May 30, 2026

Start/End: Pinkham Notch Visitor Center

Peaks: N/A

Elevation Gain: 2,405 ft

RT Mileage: 6.69 mi

Duration: 5 hours, 8 minutes

Rock Difficulty: Class 1

Snow/Ice Difficulty: Grade I

Last year, on May 23, I hiked to Hermit Lake during a late-season snowstorm and was treated to a winter wonderland. This year, when a nearly identical snowstorm showed up on the models exactly one week later, I had to run it back. This time, I hiked all the way to the base of Tuckerman Ravine, where, somehow, I haven't been in over two years.

Last year, I car camped at Pinkham the night before the storm and hiked up in the wee hours of the morning while the snow was still falling, before anyone could disturb the pristine coat of fresh snow on the trail. The downside was that it was mostly still socked in, and I didn't get much in the way of views. This year, the plan was to hike up later in the morning as the storm was wrapping up and clouds began to clear, but before the snow could begin melting in the late May sun.

After picking a friend up at 5:00 AM, we drove from dry eastern Massachusetts through heavy rain in southern New Hampshire back to light rain by the time we reached Pinkham Notch around 7:50. We started out on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail at 8:10. Within these 20 minutes, light rain had flipped to light snow, although the temperature was still around 37° F. Per data from the Auto Road on the MWOBS website, I knew the freezing line on the eastern side of the mountain was sitting at around 3,300 ft.

Although it was still lightly snowing most of the way up, visibility was pretty good and occasional glimpses of the higher terrain revealed conifers beautifully coated in fresh snow. Around 3,100 ft, we started seeing snow coating the trees and patches along the sides of the trail, but, interestingly, almost none on the trail itself, which broke the illusion of the winter wonderland. We finally started to see significant snow on the trail around 3,600 ft, which is presumably where the freezing line had been most of the night. This is also where we put the spikes on.

By this point, the snow had tapered off and the sun was beginning to peek through high clouds as low clouds surrounding the Washington massif began to clear. By the time we reached Hermit Lake around 10:00, patches of blue sky were beginning to appear and we had great views of Boott Spur, Tuckerman Ravine, and Lion Head above us. In terms of fresh snow accumulation, the scene was nearly identical to last year, as the comparison slider below hopefully shows.

From Hermit Lake, we steeply ascended the Little Headwall as we made our way towards the base of the ravine, breaking treeline along the way. We now had views both of the terrain above us as we did before but also of the Carters and Wildcats on the other side of Pinkham Notch.

The snowline on the Wildcats was the sharpest I've ever seen, and the transition from fully leafed-out hardwoods in the notch to a fresh coat of snow higher up in the coniferous forest was striking. In the base of the ravine, the glacial character of the snowfields in the bowl, particularly with a foot of fresh powder, was equally striking.

Left Gully is pretty much the only line in Tucks still skiable and there were about a dozen guys heading up there but we also ran into a couple of guys who told us they were going to try to ski the remnants of Sluice and Right Gully. Earlier on, we met two other guys who climbed Huntington in a foot of fresh snow, which is perhaps equally crazy. You meet a lot of crazy people on the Tuckerman Ravine Trail after a late May snowstorm.

The descent back to Pinkham was smooth and straightforward. Below Hermit Lake, where the temperature had risen above freezing, the snow was melting rapidly and the winter wonderland that had been there this morning was already on its way out. Back at Pinkham, it was 50° by the time we got down, with no sign that it had been snowing just hours earlier. Unfortunately, because of this, there were a lot of unprepared summer hikers heading up to try to summit Washington with no idea for what they were in for. Unlike these people, our day was already done and we were back home at 4:00 in the afternoon, with plenty of the day still remaining.