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!