[TR] Mt. Whitehorse - Whitehorse glacier 4/14/2012

[mountainsandsound]

Trip: Mt. Whitehorse - Whitehorse glacier

 

Date: 4/14/2012

 

Trip Report:

This is more of a conditions report than a trip report, considering that we did not make it past the 1st really cliffed out section. We arrived at the trailhead at 5pm Sat, planning to ascend past the slide alder and cliffs and such to camp as high up as we could safely and shave whatever elevation we could off of the next day. Then we were planning on summiting very early the next morning to duck any snow instabilities with the warmer temps.

 

Road still blocked off as usual, 1.5 mile hike or so to the trailhead. Once at the trailhead, snow gulch can be ascended via snow almost immediately. Lots of snow. I have never seen so much avalanche debris piled up anywhere. It almost looked like a broken up glacier field with toppled over seracs. On some of the bigger pile ups of snow, it must have been at least 30 feet deep or more down to the creek bed. Broken trees snapped like twigs laying everywhere. It was incredible.

 

Anyway, the snow in the drainage is very deep and staying there for a long time. Hiked through the chunky avalanche debris snow to the first cliff area (1800 ft. or so?) where you are supposed to go left of the little waterfalls. Not bad snow most of the way, even in the late afternoon fairly firm.

 

None of us had been up this route, and I think with all the snow we might have gone too far up to the base of the cliffs before heading up climbers left. Avalanche debris almost breached the first cliffs, but not quite enough. Tried climbing the remaining rock up past this point but it was very wet, slick, and exposed to dangerous falls. We backtracked to try and climb the steep slide alders out of the drainage, but lost our daylight. Carved out a little camp on the debris field. It looked like no slides had come through this point for at least a week.

 

Because of our low elevation camp, we missed our opportunity for being on and off the upper slopes before mid morning, so we called it. It does look like most of the bigger, more obvious avalanche zones in upper snow gulch and above on the glacier have gone already. But there was quite a bit of activity on the ridges and cliffs surrounding the basin higher up. Saw a wet slab go down to the rock on the cliffs above the toe of the glacier. Lots of wet, warm snow on the rocks getting shuffled around. Practiced crevasse rescue and other stuff among the debris the next day before heading out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 16, 2012 by Nater

[JasonG]

Wow, I'm impressed you were able to sleep in that debris field. Gave me the willies.

 

We skied it last Saturday, I think it took us around 10 hrs RT (up climbers left, down climbers right). Bring skis next time and start early, it a great day trip- if you have skis.

 

I think the key is to avoiding sun induced sluffage is to go up the climbers left, and come down climber's right after the sun has shifted to the east wall. That way you are always traveling on the shady side.

Edited April 16, 2012 by JasonG

[mountainsandsound]

I can't believe people do this in a day, but I don't know how to ski really either. We were somewhat concerned about camping on the debris, but nothing immediately around us was threatening and we were off to the side of the path. I guess a huge one from way up could have obliterated us though, but it looked like those released last week or before.

 

How deep were those crowns up toward the top? We could see them clearly from 530.

[John_Scurlock]

here are three views of it from April 8:

 

http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/142726397

http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/142726400

http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/142726403

 

in other years the fracture lines here have stretched nearly to the summit.

We estimated this particular one to be perhaps five to ten feet deep.

Looks like it probably happened a few days before the 8th.

[yikes]

A couple of interesting TRs on TAY showing a huge crown.

http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=24420.0

http://www.turns-all-year.com/skiing_snowboarding/trip_reports/index.php?topic=24431.0

[John_Scurlock]

that definitely puts it in perspective. It's so hard to judge from the air.

Here's what I was referring to, kinda poor quality but you get the idea, from 2007:

 

http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/91232603 and

http://www.pbase.com/nolock/image/91231897

 

those are from December, before development of a gigantic pack..

[mountainsandsound]

Wow. Awesome pictures. I think I saw a few beforehand. Considering that big avalanches up at the summit look like they could travel almost 6,000 feet of elevation down the drainage to the trailhead, I'm not surprised how much debris were present. I wonder how loud those are for the folks living across the Stillaguamish valley.

 

Would be some good footage to set up a remote camera in snow gulch somewhere and get some documentation of a huge slab barreling down.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

I did this route a few years ago C2C. It is a great one in the right conditions. Go for it again if you get the chance!

[DPS]

I can't believe people do this in a day,

The Silver Fox AKA Roboboy and I booted this CTC in 12 or 14 hours. The key for us was nailing the approach. I have heard horror stories about getting lost in dripping, mossy cliff, devel's club, and slide alder. We managed to find what may be the most reasonable approach with some luck and occasional flagging.

Edited April 16, 2012 by DPS

[mountainsandsound]

Yeah, seems like route finding through those cliffs lower down would actually be the crux of this route. It is at a crappy in between stage right now in that area, with some patches of soft, post-holin' fun and some bare spots through the steep alder over the cliffs. Everything is very wet. Might try again next month.

[JasonG]

Here is the crown line on 4/7:

 

 

This was by far the largest avalanche I have seen. The crown was mostly in the 10' range with some areas pushing 15'. It ran over 5000'! Wow.

[DPS]

For accuracy's sake, Roboboy and I climbed the Whitehorse Glacier CTC in 11 1/2 hours.

Edited April 17, 2012 by DPS

[mountainsandsound]

Whoa. With avalanches that big, your beacon is no longer even a body recovery device. Because it was crushed to pieces.

[mountainsandsound]

As much as I love endurance fests, I also love camping if I have the time.

[DPS]

As much as I love endurance fests, I also love camping if I have the time.

When I was younger I had a woody for speed. Looking back it is the bivis that are often very memorable.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

As much as I love endurance fests, I also love camping if I have the time.

 

But you have to consider the extra effort required to haul a heavy pack vs. going with a day pack.

[mountainsandsound]

I agree, for me it depends on the route. With an approach like snow gulch, a smaller daypack would be better. With a long but less arduous approach, I'm inclined to make camp somewhere along the way. I have a lot of cool memories of awesome base camps and bivy spots. I got into alpine stuff through backpacking rather than gym climbing or cragging, which might partially explain it.

[NickStrait]

DPS, yes you did! I still wake up screaming from the many memories