Lower Tripyramid North Slide

Probably not the smartest thing to do with a bad chest cold, but I decided to do an all-day snowshoe hike anyway. I wanted easy grades with minimal steep climbing, so I opted to return to Waterville Valley and head out Livermore Trail to Avalanche Ravine, as Daniel Newton and I had done a few days earlier for his powder ski run on the East Fork of Tripyramid's North Slide. This time I intended to climb the lower part of the main North Slide to its first views out to Mt. Osceola and Mt. Moosilauke. I knew there had been some recent skier traffic on the slide, which would mean a packed snow surface for climbing.

The sun was pouring down on the Depot Camp clearing along Livermore Trail, with Middle and South Tripyramid peering over in the distance.

Beautifully groomed. I stay along the edges and yield to oncoming skiers when snowshoeing here.

Livermore Trail beyond the groomed section had a wonderful smooth, firm track fashioned by snowshoers and backcountry skiers.

A glimpse of North Tripyramid and the top of the North Slide.

 

Brilliant sun out here in the hardwoods, absolutely quiet with no one around.

A familiar sign.

The trail to the North Slide starts with a steep down-and-up crossing of Avalanche Brook - gateway to the Sandwich Range Wilderness.

Looking down at the crossing from the other side.

 

 

These old yellow birches welcome you to Avalanche Ravine.

 

The skiers were having some fun while descending the trail.

 

Into conifers for the final approach to the slide, 0.5 mile from Livermore Trail.

Onto the foot of the slide at 2740 ft. The lower part is pretty low angle, with a slope in the low to mid 20s for degrees. As expected, the snow was well-packed by skiers.

Steeper grades ahead.

 

Zoom on the top of the slide. Not going anywhere near that this day, but I did climb all the way up on snowshoes back in 2020. Due to very crusty snow, I kept along the left edge and in places went into the woods.

 

Snow enhances the steepness on the upper slide, which ranges up to a slope angle of 35 degrees.

Back down low, fun climbing on the ski tracks. This part of the slide track is not actually part of the trail as it is a slick gully in summer. Here the trail runs parallel through the woods to the left.

The first view, at ~3000 ft., is up in the scrubby area to the left. Here the slope angle ramps up to ~30 degrees.

 

Looking back down, with Scaur Ridge closing in the other side of the ravine.

Luckily a skier had carved a swath down from the view spot, saving me from breaking trail in three feet of powder.

A nice view to Mt. Osceola, with Mt. Moosilauke in the distance through Thornton Gap.

Zoom on Osceola, with the tip of East Osceola on the right.

The Moose.

 

Looking up the slide from the viewspot. It gets progressively steeper from here.

A steep little choke point below my perch.

Looking down from my perch. The North Slide rumbled down this steep slope during an intense rainstorm in August, 1885. A hundred years ago the area where I was standing was wide open. The slide initially bared an area of more than 20 acres. Today the lower half is mostly revegetated, with only a narrow open swath. The upper part remains open, though considerably narrower than it once was.

Parting shot.

Going down a slide on snowshoes is trickier than going up, so I used the trail to bypass the steeper uppermost portion that I had climbed.

This involved some heavy trail breaking, even going downhill steeply.

 

A peek at the slide from the "Inner Sanctum Glade" on the floor of the ravine.

Oh, those beautiful yellow birches!

Homeward bound on Livermore Trail. I was sorry to miss the release party at Basecamp Brewery for the new Mountain Wanderer beer, organized by store owners Forrest and Caroline, but I did not want to be a super-spreader of this nasty cold. It sounds like it was a great event - congratulations!

 

Castle Ravine (attempt)

This day's snowshoe jaunt was a bit of a gamble that didn't pan out, but it was still a nice day out in the lower part of a beautiful valley. My hope was that I would be able to go 2.6 miles into the lower part of Castle Ravine, between Mt. Jefferson and Mt. Adams, and then make a short, steep bushwhack to an open ledge slab, the remnant of a 1950s slide, for a neat view up to the ravine headwall and surrounding ridges. Castle Ravine Trail is rarely traveled in winter. Last January I broke trail for 1.8 miles to a  another slide bushwhack farther up the valley, but there was less snow a year ago. On that trip there was a partly packed track on the 1.3 mile section of the Castle Trail; after that, no sign of previous travel.

 

The parking spot at the Castle trailhead was not plowed, so I parked at a large pull-off 0.3 mile west on Route 2 and did a semi-bushwhack down to the Presidential Rail Trail, a wide snowmobile trail in winter. Owl's Head (Cherry Mountain) could be seen off to the west.

On to the Castle Trail. From NETC reports I knew there had been some traffic on this trail. Underneath 5-6" of new fluffy powder (pockmarked by some critter tracks) there was a firm track.

 

The Israel River was in its winter slumber.

There was a good snow bridge for the crossing.

 

For nearly a mile the Castle Trail rises easily through open hardwoods.

Looking back.

 

As I expected, at the Israel Ridge Path junction the main snowshoe track continued ahead on Castle Trail. There was an older track on Israel Ridge Path, underneath a foot of powder. The effort level would be ramping up.

Second crossing of Israel River.

Good snow bridge here, too.

 

 

Making tracks parallel to the river.

There are several sidehill sections along the bank.

Winter river scenery.

In places the old track was pretty swamped in with snow.

 

 

Star Wars trooper?

 

I made a detour around a steep ledge by following the frozen edge of the river.

At the next junction, Israel Ridge Path, splitting uphill to the left, was untracked. The old track I was following continued ahead on Castle Ravine Trail, giving me hope that I could reach my objective. It was slow going breaking through a foot, but manageable.

One of my favorites of the many trails admirably maintained by the Randolph Mountain Club.

Castle Ravine Trail starts out at easy grades along the east bank of Israel River, leading through a nice yellow birch forest.

Use this bog bridge at your peril!

After 0.2 mile the trail makes the route's third crossing of Israel River. This one is tricky in summer and last winter I punched through on my return trip, losing part of a trekking pole in the process. I did not see any evidence of a crossing route, so I gingerly made my own way across.

Beautiful view upstream. This is a lovely, secluded valley.

On the crossing I stepped carefully to avoid plunging into a deep, soft spot.

 

There was a reason there was no evident route across the river - whoever made the old track had turned back at the crossing. Ahead, there was no visual evidence of previous travel, and the snow was now unconsolidated down to the bottom. Darn!

Not good.

Breaking trail through this amount of snow was ridiculously slow and strenuous. With 0.6 mile to go to access the bushwhack, and under the weather from a chest cold, I knew I would not make it to my objective.

 

This section of trail is a lovely corridor. I wanted to at least make it up to the next bend, a bit shy of the Forks of Israel, where Cascade Brook and Castle Brook merge to form the Israel River. 

View of the river from my turnaround point.

 

This is the view I was hoping to reach. It would be spectacular in winter.

 

 

 

Heading back along Castle Ravine Trail. 

Having just one set of tracks makes the going a lot easier.

Afternoon sun on Israel River.

Since it was mid-afternoon, I decided to head a little way up the Castle Trail to the beautiful hardwood forest on the lower flank of Mt. Bowman. Breaking 6" of powder would seem relatively easy.

Mt. Bowman glimpsed through the trees.

 

Lost the sun up here, but the hardwoods are expansive.

A veiled glimpse of sunlit Cascade Ravine on Mt. Adams.

Nowell Ridge across the valley.

Hardwoods for miles.

Low angle sun.

Consolation prize view at day's end, a few yards off the edge of the Rail Trail: Castle Ravine, Mt. Jefferson, The Castles and Mt. Bowman.

One of the least-visited of the Presidential ravines.