Eighty Nine North: Cannon/Tuckerbrook Backcountry

Scott, Josh, Jon and I met in Concord at 7 a.m. this past Saturday morning and then headed north to the Tuckerbrook trail head. As usual, we debated our destination over the course of the preceding week. Scott and I have been chomping at the bit to explore the west side of Mt. Washington, including Monroe Brook. We also would love to take some turns in the east snow fields or in Oakes Gulf. But temperatures looked to be pretty cold above treeline and the winds were forecasted at 60+ mph, so we elected to try to find some snow in the trees.

It was tempting to make a return trip to Big Jay, which pulled down 40+ inches mid-week, but we settled for a shorter drive to the Cannon/Tuckerbrook backcountry (25+ inches mid-week) in hopes of finding the Big Jay of NH.

After Jon finished messing around with his K2 AT boots (those liners had no interest in going into the shell), we started our ascent. Scott and I have skied some of the 13 turns before and some of the steeper trees to the skier's right before, but we always cut back towards Mittersill. The trees along the lower part of the Tuckerbrook trail that we hadn't seen before turned out to be a revelation. First the steeper chutes on hiker's right and then the lower angled hardwoods to the hiker's left offered much promise (and unfortunately, many tracks from folks who headed north on Thursday and Friday).

The weather was warm - we shed layers as we went, but the snow remained light in the upper elevations. At the top we ran into two more folks we met in the parking lot, and we spent the rest of the day taking turns with them. They made for great company, and even offered us some home brew when we got back to the bottom. One of the huge perks of heading out in the back country - everyone is friendlier!

After lunch, we skied the first half dozen of the 13 turns or so and then shot off into the steep woods on skier's right. The snow was great, the spacing was great, and the skiing was accordingly awesome. After driving down past the turn off to Mittersill, we entered the low angled hard wood glades I mentioned a few paragraphs ago. The snow was heavy at this point, but we were giddy over the find - they will make for some great face shots on the next powder day! Finally, after crossing the brook and climbing back up on the Tuckerbrook trail, we put our skins back on and looped up to the "chutes" on hiker's right of the Tuckerbrook trail. Some nice drops and some steep turns were a perfect cap to the day. Enjoy the pictures and video!

Josh at the top of Tuckerbrook. He climbed like a mountain goat with his Dynafits.