[TR] Whitehorse - Whitehorse Glacier 4/26/2009

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Trip: Whitehorse - Whitehorse Glacier

 

Date: 4/26/2009

 

Trip Report:

 

I have been looking at doing the Whitehorse Glacier route for a couple of years, but never seemed to get the weather/conditions window that I wanted. So, when I saw the NOAA forecast for this weekend... I couldn't resist.

 

My friends CC, and ES met me at the Ash Way P&R at the ungodly hour of 4 am and we headed up to Darrington. The road is gated just out of town adding 1.25 miles to th approach. Before too long we were at the base of the avy debris which reached all the way down to the stream outlet.

 

We ascended the avy debris and began scouting out a way up onto the Slide Alder slopes to get onto our traverse (climber's left) to get up and over the dreaded cliff bands. Our selection was not ideal, but not bad either. After 40 minutes or so of bushwaking through slide alder, blowdowns, devil's club, and near vertical mud and rock slopes, we got to reasonable terrain. There was a good amount of snow and some rocky sections.

 

Obligatory bushwhacking shot:

 

 

We made our way up traversing towards the left side of the cliffs. At around 2600 feet or so we encountered continuous snow.

 

 

The going was good, with slopes up to 30 degrees or so.

 

 

Just below the exposed glacier around 4000 feet we hit our first steepish section - a dome-shaped snow mound. It was probably about 45 degrees maximum and required some serious self-belaying. I foolishly had not put on gloves and suffered for it. By the time I topped out my hands were completely numb.

 

Cramponing up until now had been excellent. The snow was firm. Temps that night had definitely been below freezing (as was forecast). We were still in the shade. Due to the firm snow, and general closed crevasses we opted not to rope up.

 

We did an end-run to the right of the first open crevasse and continued up the glacier towards the left side. Slopes were moderate.

 

 

At this point the sun began to hit the glacier. Also we noticed some fresh snow on-top of a crust layer (maybe 2 inches thick, 4 up higher). We were prepared to reevaluate the avy conditions from this point out. Despite the sun, the fresh snow on top was not turning to slush.

 

 

We neared the steepening section of the glacier at noon or so. I had already donned gloves, and had put on my harness to holster my ice tool. The tool was not necessary but made the steep slope (up to 45 degrees) a lot more pleasant to ascend. We were a little worried about this slope as it could be a potential spot for a slab avalanche, and moved up it quickly.

 

A few more hills remained, including another short pitch with a 45 degree slope, and one more slope that really freaked us out. This last slope is convex, with a classic place for a loaded slope to fracture, and runs the length of the mountain from High Pass all the way across to above the East split of the glacier. No way to avoid it. As we ascended this, every step broke the crust layer below 4 inches of fresh snow. Very disconcerting.

 

Now the summit block was in sight - and the snow ramp looked beautiful - 45 degrees max, and right up to the summit. ES led it and I followed. CC ascended last. Again, we opted to go unroped due to the conditions. Totally solid.

 

 

We spent about 30 minutes on the summit. Views N and E were good. The other directions were socked in. We got intermittent views of Three fingers. Then the weather began rolling in. As we downclimbed the snow ramp, it began to snow. We were a bit worried about route-finding on the NW shoulder/Niederplum trail.

 

The summit after the weather came in:

 

We had decent visibility down to High Pass, and near it we saw a party of two ascended to the summit. At least we'd have a boot path to follow (so we thought).

 

The descent down from High Pass went well, and we began to traverse. This is where things went badly. We began ascending too soon (well before the little lake). We spent about 1.5 hours wandering around, side-hilling steep slopes, cursing, digging out maps, compasses, and GPSs. Eventually we found the little lake and corrected our traverse. This part sucked for everyone. We were hungry and low on water. I was definitely getting dehydrated. Those 400 feet up were hell.

 

We took crampons off and prepared for some glissading. It was short-lived. A few hundred feet down, we hit avy debris - tons of it. It was everywhere - and some was fresh. We dealt with the debris all the way to about 2600 feet, where we picked up a boot path headed left into the trees.

 

Avy debris:

 

The snow here was very sloppy and annoying, and it covered the trail until around 2200 feet. At that point we were on the trail proper, and it was close to dark. We got to the TH as light was fading, and back to the car at 9 pm, making for a 15.5 hour day. Time up was fine (9 hours) - issues on the descent cost us. The 1.25 miles of road was the longest 1.25 miles I have walked in a long time.

 

The day ended with Mexican food in Arlington, and me questioning why I do this to myself.

 

Gear Notes:

Ice axe, crampons, helmet.

 

Ice tool not necessary, but nice to have.

 

 

 

Approach Notes:

Minimal bushwhacking.

[Bishopp66]

Nice job Steven. And here I was lounging in LW in the sun and low 70's. Had beer and brats at Munchen by 4pm. Now that's fun climbing!

[Pete_H]

Interesting. I can't imagine the Mexican food in Darrington is all that good.

[catbirdseat]

It might have been that place in Arlington, which is pretty good. Darrington is tough for finding food of any kind after hours.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

It might have been that place in Arlington, which is pretty good. Darrington is tough for finding food of any kind after hours.

 

Yes, Arlington. Darrington was all closed up.

[DPS]

Nice tr, it brings back memories of when Roboboy and I climbed it a couple of years ago.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

Nice tr, it brings back memories of when Roboboy and I climbed it a couple of years ago.

 

how did the ice cliff go??

[DPS]

 

how did the ice cliff go??

 

One of the two of us was not feeling up to climbing the Ice Cliff so one of us opted to climb the Sherpa Glacier by himself.

[Pete_H]

I've been to that place in Arlington. It's pretty good.

[olymand]

Nice TR. Went with the mounties last year and found quite a bergshrund in may. we rapped off the summit which was fun. conditions were lots easier looks like and we had a pretty good glissade from high pass, and from pineapple. Sounds like you had quite a slog.--Steven, we did the tooth this winter if you remember.

[Tom_Sjolseth]

Way to get after it.

[Fairweather]

Good Job. Wish I could have joined you!