This winter, I want to do some more challenging mountaineering but I'm having some trouble picking a good progression of peaks that will let me work up to my ultimate goal for the winter, Gothics North Face. I've selected a few peaks, but it's a short list and I'd like some more suggestions. So take a look, and if you think that I should rearrange the order or remove certain peaks, please let me know.

Relevant experience: numerous winter camping and snowshoeing trips in New England, winter ascents of Bondcliff and Washington via the Lionshead, and a couple spring snow climbs in the Tetons. One of the guys I climb with has experience leading ice climbing trips.

2010/2011 Winter Mountaineering
Mt. Washington via South Gully Huntington Ravine
Mt. Colden via Trap Dike
Mt. Washington via Yale Gully Huntington Ravine
Gothics North Face

I plan on doing Central and Yale gully this winter as well. Maybe I'll see you up there!

I would start with something easy on Mt. Washington, before doing anything like Trap Dike or TNFG in the Daks. While technically they may not be as difficult, the remoteness and commitment grade of the Daks route is way up there, IMO. On Mt. Washington, you have established campsites with lean-tos, packed down trail, daily Avalanche forecast, Forest Rangers, pretty reliable (fat) ice, good cell phone reception and a ton of PEOPLE, in case things go wrong. Routefinding is pretty easy too.

Check out Cinema Gully on Mt. Willard as well - short approach and easy grade make it a good mult-pitch outing.

welle wrote:I would start with something easy on Mt. Washington, before doing anything like Trap Dike or TNFG in the Daks. While technically they may not be as difficult, the remoteness and commitment grade of the Daks route is way up there, IMO. On Mt. Washington, you have established campsites with lean-tos, packed down trail, daily Avalanche forecast, Forest Rangers, pretty reliable (fat) ice, good cell phone reception and a ton of PEOPLE, in case things go wrong. Routefinding is pretty easy too.

Check out Cinema Gully on Mt. Willard as well - short approach and easy grade make it a good mult-pitch outing.

Cinema looks cool!

So do you think South Gully is a good place to start?

This may also be worth investigating.

http://acadiamountainguides.com/resources/baxter.html

south gully is definetely a good place to start. A nice snow climb up to 50 degrees with a little bit of low angle ice (1-3 meters maxs long).

You could also get into Tuckerman ravine with left and right gullies. In the morning pretty early it's always nice and pretty good snow and commitment. After that try to climb the chute in Tuckerman, you'll have a cool challenge to face!

Have a nice winter

Shoestring Gully (Mt. Webster) is a lot of fun.
Good luck with the North Face, we wanted to do it last year, but it was never in when we up there.

mtngrl wrote:Good luck with the North Face, we wanted to do it last year, but it was never in when we up there.

I hear ya...my partner and I have had Gothics NF on the hit-list for two years and it hasn't come in when we were available for an ADKs trip.

Woods, you might also look at Willey's Slide (across the valley from Mt. Webster). Did my first ice lead there two years ago -- easy climbing, not too steep, not a crazy-long approach.

Sounds like a good progression.

Two years ago I did South Gully on Washington. Just with an ice ax and crampons. It is fairly steep in spots (up to 45+ degrees), but basically all snow. I "attempted" central gully, but there is typically one pitch of ice and I realized I was unprepared and backed out at the ice pitch.

Did some more snow climbs in the Spring/Summer. Mt. Hood, Cassaval Ridge on Shasta. All snow, nothing any steeper than South Gully. Just getting more experience on steeper snow.

Came back this past winter and took a one-day ice course with Synod guides in NH, to get basic ice skills. Didn't hit any other ice, but later in the season I went up Central Gully, with a couple of ice tools, solo. Objectively it is really easy, just one short pitch 15'-20' of ice. Hoping to get out on the ice more this winter and go for one of the harder routes in Huntington, but need more experience.

So, South Gully is a good starting point, I would say Central Gully is the next step up.

One small point - though South Gully is indeed usually mostly or all snow, in some years there can be quite a bit of ice (1-2 pitches). White the ice isn't harder than grade 2, it can come as a surprise if you're expecting mostly a snow climb and aren't prepared with a sufficient number of screws.

Resurrecting this post, I'm in a similar boat. Three of us are planning to climb the first weekend in April, conditions permitting. I've climbed via Lion's Head, have lots of experience backpacking (some winter), some TR ice climbing, and am a rock climber; the other two guys are both rock climbers and backpackers (one AT thru-hiker). So we're looking to advance our mountaineering skills, but we're not green as can be.

I've been reading South Gully can get some ice near the top, and I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable leading + placing screws - my previous experience has only been TR ice-climbs.

However, it seems the central gully is pretty long and steep, and maybe tougher than Lions Head/Tuckermans. Wondering if it would be a good choice to help us work on technique (climbing roped, running belays w/pickets). It also would seem to require taking a map and maybe looking around, not just following a packed trail (Lion's Head).

Or, in your opinion, should we stick to one of the steeper gullies on Tuckerman's?

Thanks for the help,

-b

Central usually has one pitch near the bottom which might require a short lead on ice. If the ice is good, it's easily protected and might be a good option for a first gully attempt -- but it would require someone to lead it. Otherwise it's just a long snow climb where you can practice running belays w/pickets. A good choice for practicing those skills.

Yale is another option -- you might be able to skirt the two ice bulges at the bottom, and just climb the snow above it. Stay left (south) as you head up -- the gully splits and can be rocky to the north.

South is usually just a snow climb.

bazzel wrote:Resurrecting this post, I'm in a similar boat. Three of us are planning to climb the first weekend in April, conditions permitting. I've climbed via Lion's Head, have lots of experience backpacking (some winter), some TR ice climbing, and am a rock climber; the other two guys are both rock climbers and backpackers (one AT thru-hiker). So we're looking to advance our mountaineering skills, but we're not green as can be.

I've been reading South Gully can get some ice near the top, and I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable leading + placing screws - my previous experience has only been TR ice-climbs.

However, it seems the central gully is pretty long and steep, and maybe tougher than Lions Head/Tuckermans. Wondering if it would be a good choice to help us work on technique (climbing roped, running belays w/pickets). It also would seem to require taking a map and maybe looking around, not just following a packed trail (Lion's Head).

Or, in your opinion, should we stick to one of the steeper gullies on Tuckerman's?

Thanks for the help,

-b

Central Gully typically has more ice than South, not less. In both of these, the amount of ice varies considerably from season to season, which means that they can range from almost all snow to climbs involving one or more full pitches of ice. If you don't want to climb any ice, but rather focus on using pickets etc. on steep snow, then it makes more sense to stick to Tuckerman, IMO. There are numerous good mountaineering routes there, for example the Left and Right Gullies, the Chute, the Sluice, etc. If you're going there in April, though, watch out for skiers.

Thanks guys - exactly the kind of info I was searching for. Cheers,

-b