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July, 2007
Mountain Man Pizza:
Soaking up the sun on a spring hike up Tuckerman’s Ravine
By Don Perkins
For many, Mount Washington's Tuckerman’s Ravine is a much-anticipated spring adventure. Hard-core skiers rocket down the ravine’s near-vertical rock face this time of year, while others just hike up to the ravine’s base to watch the skiers and enjoy the sun. A group of friends and I chose the latter last April shortly after the "Patriot’s Day Nor’easter." It was also a fine chance to have Mountain Man Pizza, a homemade trailside treat.
Oftentimes the high point of a hike is lunch: when you get the chance to enjoy different foods in remarkable settings — like on a mountain peak with a clear view, or, as in our case, at the base of sunny Tuckerman’s Ravine.
My friend Dennis Mondville has hiked for years and came up with the idea for Mountain Man Pizza, as he calls it, a couple of years ago. "It's a slow process but well worth it," he says.
About a dozen of us stuffed our packs with tortillas, pizza sauce, cheese, various toppings, paper plates, and last but not least, enough Tuckerman’s Trail Ale to enjoy one brew apiece. Jammed in the snow while we waited for the pizza, they proved to be a special treat. With the gear spread out among a dozen hikers it also was manageable.
Mount Washington was abuzz that sunny Saturday. The ski conditions were favorable because all the rain that brought us flooding was snow up on the mountain. About three feet fell during the Patriot’s Day Nor'easter.
It was a little past 9 a.m. when we reached the trailhead at the Pinkham Notch visitor center off Route 16. The parking lot was already full so we had to park across the road behind the Wildcat ski resort. We took a shuttle bus back to the trailhead. With skis strapped to their backs, some 150 other adventures found themselves in the same predicament.
After a steady slog up the ravine trail on a wide, groomed path we reached the AMC hut at the base of the ravine known as "Ho-Jo's." The view was spectacular. The headwall of the ravine, a glacial cirque carved by ice some 2 million years ago, greets you like a giant tsunami wall of rock.
We set up our "pizza kitchen" out on the snow here by the 2000-foot cliff face. The skiers looked very small as they slalomed down the snowy precipice. The sun was dazzling off the recent snow and the blue sky made for a warm and pleasant afternoon. It was time to make pizza.
Dennis pulled out a skillet and a one-burner propane stove. We set up a small worktable topped with a cookie sheet and Dennis began his handiwork. "I was camping at Katahdin Iron Works when I discovered I can make pizza out of tortillas," Dennis said. "It's been Mountain Man Pizza ever since."
He laid a tortilla out on the cookie sheet and spread it with sauce, scattered some cheese and toppings and placed it in the skillet. "Cooking it slow and covering it works best," he said, as he placed a tight fitting lid on the skillet. In about 10 minutes we had a crisp and delicious pizza.
Cooking in the backcountry proved interesting. Huge wind gusts would come rifling down the ravine and we had to keep things weighted down at times. But even on large gusts the skillet stayed perched on the stove. It was our first backpacking pizza adventure and chaos was all part of the fun.
Pepperoni, mushrooms and chicken were our toppings. "Where's the chicken?" Dennis said, as he searched while checking the skillet and making the next pizza. "Oh, I'm kneeling on it," he said, finally holding up a zip-lock bag.
We were glad we weren't in grizzly country because hikers’ noses soon sent them lumbering over to investigate the smell wafting through the ravine. One ravenous soul showed up with a $20 bill in his hand. Dennis turned him away. We didn't want to start pizza pandemonium, plus, we hadn't all eaten yet. But our position made it hard for others to ignore us.
"Oh, man pizza!" said a woman as she passed by. "I'm hiking with the wrong crowd!"
This went on for the better part of the afternoon. It was great to be outdoors among food and friends.
The pizza adventure proved that with a little imagination and some "mountain man ingenuity" the lunch options just got a little bigger out on the trail. We decided Dennis started a tradition worthy enough to kick off some long-awaited spring hiking.
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