Skiing powder on the popular Sherburne Trail on Mount Washington.Cait Bourgault
A revival is underway in the mountains of the Northeast as skiers flock to the backcountry in unprecedented numbers. Trailhead parking lots fill early and ski shops are doing swift business: Outdoor Gear Exchange in Burlington, Vt., has seen its sales of backcountry ski equipment triple since last season.
âItâs the perfect storm,â says Tyler Ray, founder of New Hampshireâs Granite Backcountry Alliance, which is drawing hundreds of skiers to cut new glade zones each fall, and thousands to ski them. âYou have a confluence of high resort lift-ticket prices being a barrier to entry for skiing, you have the technical advancement in equipment making backcountry gear better, faster, and lighter, and you have a desire to return to nature.â Add to this the COVID-19 pandemic, which has driven skiers to shun crowded lifts and strike out for wild snow.
MOUNT WASHINGTON â Authorities say two men are lucky to be alive after they survived falls of more than 500 feet down the rock- and snow-covered face of the Tuckerman Ravine headwall early Saturday afternoon.
Of the two, lead USFS Snow Ranger Frank Carus, director of the Mount Washington Avalanche Center, said Monday: âI canât believe they didnât sustain any life-threatening injuries.
The identities of the two men were not made available as of press time despite requests for information from the Forest Service.
Reached at home, Carus said the two were believed to be from Connecticut and in their early 20s.
Two men climbing at Mount Washington over the weekend fell hundreds of feet and survived, according to the Mount Washington Avalanche Center. Download the free WMUR appRescue crews responded around noon Saturday to the scene. Multiple people witnessed the falls, officials said.Both men struck exposed boulders and ice bulges during their falls, said officials, who added that the snowpack at the mountain has not developed as much as it typically does for this time of year, primarily because of a Christmas rainstorm. January has provided less than 6 (inches) of new snow so far. As such, exposed hazards abound and present a minefield of challenges and consequences, officials wrote in a Mount Washington Avalanche Center news release.One of the men came to rest on a ledge above the final ice cliff, while the other continued falling until he landed on his back in the snow underneath the ice cliff, officials said.“One patient reported reaching a point where his microspikes provided