continued to get worse, but we gutted it out for a very nice second run.

Wind slab formation in the Main Gully was minimal throughout the day; we did not observe formation of anything large enough for concern.

Although our objective was complete for the day, we decided to scoot over to Tucks to see how things were looking. The skiing down the GOS trail was exceptional.

Instead of descending the entire trail, we opted for a side quest on the obscure Graham Trail connector which connects GOS trail to the Sherb. This proved to be slow going; we broke trail and navigated lots of downed trees and trail litter before popping out at the Sherb. In hindsight, fully descending the GOS ski trail and skinning up the TRT would have probably been faster and less effort.

After a quick skin up to Hojos, light was getting flat so we decided to descend the Sherb. Other than some light cover and exposed rocks midway down, the trail itself was in really good shape. Firm but smooth.

We observed a significant crown line on the lower central section of the Tucks bowl, which we assumed was a wind slab that avalanched on the 17th.

Happy Skiing!

James Otey & Peter Arnold