The Inferno returns to Tuckerman Ravine

The Inferno makes its return to Mount Washington on March 15. (Dan Houde/Wiseguy Creative)

After a one-year hiatus, the Tuckerman Inferno is returning this March with a new format that harkens back to the legendary events of old.

For the first time this century, the March 15 race will take place solely on the slopes of New England’s biggest mountain, with five legs beginning and ending at Pinkham Notch. Individuals can tackle all five legs or work in relay teams, with the course set to go up Tuckerman Ravine Trail to the ravine floor, up a gully to the summit (if conditions allow), down the headwall to Hermit Lake, back up Hillman’s Highway as far as conditions allow, then down to Pinkham via the Sherburne Ski Trail.

While there will be safety checks and clipping into fixed lines will be required on the ascent of the ravine, watching skiers bomb down the headwall at speed might remind some of the legendary 1939 Inferno, when young Austrian-American ski pioneer Toni Matt somehow descended from the summit to Pinkham in 6 minutes, 29 seconds, cutting the previous record by about six minutes for a time that still stands today, by a wide margin.

In those early events, racers climbed to the summit before descending on old skis. This new format incorporates more of the modern practices and equipment involved in ski mountaineering by placing an emphasis on quick transitions, safe climbing and variable skiing on different aspects.

“We wanted to bring it back closer to the origins of the Inferno,” said race director Jake Risch, who took over as race organizer when his father, Al, died in 2018. “We were thinking about how to reformat while maintaining the modern aspects of what skiing on Washington is like now and highlighting some of the skills you need to safely travel in the mountains.”

Inspired by the world’s longest amateur ski race held since 1928 in Murren, Switzerland, the first three official Inferno races took place in 1933, 1934 and 1939. The Civilian Conservation Corps cut the Sherburne Ski Trail the summer after the first race in 1933, offering a wider path to ski back to Pinkham. After a fatality during an unofficial ski race in the Berkshires in 1936, the newly formed National Ski Patrol used control gates for a race on Tuckerman Ravine in 1937, introducing the new sport of giant slalom to American mountains.

According to New England Ski Museum executive director Jeff Leich, there were a few attempts to run Inferno races later in the 20th century, including a 1969 event where a snowcat came into the ravine floor to groom, but weather and logistics prevented a full top-to-bottom descent.

“I think it took a generation for the memory to wear off regarding how much work it took to put on a race on Mount Washington without the support of lifts and other infrastructure,” said Leich.

When Al Risch founded the nonprofit Friends of Tuckerman in 2000 with longtime snow ranger Brad Ray, the organization revived the Inferno as a multi-sport endeavor with kayaking, biking, running and hiking required to set up the final descent from Tuckerman Ravine to Pinkham. The format stuck until the race was canceled in 2020, then it was simplified by replacing kayaking and biking with cross-country skiing and snowshoe racing on the Great Glen Trails network.

Risch said ideally, the new format would have included a cross-country leg from Pinkham back to Jackson, but the required route uses the Avalanche Brook Ski Trail, which crosses through a small portion of the Dry River Wilderness, where events are prohibited.

Even with a more centralized course, it will require dozens of volunteers and help from the Appalachian Mountain Club for the race to run smoothly. Several ski patrol groups are sending volunteers, and there will be five instructors from the U.S. Army Mountain Warfare School to ensure participants are using avalanche beacons and other required gear, and to respond in the event of an emergency. If the weather doesn’t cooperate on March 15, the race could be pushed back a day. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Mount Washington Avalanche Center.

“This is a day to show how to move quickly, but safely in this unique terrain,” said Risch, a former Army officer and ski patroller at Wildcat who founded the White Mountain Swift Water Rescue Group. “We want to have fun, have a race, and use that race to talk about the best practices of mountain travel.”

The favorites for both the women’s and men’s field are returning champions Josie Fisher and Ed Warren, of Norwich, Vt. The ski mountaineering power couple excelled in the five-leg format employed earlier this decade, with Fisher winning in 2021 and 2022 before sitting out in 2023 while pregnant to cheer on Warren’s victory.

A former member of the USA Women’s Skimo Team, Fisher set the women’s fastest known time by running up the Tuckerman Ravine Trail from Pinkham to the summit of Washington in 1 hour, 10 minutes, 32 seconds this past September. Her grandfather, Will Cochrane, raced the Inferno in the 1930s and her great aunt and uncle were in the ravine the day Toni Matt set the speed record, reaching speeds of approximately 80 miles per hour as he straight-lined the headwall.

“Mount Washington is such a unique resource we have in New England, so it’s exciting to have the opportunity to race in Tuckerman’s Ravine,” Fisher said. “I’m excited to get back to that format and carry on the family tradition in the modern era.”

It should benefit Warren to keep the race within the confines of ski mountaineering, since a 2011 avalanche accident in Wyoming left him with an ankle injury that limits his ability to run. Somehow, he made up time on the leader in 2023 after trailing throughout the cross-country and snowshoe portions, and now he can stay in his skimo boots for the entire race.

“I grew up learning about the history of Tuckerman Ravine, and I thought it was incredible to hear about Toni Matt,” said Warren, who competed in ski jumping, alpine racing and nordic skiing while growing up in Lebanon, N.H.

“When I went up to Tucks for the first time at 12, my ski popped off on my first turn, and I fell all the way down the headwall. But I went back the following years and really fell in love with the place.”