Friends of Tuckerman Ravine Inferno Race

**H-man** · 04-16-2005, 08:06 PM

A few photos from today in the ravine at the race. I skinned up Sherburne starting about 7:00am. Beautiful day in the ravine and alot of skiing left.

We were planning on running the course down over the Lip but decided yesterday to move it to Left Gully due to the large moguls in the transition of the snowfields to the Lip. The only thing that makes couloir skiing more interesting is adding a slalom course.

Meet Dave Lamb....

Dave ran 8 miles, kayaked 6 miles, biked 18 miles to the top of Pinkham Notch, hiked carrying all his ski gear about 2400 vertical feet in three miles to the bottom of Left Gully, boot packed 800 vertical feet up and over the cornice atop Left Gully and skied down the course shown above to threepeat as the 2005 Tuckerman. Oh yah, his approximate time for the above described pentathalon, 4.5 hours. I say that's burly. The guy is hard core at about 46 years old.

Finnaly, a picture of me and our guest starter, Mr. Glen Plake.

He was filming an episode of his show Reel Thrills that is shown RSN. Any Maggots with access to the channel should keep your eyes out for it.

I thought he was a really good guy. We talked for quite a long time about ski history, swaped stories about skiing in Europe and Japan and about the current state of skiing as it is currently evolving.

All in all, a great event for a great cause.

**Core Shot** · 04-16-2005, 08:28 PM

Nice TR
Love the slalom gates in left gully.

**robrox** · 04-18-2005, 07:35 AM

Super job! well done indeed.

**gincognito** · 04-18-2005, 07:40 AM

Originally Posted by H-man

Dave ran 8 miles, kayaked 6 miles, biked 18 miles to the top of Pinkham Notch, hiked carrying all his ski gear about 2400 vertical feet in three miles to the bottom of Left Gully, boot packed 800 vertical feet up and over the cornice atop Left Gully and skied down the course shown above to threepeat as the 2005 Tuckerman. Oh yah, his approximate time for the above described pentathalon, 4.5 hours.

Damn! Not too shabby at all.
Congrats on a seemingly successful weekend. Pretty cool to have Mr. Plake up there.

SaAaH (and will be back),
d.

**Trackhead** · 04-18-2005, 08:18 AM

Sounds like a good time. So was the kayaking, etc, all part of the race?

**gonzo** · 04-18-2005, 08:48 AM

Sickter? McRickter.

**Dexter Rutecki** · 04-18-2005, 08:57 AM

Does this race necessarily include the uphill/kayaking/biking/puking part, or is there a downhill only component? If it includes the painfest, my interest in racing it is suddenly waning (by which I mean non-existent).

**robrox** · 04-18-2005, 02:44 PM

Originally Posted by Dexter Rutecki

Does this race necessarily include the uphill/kayaking/biking/puking part, or is there a downhill only component? If it includes the painfest, my interest in racing it is suddenly waning (by which I mean non-existent).

There were a bunch of team entries...some of them wearing silly-gear....

If you can get enough people together nobody has to pull a more than one stint, but each of the sections has to be completed in turn.

It's not too serious for most of the teams, unless you count their system for saving plenty of energy to party after the race.....not everyone waits that long

PS: There's no lift, so the peson skiing down has to walk up, so they get to do up and down legs anyway...what's the rush, there's plenty of refreshments....somewhere

**H-man** · 04-18-2005, 04:04 PM

Originally Posted by Dexter Rutecki

Does this race necessarily include the uphill/kayaking/biking/puking part, or is there a downhill only component? If it includes the painfest, my interest in racing it is suddenly waning (by which I mean non-existent).

Our USFS Special Use Permit allows us three categories. We are allowed to have up to 30 teams of 5 with each person doing one leg and tagging the person doing the next leg. A maggot team next year would be great! A team sponsored by Rossignol won again this year. They are pretty tough and need to be bitch slapped Maggotts!

The second grouping is the "Tuckerman" which is what Dave Lamb won. Here the individual does all of the legs by themselves, certainly a pain fest. Aside from being a solo competition, the Tuckerman competitors also need to do the hike portion carrying their ski gear up with them as opposed to the team event where the skier carries their gear or has a friend take it up at a slower pace. The skier then only has to carry it while boot packing Left gully. The permit limits this to 20 individual competitors. Last year there were a bunch of women competing in this category. They complained about having to compete directly against the men. So this year we modified our permit with USFS to allow the third division, "Tuckerwoman", again for 20 individual women. This actually turned out to be a dissapointment, as only one woman signed up, and she did not finish. I'm not sure if we will be granted this division again in the future by USFS due to the poor turn out. I hope so however.

Here is a link to our site.
Click on the "Inferno" banner for race specific information.

On a serious note, this is a good organization that I am proud to be a part of. We have raised over $500,000 in the five years that we have been in existance in grants for specific uses all going back into the ravine. Projects include replacing avi damaged rescue caches, drilling a well for potable water up at Hermit Lake Cabin, funding for a foot bridge to cross the Cutler River to keep pedestrian traffic off the highway which is a major concern of the NHDOT and State Police (this has alot to do with the cops cruising around up ther monitoring parking) and providing funding for an AM radio information system to provide people going up to the ravine with weather reports, current avalanche conditions and the parking situation at the bottom of Pinkham Notch on both ends.

All of the above mentioned money must be spent on specific improvements to the ravine and the Cutler River Drainage. We have a big problem with getting working capital to simply pay our bills such as rent, IT and every day expenses.

I know that alot of Maggots enjoy Tuckerman Ravine and all of the other great skiing on Mt. Washington. We could really use your help with either financial donations or memberships. Memberships are pretty reasonable in my opinion. All of the information in contained on the web page.

If anyone would like to talk more specifically about the organization, both positive and negative, drop me a PM.

Sorry for the sales pitch, but I think that it is a deserving cause. If anyone decides to join up, tell em Hannes sent you!

**Ski Drunk** · 04-18-2005, 07:53 PM

Ya i was up there that day to check out the race. The weather was fantastic and the snow conditions were great. I was over on the picnic rocks watching the race and it looked pretty intense. I hope to do it when i get over. I never made into left gully to get a closer look unfortunately, instead i was skiing the rocks and chutes in the middle of the headwall. I hit some of the smaller cliffs but my friend hit that big one right in the middle that few other people were trying. And my bor was in a chute in there and then when he went to make a turn the snow let go form underneath him. It was kinda funny watching him bounce down the slope like a rag doll after going over the cliff he was over. Anybody up there that day probably saw it cuase at the end of his fall he put his hands up and everybody cheered. I can't wait for another chance to get back up there. The whole atmosphere is just incredible and the vibes you get from the corwds on the rocks just makes you feel so alive. Anyways i guess i'll have to wait till next year.

**Cliff Huckable** · 04-19-2005, 02:01 AM

That looks awesome.

**shmerham** · 04-19-2005, 05:07 AM

Props to the person that hauled the gates up the mountain.

**H-man** · 04-19-2005, 05:37 AM

Originally Posted by shmerham

Props to the person that hauled the gates up the mountain.

There were quite a few of us over the course of two days. I will also admit to having some help from the snow cat belonging to USFS.

**H-man** · 04-20-2005, 04:29 AM

Officially, Dave stopped the clock at 4 hours 15 minutes and 28 seconds.

**Goatman** · 04-20-2005, 09:40 AM

H-Man, Great pics. I was the skier for Team 2 representing my local ski club this year. I had no idea that Glen Plake (sans mohawk) was there. A great race, and an excellent course. Fun, and totally set-up for the big arching tele turns. I especially liked the bushes near the last couple of gates.

My team missed the awards banquet, so we don't have any of the results. If you have 'em can you email or post the team & individual times for Team 2 "Kerns Ski College", we should be near the bottom of the list.

thanks,
goatman@skiksc.org

**H-man** · 04-20-2005, 05:57 PM

Originally Posted by Goatman

H-Man, Great pics. I was the skier for Team 2 representing my local ski club this year. I had no idea that Glen Plake (sans mohawk) was there. A great race, and an excellent course. Fun, and totally set-up for the big arching tele turns. I especially liked the bushes near the last couple of gates.

My team missed the awards banquet, so we don't have any of the results. If you have 'em can you email or post the team & individual times for Team 2 "Kerns Ski College", we should be near the bottom of the list.

thanks,
goatman@skiksc.org

I don't have full results currently, but I'll see what I can do. Thanks for coming out and being involved!