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Posted On: December 9th 2025, 02:49 pm
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11/24: Little Haystack-Liberty Ravine Slide
After skiing some low tide conditions in the north Pemi, Colby and I decided to return to the Franconia Ridge area in hopes of some deeper snow. We chose to go for a smaller and more obscure slide, pretty far away from anything else. The day started up Falling Waters (again), but pretty quickly we diverged south and started the bushwhack up. It began really open and enjoyable for a while, but gradually got denser. Once we got about a half mile below the slide base, Colby thought hopping in the stream bed would be the best move. I decided to try staying high on the north ridge instead, which was brutal going but somehow still proved to be a significantly better move judging from Colby’s anguish over the walkie talkies. Once I eventually downclimbed into Basin Brook as well, things were looking grim for a ski descent. The brook still had a ton of water flowing down, was way too narrow and filled with large rocks to ski, and the map showed we were about to turn the corner into the slide. By some miracle, the water actually diverged right as we turned and we were treated to a short but sweet pow line! Since this slide is so short, broken up by a thick tree band most of the way up, and also has a ridge that runs straight down the middle, it does not exactly lend itself to good quality skiing. We still managed to have some fun and enjoyed a lot of semi-open tree skiing back to the bottom! Shoutout to Gary for picking me up when I hitchhiked back. Absolute highlight of the day was driving past when Colby emerged onto the highway from the woods a half mile north.
Pics:
1. Heading up the slide!
2. Starting the bushwhack, very easy going
3. Getting a little tighter
4. Pretty rough up here… Colby was already down in the riverbed
5. Having fun!
6. Into Basin Brook!
7. Some truly abysmal shwacking
8. Into the slide!
9. Almost to the top of the northern prong
10. Waiting with my thumb out. Too wet and sore to walk back to the trailhead when there’s a perfectly good highway right there to get picked up
After skiing some low tide conditions in the north Pemi, Colby and I decided to return to the Franconia Ridge area in hopes of some deeper snow. We chose to go for a smaller and more obscure slide, pretty far away from anything else. The day started up Falling Waters (again), but pretty quickly we diverged south and started the bushwhack up. It began really open and enjoyable for a while, but gradually got denser. Once we got about a half mile below the slide base, Colby thought hopping in the stream bed would be the best move. I decided to try staying high on the north ridge instead, which was brutal going but somehow still proved to be a significantly better move judging from Colby’s anguish over the walkie talkies. Once I eventually downclimbed into Basin Brook as well, things were looking grim for a ski descent. The brook still had a ton of water flowing down, was way too narrow and filled with large rocks to ski, and the map showed we were about to turn the corner into the slide. By some miracle, the water actually diverged right as we turned and we were treated to a short but sweet pow line! Since this slide is so short, broken up by a thick tree band most of the way up, and also has a ridge that runs straight down the middle, it does not exactly lend itself to good quality skiing. We still managed to have some fun and enjoyed a lot of semi-open tree skiing back to the bottom! Shoutout to Gary for picking me up when I hitchhiked back. Absolute highlight of the day was driving past when Colby emerged onto the highway from the woods a half mile north.
Pics:
1. Heading up the slide!
2. Starting the bushwhack, very easy going
3. Getting a little tighter
4. Pretty rough up here… Colby was already down in the riverbed
5. Having fun!
6. Into Basin Brook!
7. Some truly abysmal shwacking
8. Into the slide!
9. Almost to the top of the northern prong
10. Waiting with my thumb out. Too wet and sore to walk back to the trailhead when there’s a perfectly good highway right there to get picked up
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