White River Canyon 1/16/01
We did the 10 minute shuttle deal from the White River Canyon parking lot up to the base of the Meadows ski area - so already we've picked up about 1500 free vertical feet. We're climbing by 6:30. Not a cloud in the sky - the stars are mind-blowing and the 1/2 moon makes the mountain look like a big ghost. Dead calm down there - the temp at the White River Sno Park was 12 when we cruised out.
So we climbed the groomers all the way up to the top of the Cascade chair at 7500 feet. The sunrise was incredible . . . The big blue H is parked over eastern OR and Idaho so above the treeline we start to get some pesky easterlies that run snow around at about ankle level with the occasional face blast of powder snow.
| Sunrise.......headlights of the Snowcats can be seen below right |
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By the time we reach the ridgeline above the Cascade chair the winds are even more persistent. Easily sustained at 20 or more . .. the snow is getting increasingly hammered but there's still skinnable snow available. We're hoping that the shot we're going to ski will be sufficiently protected for the snow to have survived the wind mash.
| Some old ski tracks in wind-worked snow. |
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| More wind sculpting around a big 'ol rock. |
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By the time we top out at around 8600 feet - just below the Wy'East face - the winds are a sustained 35-40 but not gusty. Just really consistent like when you stick your head out the window of a car.
| Matt having a blast on the climb up. Temp was around 18 so with the sustained 40mph wind the wind chill was . . . I don't know . . . around a million below zero, or something. |
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I do the preps for the descent on the ridge like an idiot while getting it full-force. So all the while I'm concerned about the inadvertant gear jettison. Luckily hung on to everything, though gathering the skis for a short boot walk down some rocks to our line was like holding on to a sail.
| At the top of the main bowl the snow is velvety-smooth in long fingers that sort of stretch down the fall line. Almost like waves of this creamy powder - hero snow . . . you could do no wrong in it. You'd follow one until it got you too far off your line then ski some harder styrofoam until you got onto the next one over - about 10-20 feet away. |
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| More turns as the big blast continues up above |
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| Crankin' em out. |
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| Further down in the bowl there were more consistent areas of powder. The line we skiied sort of follows a series of steeps and traverses on its way down - the traverses pretty trivial 30 second affairs across to the next moraine - the steeps about 30-35 degrees for about 500 vert or more until the next traverse - this pattern is repeated about 6-7 times until you get to the bottom of the White River drainage. Kind of like a big playground, really . . . each pitch is a new wrinkle - slightly different from the last. Canyon skiing on the big Cascade snowcones almost becomes an art. |
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| A couple of the shots were steep enough to make for effortless hop-turning complete with powder and windslab chunks rolling by and beyond on the way down. The last bowl we skied into the bottom of the drainage was exceptional. |
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| The final pitch before reaching the bottom of the White River drainage |
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So we've reached the bottom and we're looking out across the drainage and it looks very different from a year before. Unfortunately the big flooding that took place in the fall has turned the diminutive river with trivial snow-bridge crossings into a canyon with 15-20 foot mud and rock cliffs on either side. That flood must have been massive - an ice-dam in the White River Glacier with a big backlog of water behind it let loose during a huge rainstorm in October and totally wasted this basin. Suddenly our trivial ski out is an unknown. So we meander on the East side of the drainage scoping for a place to cross over - it ain't happening. There's too much water, not enough snow, and those nontrivial mud-cliffs on either side.
| We wind up poking along the east side of the drainage all of the way down to route 35 and then cross the bridge on foot and have to tramp back up the lot to the rig. Oh well. A little poling across the flats and a 5 minute boot on the road still isn't too steep a price for way over 4000 vertical feet of powder turns.... |
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