Avalanche Chases Snowboarder Down Tuckerman Ravine, New Hampshire

The video was taken on Chicken Rock Gully, at the popular east coast backcountry zone Tuckerman Ravine, on Mount Washington, New Hampshire.

MWAC reported 12 inches of snow had fallen on the area the day before and recorded 50mph winds overnight. In this case, it looks like the slab broken off was the result of wind loading just under the cliff band. In any case, it doesn’t look like a spot where I'd want to get knocked off my feet by snow and take a tumble.

Avalanches in early season and low-tide conditions can pose particularly spicy problems if there are more exposed features on the slope. While getting buried is always a concern with avalanches, so is being carried into rocks, trees, or unfavorable terrain. Many avalanche forecast centers are not putting out daily forecasts yet or have only just begun to do so.

MWAC’s most recent avalanche bulletin was posted this morning, December 4, 2024.. It cited nearly 35 inches of new snow and consistent below-freezing temperatures at the summit over the last two weeks.

Another storm cycle is forecasted to bring nine inches to a foot of new snow depending on elevation. The storm is also expected to come in with strong southern winds that will shift throughout the cycle and end as northwest winds. “New snow and dynamic wind conditions bring new avalanche problems to be mindful of as you will be more likely to find and trigger snow drifts.The largest problems you may find are likely to be in east-facing terrain,” the forecast reads. MWAC encourages backcountry users to carefully assess snow depth, wind loading, and terrain choices and know that visual cues might be limited with blowing snow.

Some of the best advice I ever got in an avalanche class was that each day out in the backcountry is just snowpack research for the day after that. If you’re planning on skiing in the backcountry and haven’t been watching what your local snowpack is doing, it’s probably worth taking a day to ski some low angle terrain and get acquainted before those regular forecasts are live. As always, a beacon, probe, and shovel are necessary tools in the backcountry, and if you don’t know, don’t go! 

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