Animal Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 Trip: Whitehorse - North West Glacier Date: 5/5/2007 Trip Report: On May 5-6 Patrick, George, and myself climbed Whitehorse via the North West Glacier. When we were looking at the mountain from the road, a local asked "why" we were doing the glacier route because there was a slight bush problem. Well after doing the trip, we all knew "why' because the bushes kicked some butt and Olympic brush monkeys need a good butt kinking in the Cascades once in a while. Actually the glacier route was very fun and scenic. Camping on the upper part of the glacier was a treat. It turns out that several people did the Lone Tree Pass route this weekend, so we had a packed sidewalk and some great glissading on the way out this route. Below are some picts of the trip - Gear Notes: 40m rope, crevase gear, and snowshoes for the soft snow. Approach Notes: Straight up! Remember green belays are your friend in the bush. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Off_White Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 Looks like a great time, pity you didn't take any photos of the green fun down low. Is it already too late for the brush to be covered up? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whatcomboy Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 We did Lone Tree Pass on Sat. Summit was socked in. There was a huge group of Mounties up there but all but four turned around. Good going on the direct route. The brush is nasty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted May 8, 2007 Author Share Posted May 8, 2007 pity you didn't take any photos of the green fun down low. Is it already too late for the brush to be covered up? IT TOOK LIKE TWO HOURS TO MOVE THREE FEET, BELOW IS PROOF Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted May 8, 2007 Author Share Posted May 8, 2007 We did Lone Tree Pass on Sat. Summit was socked in. There was a huge group of Mounties up there but all but four turned around. Good going on the direct route. The brush is nasty. We were wondering who made all the steps. We saw about nine people on Sunday, but I think it was socked in for them too. Somehow we lucked out and got a quick weather window. Sloan looked awesome from up there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sirwoofalot Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 Oh, how I hate that brush whippen, but it sure is nice once you get above it. Nice job. White Horse is on my personal hit list. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skykilo Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 No skis, Animal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted May 8, 2007 Author Share Posted May 8, 2007 No skis, Animal? Now we know we should have had skis, down with the heel for George, and free the heel for me. Patrick - get some gear, and next time we will ski! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted May 8, 2007 Author Share Posted May 8, 2007 No skis, Animal? Now we know we should have had skis, down with the heel for George, and free the heel for me. Patrick - get some gear, and next time we will ski! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DPS Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 Roboboy and I did this route as a day trip last year. I think we hit the approach just right because it was surprisingly not bad at all or at least not as bad as I had expected. Nice work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
i_like_sun Posted May 8, 2007 Share Posted May 8, 2007 Looks like a fantastic trip guys! I've often wondered about that main shute and how it would work with a ski/snowboard descent. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary_Yngve Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 We did Lone Tree Pass on Sat. Summit was socked in. There was a huge group of Mounties up there but all but four turned around. Good going on the direct route. The brush is nasty. We were the Mountie party of 6 (I would not call that huge) who broke trail for everyone else (11 others, who were private). And no, we weren't the ones carrying the wands. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary_Yngve Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 What did yall think of the windpacked snow up top? I was getting high quality shears 2" down and 18" down, originally moderate difficulty at High Pass, but then hard difficulty on the glacier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mvs Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 Here's a brush shot: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
still_climbin Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 Nice job. Looks like classic May. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted May 9, 2007 Author Share Posted May 9, 2007 I've often wondered about that main shute and how it would work with a ski/snowboard descent. I would totally ski what we climbed, and it would be a real adventure getting your skis through the bush, it might even be fun. I think skis would be much better than snowshoes we used. If done earlier there may be more snow down low, but I would expect a more wintry experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted May 9, 2007 Author Share Posted May 9, 2007 Here's a brush shot: Is this picture taken on the right side of the lower glacier approach? I saw this on a previous TR, and was wondering? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Animal Posted May 9, 2007 Author Share Posted May 9, 2007 What did yall think of the windpacked snow up top? I was getting high quality shears 2" down and 18" down, originally moderate difficulty at High Pass, but then hard difficulty on the glacier. The snow up the glacier was stable, and nothing sheared away. Where we did locate our tarp on the glacier, I did notice the layers you talked about when building a snow wall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Posted May 10, 2007 Share Posted May 10, 2007 There were 6 in the group I went with Saturday. My trip report is on summitpost. We did benefit from others stomping the snow to the summit. All 6 in our group, including two nubies made it. It was my third try. Once via the Glacier, once Lone Tree. This time was Lone Tree. Great Spring trip. Glad we did it. Congrads on the Glacier route! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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