When I started this thread I should have made clear that my reference to The Balsams in New Hampshire was not related to the fir trees lining the fire trail from Pinkham Notch Camp to the “Howard Johnson’s” at the base of the bowl. (And if you understand the reference to that Howard Johnson’s, you are truly an old man of the mountains.)
And since my thread has been well and thoroughly hijacked😃, I may as well relate my most interesting, and foolhardy, Tuckerman experience. One fine April day some buddies and I decided we’d ascend Washington via Lion Head (for the few on this discussion group who are unfamiliar with Tuckerman Ravine, it is the buttress forming the right side of the ravine). As we got above treeline the footing was boilerplate crust, and none of us had brought our crampons and ice axes. My Limmers (another local tramper reference) barely dug into the steep surface. We were fortunate not to be added to ample role of Washington casualties, as we skulked down the Auto Road, having abandoned our aspirations for the summit.