No Puffers Required - 1/25/26

With a weather window in the morning allowing a summit push, Tyler and I gathered a large pile of down clothing and met at Pinkham Notch at 530am. The coldest part of the day was at the car. We were puffed up and ready to roll.

No wind and balmy temps. 

Quickly, on the Sherburne Ski Trail, we removed layer after layer as we ascended into a the "warm" air. Arriving in the bowl, the high clouds did not allow for a sunrise but the temperatures and wind was mild enough we did not care. We started to boot up Right Gully and found an old boot pack. We took note that a large section of the Lip and Headwall had avalanched. Traveling over the chalky snow was quick and efficient. We topped out, only in our base-layers and cramponed over to the summit cone. 

Summit!!!

Science

We arrived at the summit, greeted by a cold looking hiker. We clicked in at the summit and skidude over to the Eastern Snowfields. The top roller was a touch icy, but quickly rolled over into chalky snow. We enjoyed some cautious turns and started the traverse over to Right Gully. Tyler took it from the top, he mostly down climbed with skis on. I opted for the short booter down into the line. Chalky turns greeted us as we skied out. The avy debris at the base of the ravine was awkward to ski, but not horrible. We skied out Little Headwall and fought through some punchy snow.

Eastern Snowfields. 

Right Gully.

The Sherbie was soft and enjoyable. Swapping hoots and hollers we skied out.... summit at 8:00am and hit the shop door at 8:45am.