New Hampshire
Tuckerman Ravine
About this ski route
Tuckerman Ravine is the birthplace of American backcountry skiing and still the most famous ski line in the East: a glacial cirque on the southeast side of Mount Washington that holds snow into June and steepens to well over 45 degrees on the headwall. There is no lift and no grooming. You carry your skis up roughly 2,000 feet from Pinkham Notch, and everything about the mountain above Hermit Lake is serious.
Pinkham Notch up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail past Hermit Lake to the headwall on Mount Washington.
Highlights
What earns the trip
- The most storied ski line in the eastern United States
- Snow holds in the bowl into May and often June
- Hermit Lake has a caretaker and shelters partway up
- The spring scene in the bowl is an event in its own right
Stops
- 1
Pinkham Notch Visitor Center
Trailhead, parking and the AMC lodge at 2,000 feet.
- 2
Hermit Lake
Caretaker shelters and the base of the ravine.
- 3
Tuckerman Ravine
The bowl and headwall, at around 5,000 feet.
When to go
Best time to go
April and May, when the snowpack has stabilized and the corn cycle sets up.
Planner estimate for the mapped line: 9 min
Before you go
Know before you go
- Avalanche, icefall and long sliding falls have all killed people here. Read the Mount Washington Avalanche Center forecast every single day you go.
- Mount Washington has some of the worst recorded weather on earth. Conditions at the summit bear no relation to the parking lot.
- The headwall is expert terrain with no runout. Know what you are looking at before you drop in.
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