Taking it easy in Hillman's Highway - 12/26/26

Guest blog by Luke and R.J. 

Got up to Pinkham a bit later than I care to admit meeting my chronically late friend R.J. Had low expectations given the "Considerable" avalanche rating in the forecast this morning, but figured we would go check things out anyway. 

We toured up to Hermit Lake Shelter (aka: Hojo's) via the Tuckerman Ravine Trail once we mustered the motivation to brave the cold. Saw some crown lines in the bowl on Chute and Left Gully, so we decided to venture into Hillman's Highway where the approach and exit are a bit less of a pain. Soon after starting to boot up the line, we were walking on a wind slab a little over a foot deep. Someone had reported that the slab was stubborn but I decided to verify this claim with a couple of hand shears as I went. The slab popped loose pretty easily both times so we decided not to go too high, but the turns we made on the bottom fifth or so of the run were really fun.

We exited via the John Sherburne Ski Trail. The snow was nice with a few inches of fresh powder on the sides and in the trees in the usual places. Some sharks were lurking in the waters for sure, but I managed to make it out unscathed as the locations of the rocks are relatively obvious.