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A popular alternate route Lion's Head is what I call The Tuckerman Ravine cutoff. Instead of jumping on the Lion’s Head Winter Route, you stay on the Tucks trail up to the Hermit Lake area. The deck here is a great place to take a break and to marvel at the unobstructed view into Tuckermans. Believe it or not, the Ho Jo’s information desk sells Candy bars and other items, so stash a dollar or two in an inside pocket -- you won’t regret it. From here the Tuckerman Ravine trail can be picked up right behind Ho Jos. Follow it and you should be in the base of the ravine in 20-30 minutes. Be sure to check the avalanche conditions board before heading up the trail. In mid winter the rating is often moderate and above. In my opinion, it’s not a good idea to head up into Tucks when the conditons are moderate. Some of the biggest avalanches have come down when posted at this rating. I wouldn’t recommend going into the ravine unless the rating is low. Sometimes the ravine can have a variety of ratings, with left gully rated moderate and right gully rated Low. In these cases it is usually safe to climb the tcuerman’s cutoff route on way to the summit. There are several different routes for climbing the ravine, the most popular are Lobster Claw and right gully, which are both located to the right of the infamous “Lip”, which also happens to be the south, sunny side of the ravine. Normally there is a deep and well set bootpack up both right gully and lobster claw, so you can pretty miuch take your pick as they both about the same, with right gully perhaps being a tad bit steeper and more direct. At the top of both gullies you’ll have to do a short bushwhack to get onto the Lion’s Head trail. Take a left if you are going to summit, right if you want to skip the top and descend Lion’s Head. My recommendation would be to take a close look around the area where your gully joins the Lion’s Head trail, because if you want to go down the same way, it can be tricky to find theexact spot where the gullies top out. If you do choose to descend Tuckerman’s, be careful, as quite a few people have lost their footing and slipped coming down these gullies. This will resuly in a nasty tumble and injuires are common. Down climbing is a loty more difficult than going up, and of course you are going to be more tired than you were on the way up. Glissading is not recommended as the gullies are too steep and there are many rocks to hit at the bottom if you get out of control. Inother words, if you don’t have good french technique and solid self arrest skills, it’s best to follow Lion’s Head for your descent. I find that even first time snow climbers can handle these gullies with crampons and an ice axe, and the rope is rarely employed. I do however, carry a 30-foot strand of cord in case someone needs a short rope for any of the sections. If you are looking for an even more adventurous approach to the summit, you could tackle the lip, or even pick out a line straight up the center of the headwall. Even in a big snow year, there will be several large ice bulges on the headwall and of course these can be climbed if you have the screws, ropes, etc. Tackling the center headwall is an amazing three pitch climb which lead you up and over the dead center of Tuckerman’s Ravine. Above the rim you follow long easy angles slopes up to a junction with the Davis Path/Boot Spur Trail. Left gully is also a long and high quality snow climb where the snow is typically drier on account of it’s shady exposure. It should also be noted that there is a lot of ice climbing in Tuckerman’s Ravine, especially early season before the bowl has been filled with snow. There is a big grade III flow up and left of Left Gully which offers a nice pitch of moderate ice in an amazing setting. Then there’s the headwall, which has infinite possibilities. And to the right of the headwall there is a steeper grade IV near the sluice.
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