wgreene
New member
Hi VTTFers,
Nothing very exciting here: a couple of points and questions on Cinema Gully and the area.
My buddy Rich and I decided to follow a day of top-roping in the Flume with a plan to climb Cinema Gully. We arrived there rather late, around 11:30. As we were walking south along 302 we saw a couple of climbers preparing to climb a column of probably grade 4 or 5 across the road just a few hundred yards south of the parking area.
When we got to Cinema, the first thing we noticed was a big avalanche deposition of heavy chunky wet snow, with the chunks on average around 4 inches. The snow was heavy but not set very hard. I remember remarking that it felt relatively warm that day. My car registered 23. There was steady snow and it looked like only a half an inch of snow had accumulated on the slide run-out, less than other areas, so our guess was that the avalanche much have occurred shortly before we arrived. I have seen chunky snow before in a wet slide avalanche, but is chunky texture normal? Also, I was surprised how relatively soft the run out was, other experiences I have felt the snow to be stiffer. Could this be due to the timing of the slide?
I thought that the gully had been cleared out and would be safe, but fortunately Rich gave me a reality check and we thought about coming back some day when it wasn't snowing and when we had an early start. Then we saw a small spin-drift avalanche come down and it was settled. It looked like the two prominent ice bulges were formed and some bluish ice was exposed, but it looked like it was quite in. What are conditions to look for when Cinema is in a good state for climbing?
There was some great ice bouldering along the train track. Rich headed back and I practiced there. That kept me busy until about 3PM when a bitingly cold wind blew in and sent stinging ice into my face all the way back up the tracks to the parking lot. As I was putting gear in my car, snow was accumulating incredible quickly inside my car. If I had left a door open for 10 minutes, I'd have an inch of snow to take home. Driving home along 93 south, it was remarkable to see the outer edge of the storm as a black churning ridge over the horizon, and drive on under clear skies in southern New Hampshire.
Nothing very exciting here: a couple of points and questions on Cinema Gully and the area.
My buddy Rich and I decided to follow a day of top-roping in the Flume with a plan to climb Cinema Gully. We arrived there rather late, around 11:30. As we were walking south along 302 we saw a couple of climbers preparing to climb a column of probably grade 4 or 5 across the road just a few hundred yards south of the parking area.
When we got to Cinema, the first thing we noticed was a big avalanche deposition of heavy chunky wet snow, with the chunks on average around 4 inches. The snow was heavy but not set very hard. I remember remarking that it felt relatively warm that day. My car registered 23. There was steady snow and it looked like only a half an inch of snow had accumulated on the slide run-out, less than other areas, so our guess was that the avalanche much have occurred shortly before we arrived. I have seen chunky snow before in a wet slide avalanche, but is chunky texture normal? Also, I was surprised how relatively soft the run out was, other experiences I have felt the snow to be stiffer. Could this be due to the timing of the slide?
I thought that the gully had been cleared out and would be safe, but fortunately Rich gave me a reality check and we thought about coming back some day when it wasn't snowing and when we had an early start. Then we saw a small spin-drift avalanche come down and it was settled. It looked like the two prominent ice bulges were formed and some bluish ice was exposed, but it looked like it was quite in. What are conditions to look for when Cinema is in a good state for climbing?
There was some great ice bouldering along the train track. Rich headed back and I practiced there. That kept me busy until about 3PM when a bitingly cold wind blew in and sent stinging ice into my face all the way back up the tracks to the parking lot. As I was putting gear in my car, snow was accumulating incredible quickly inside my car. If I had left a door open for 10 minutes, I'd have an inch of snow to take home. Driving home along 93 south, it was remarkable to see the outer edge of the storm as a black churning ridge over the horizon, and drive on under clear skies in southern New Hampshire.