Whitefish Mountain Resort to Haines Pass

Dearest Mother, I write thee in dire times from the frontier. The bountiful powder harvests are a dream of the past. The men and women grow restless, and even with extra rations of whiskey and sour patch kids, there is no hope to assuage the malaise and melancholy lingering around town. The winds of change might be in the air, and it’s with this hope I write you now. My partner and I went on an exploratory trip in search of new prospects, traveling from Whitefish Mountain Resort to Haines Pass. On the first day, traveling to China Basin, we saw widespread surface hoar as far as the eye could see, growing to 2-3 cm on open sheltered slopes. Under the surfacehoar, there is an additional 5 cm of near-surface facets that are completely cohesionless and released in small loose dry avalanches that ran much faster and further than expected. The next day, we awoke to 5 inches of white gold. A gift from the heavens; I don’t know who to thank for this, the ski sacrifices happening in the beerstube parking lot, or the ritualistic dancing at the cabin fever days. Thou, I fear, the new snow has awakened the snow dragons. Every open meadow we crossed rumbled with collapses, whumphing, and shooting cracks as the dragons tried to crawl their way out of the snowpack. With persistent howling wind and increased exposure, we cut our trip short of our intended goal, the fabled Red Meadow Lake. We escaped from Haines Pass and dropped back to the valley floor. Upon our arrival to lower elevations, we were once again met with glomping and balmy temperatures, conditions that had driven us away from the comforts of home in the first place. Till I write thee again, dear mother Widespread cracking, collapsing, and whumphing

Whitefish Mountain Resort to Haines Pass

Quick report

Weather

Avalanche