Whitewater Ridge

The way it works around here is someone phones you up and says that they are interested in going for a "little ski" on Sunday. A little climb up Whitewater ridge and back down. Nothing too epic. Are you interested in joining them? So Dan phones on Friday and we arrange to get started about 9:30 am on Sunday. Access is near enough that we don't really need alpine starts for trips like this.

On Sunday, we're ready to start the skidoos by about 10:30 and we're on the skis by 11:10 am. It takes nearly two hours of steep climbing to gain the top of the ridge and by that time we're in full sunshine, having climbed above the fog. Lunch at 1 pm. Views of Mt Brennan, just across Whitewater Creek, London Ridge to the west, Mt Reco and Texas Peak to the south, Mt Loki visible off in the distance across the Kootenay Lake Valley. But it's not done yet - we still have to get back down.

We traverse across the ridge and angle down across steep, treed slopes. Rock bands and cliffs appear below us. We debate possible routes. We see one possibility down a steep, south-facing chute, but we're uncertain about the snow stability, although it has seemed good so far. We move carefully, one at a time, down through the trees near the chute. The top centimeter or two of snow does slough off, but no danger appears. We cut back and forth across the chute, seeking security in trees along the sides. Still safe. We near the bottom and ski out into a clearing. Now it's just tricky skiing through the trees to the top of a clearcut, a short traverse through the trees back to the snowmobiles and we're ready to head back down. It's 3:15 pm and the skies are still blue, the sun still shining. By 5 pm we are back home and unloaded. Nachos, hot tub, beer, supper, rest......