Whitehorse Mtn

[JasonG]

Phil's right. There really isn't any way to go too far before starting up to high pass. Cliff bands block the way on the traverse, and all you have to do is look up and see the notch of high pass. Good luck, It's a great view down to the farms on the Stilly.

[TYSON]

The other two posts pretty much nail it. I climbed the route last june you may wish the first obvious gully is the right one but go around the corner to find the correct route.The climb to high pass is relatively steep and I would consider the runout towards the Mt Bullen basin to be fairly serious.Once you reach the pass I traversed a way and then turned straight up and it was steep (whew).Great views to be sure and you earn them it makes for one long day my party just under 12 hours in fairly descent snow conditions(minimal post holing).good luck hope to see a report.

[Jman]

Thus far I've made 2 attempts of Whitehorse. The first we tried to do in one day and had to turn back for lack of time. The last time was only a few weeks ago. Snow conditions weren't the best and had too much fog, so it was difficult to not only proceed but to even see where we were (we happened to be just below Lone Tree pass). Our intent was to cross under the cliff bands at Lone Tree (NOT go over LTP) and traverse East over to a saddle that would drop us onto the glacier at about 3600' (I think). Going this way would force us to navigate the bergschrund. However, I was wondering if the High Pass route is a better choice? - (I know that's the "established" route in many books, the other route from Snow Gulch sucks! I hate bushwhacking Devil's Club!!! hence our idea of going the "saddle" route). Any suggestions as to the best route this time of year? Also, any beta about the route from Lone Tree to High Pass (so I don't "miss" it, since I've heard/read of others mistaking one gully that comes too soon for the actual gully up to High Pass).

Thanks!

[philfort]

We tried to climb it via the std route 2 years ago, but turned around due to avalanche danger. I'd expect you'd find similarly nasty conditions if you're planning on doing it tomorrow (Freezing level is supposed to be 9000ft I think)

The pictures from our trip report should help you identify the right place to head up to highpass (Even though we never got there): http://praxis.etla.net/~philfort/whitehorse/whitehorse.html

Basically, from LT pass, you travel along the ridge until it steepens considerably, then you descend several hundred feet to near a lake (to get around a rock buttress), then do a gradual ascending traverse. You might head up to High Pass too early, but you won't head up too late - so keep going until it's really obvious where High Pass is.