April 5, 2012, Whitehorse Mountain, So-Bahli-Ahli

On Thursday I climbed and skied the big obvious glacial basin on Whitehorse with some friends. Conditions were great up high, but the price of admission was high. A 15 foot crown at the top of the basin has filled the lower reaches of the drainage with debris, which is either good or bad (I've never been there when it's snow free, so it's hard to say).

We walked about a mile and a half from the gate to the start of the debris. Then we booted and cramponned for about three thousand feet, taking the looker's left line around cliffs and waterfalls; skinning just didn't become efficient until pretty high up. But man, what a place to be! It's cool to keep looking down at the farmhouses along the highway: flat as can be down there. The upper 2,000' skied quite well, and then it became cascade adventure time, with lots of runnels, debris, cedar, and bushwacking on the skier's left side of the drainage.

It's probably not going to get much better this year, though a bit of melt-freeze will eliminate the postholing.