Friday, January 15, 2021

Avalanche Ravine Ramble: 1/14/21

On a foggy, gloomy day with no prospect of views, I headed back out to the western slopes of Mt. Tripyramid for more snowshoeing exploration, ending up in Avalanche Ravine at the East Fork of the North Slide.

I was passed by a couple of skate-skiers on the 2.2 mile stroll up the groomed section of Livermore Trail. The Waterville Valley Nordic Center requests that hikers wear snowshoes on this section as a courtesy to skiers -- bare boot divots damage the groomed surface. Snowshoers should stay along the edge, avoid set ski tracks (none of those yet this season), and yield to skiers.

 A dual track on Livermore Trail, beyond the groomed section.

 

 Ice is closing in upon White Cascade, on Slide Brook. Regular readers of this blog might think I was gridding this cascade. As with peaks, it's neat to see a water feature in all its seasonal guises.


Slide Brook.


The trailside clearing at the site of Avalanche Camp, used by loggers of the Parker-Young Co. in the 1930s/1940s.

Near the camp I headed off-trail, soon negotiating a crossing of Avalanche Brook.

Into the hardwoods that cloak the western flank of Tripyramid.

I soon crossed a wide old logging road from the 1940s, still remarkably clear.

I continued up the slope to a second logging road, which I would follow for nearly a mile north and then east into Avalanche Ravine.

The snowshoeing was excellent on a soft carpet of powder, maybe 8 inches deep.

A moose had crossed the road recently...


...and had continued up a branch road diverging to the south.

Typical obstructions on an old logging road.

A stalwart old sugar maple.

A nice open stretch of the road curving into the ravine.

Looking across the ravine to the lower end of Scaur Ridge.

Here the road is just a short distance above the Mount Tripyramid Trail, which is overlooked by old gnarled yellow birches.

Hobblebush tangle.

Yellow birch Entmoot.


When the road petered out, I dropped down to the trail and followed it for a short distance.

Off-trail again, meandering up the open floor of Avalanche Ravine.

This must be one of the champion aspens in Waterville Valley.

Looks like a trail, but is just an open corridor through the woods. The silence was palpable in this remote nook of the Sandwich Range Wilderness.

Approaching the East Fork of Tripyramid's North Slide.

 

When I came here 2 1/2 weeks ago, this slide was a long ice flow. Now it was softened by a smooth blanket of snow.

Though not deep, the snowpack provided a sufficient cushion atop the ice for a snowshoe probe up the slide.


Looking up the slide. It was tempting to continue farther up to an open section, but the hour was late and a drizzly fog had settled over the ravine, precluding any hope of a view.


Heading back down for a quick four-mile snowshoe out on the trails.


 

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