Tuckerman Ravine
Tuckerman Ravine is a glacial cirque on the east side of Mt. Washington, in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Although it draws hikers in the summer and skiers in winter, it is best known for the many "spring skiers" - people who climb it and ski down from early April until mid May, when temperatures are relatively mild but the snowpack - which averages up to 55 feet in a typical winter - is still good.
Literally thousands of people have been known to ski Tuckerman in a single spring weekend. Skiing is not limited to this time, but the avalanche danger requires special training to navigate the ravine safely during the winter.
The ravine is named after botanist Edward Tuckerman who studied alpine plants and lichens in the area in the 1830s and 1840s. According to the New England Ski Museum, the first recorded use of skis on Mount Washington was by a Dr. Wiskott of Breslau, Germany, who skied on the mountain in 1899, while the first skier in Tuckerman was John S. Apperson of Schenectady, New York, in April 1914.
