Tuckerman Ravine Trail
Loading ...Posted on: April 4, 2009
Posted in: Featured, Trail Vlogs, thebackpackertv Videos
The Tuckerman Ravine Trail is located in the White Mountain National Park in New Hampshire. What makes this trail infamous, is that it is one of the trails that lead up to the summit of Mt. Washington. There are various routes to climb Mt. Washington, but the Tuckerman Ravine Trail is one of the more popular routes. Don’t underestimate the degree of this trail however. Most of your hike up will be at a 40 degree angle. In the Winter, and late Spring, you WILL need crampons. Using this trail without crampons could be disastrous.
Mt. Washington stands at 6,288 feet, and is the highest peak in the Northeastern part of the United States. Its not uncommon for sustained winds (NOT gusts) to hover around 60-80 mpg on any given day.
This is a good site to check the weather at any given time. Mt. Washington has a Weather Station on the summit
Rain, wind, and winter gear is essential in early to late spring hiking. On my hike (3/29/09) we encountered sleet, snow, and lots of rain. Everything was soaking wet by the time we got down.
I camped in my Feathered Friends Down -15 degree sleeping bag, and was cozy. Temps only got down to 17 degrees that night.
It took us 4 hours to summit from the Harvard Cabin. We did not stay in the Cabin, we opted for the campsite and pitched a tent instead. We broke camp at 6:00 am and started our accent up the mountain.
Plastic boots, and crampons were the gear of the day, along with layering, and rain gear. Some old blisters popped up, and I had to stop a quarter of the way up and take care of serious pain. I then had to side step the rest of the way up. Remember, this is a steep climb. After you reach “Alpine Garden”, there is hardly room for error. It’s a long, fast slide down if you slip. Hiking in Crampons is very different than hiking in boots. Practice before going up.
The Tuckerman Ravine Trail summit to Mt. Washington is formidable but well worth the hike up. Of course, we didn’t see much as the wind was howling at 60 mph and blowing snow was abound.
I went with the International Mountaineering Climbing School. This was a 3 day class on mountaineering techniques. We had 3 people in our class and had a great time. Thanks to them and our guide, Jamel who was awesome.
Have a great hike, and we’ll see you on the trail.
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April 4th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
[...] Ravine Trail Collected by thebackpacker 00 mins ago from thebackpacker.tv // Event.onDOMReady(function() { // sizeText($(‘video_title’), 475); // }) collect this [...]
February 19th, 2010 at 11:02 am
[...] see more Mt. Washington video’s check out “The Tuckerman Ravine” Or “Mount Washington: Clarity [...]