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.

 

Deep Snow in Avalanche Ravine

On a partly sunny day with moderate temperatures I joined avid Waterville skier Daniel Newton, the VP of Waterville Valley Athletic & Improvement Association, for an excursion out to the lower part of Avalanche Ravine on the NW side of North Tripyramid. We had hatched our plan the evening before at the WVAIA's Winter Social. 

 

Conditions were good as we set out on the Livermore Trail, Daniel on his backcountry skis and me on my snowshoes. 

An inviting corridor.

 

 

 

Daniel shows off his versatile pack that makes it easy to get at stuff.

 

Beyond the groomed section of Livermore Trail, there was a pretty good track made by a few snowshoers and backcountry skiers.

A beautiful day to be out in the Waterville forest.

The Avalanche Camp logging camp site in its winter garb.

Hardwood glory.

Since there was a partly packed track, we decided to head into the ravine on the Mount Tripyramid Trail, rather than an unbroken bushwhack route that we both enjoy. There was too much deep, unconsolidated snow for extensive uphill bushwhacking with just two of us.

Last year the Wilderness sign was moved from a spot well up on the slope down to the edge of Avalanche Brook.

 

 

 

 

 

The woods are beautiful in the lower part of Avalanche Ravine, aka Ravine of Avalanches, so named because of the famous North Slide and several other slides that fell in a big storm in August, 1885. 

Love the gnarled old yellow birches in here.

Deep winter!

Inviting woods for bushwhacking, but it's just too hard right now.

Daniel leads the way as we approach the trail's turn up to the North Slide.

Slow going as we head off-trail to the East Fork of the North Slide. Just as we headed into the woods, a group of skiers came down the trail after skiing the North Slide. They said the ascent was arduous but the skiing was superb in the deep powder.

 

A beautiful glade on the floor of the ravine.

The breaking was deep and heavy.

A glimpse of the top of the North Slide.

 

Approaching the snowy swath of the East Fork.

Daniel heads up to the slide, with great anticipation of a powder run.

Waist-deep snow with no crust layer. Avalanche danger was rated as low this day by the Mount Washington Avalanche Center, and the portion of the slide we were on is relatively low angle.

Daniel stayed on top of the snow far better than I did, being lighter in weight (both body and pack) and with more flotation on his skis compared to my snowshoes.

Up he goes!

 

Almost out of sight.

Looking down from the spot I chose partway up the swath to catch Daniel's descent.

Here he comes!

 

Looking good.

Making some nice turns.

Yeah!

I did a video of Daniel as he skied below me, then snapped this pic as he neared the bottom of the swath, whooping. A nice run!

A sinuous ski track is a thing of beauty.

 

From the bottom of the East Fork, we started to descend to Livermore Trail via the bushwhack route we are both familiar with.

 

But the breaking was too slow and heavy for me in my snowshoes, even going downhill.

I opted to return to the packed Mount Tripyramid Trail. It was a short distance away across the buried Avalanche Brook, but en route to the brook I fell into two deep traps and then made a rather precarious crossing in the bottomless snow.

Back through the wonderful yellow birches.

Daniel continued down the bushwhack route, and we emerged on Livermore Trail at the same time. After a brief rendezvous, he needed to get home for an engagement and pointed his skis downhill, flying down the packed track, while I started the slower, plodding descent on my snowshoes.

Heading into the sunset.