White River Canyon to Hogsback

[OlegV]

Went for a conditional hike yesterday. Started at the White River Snow Park, went via Mesa Terrace to the point when it turned into a knife ride, downclimbed 200 ft down to the base of the canyon wall and climbed out to the Palmer Glacier(30 degree snow). No ice axe needed. Hit the Hogsback at 4 pm and decided to turn around. 7000 ft elevation gain. Coming down in the dark was a bit demoralizing (walking on a knife ridge).

 

Looking for new unexplored X-country lines West of South side...

[SashaG]

This sounds like a great route. I am new to the area, any chance you could sketch or clarify the route after the Mesa Terrace knife ridge transition? Wouldn't want to screw that up.. Is there anything I should watch out for with this approach?

Best

-Sasha

[OlegV]

Sure, no problem. The route is safe, just very long, also be careful walking on a knife ridge, there is a lot of loose (but avoidable by keeping a good balance) rock there The crux is finding a downclimb to the bottom of the canyon (~100 ft). You should be able to recognize a very mellow-looking snow slope - a weakness in the steep canyon wall.

 

I passed flowing water on my left (I suspect it represents a main drainage for the White river glacier) and started downclimbing 100-200 ft past this point. On the way back, a lot of water turned into ice creating a mixed route (!!!). I topped out at the level of the Silcox Hut or a little higher.

 

It took me 2.5 h to get down to the car from the Hogback.

 

Good luck and be safe. Do not try to climb back onto the knife ridge in the dark!!!

 

Oleg