Ode To The Whites

Training for the White Mountains 100 required a lot of skiing.  What better place to train for the Whites than the Whites? In March this year I skied over 200 miles in the White Mountains alone.  I did a 36-mile daytrip at the start of the month, a 70ish-mile ski over 4 days the following week, and then did the White Mountains 100.

Wickersham Dome to Moose Creek Cabin to Wickersham Creek and Back

This post covers the first two trips, since I've already said all I can about the race.  On March 2nd my friend Erik and I began the 36-mile ski from the Wickersham Dome trailhead to Moose Creek Cabin, where we turned onto the Moose Creek Trail and back to Wickersham Creek Trail shelter, then back to the trailhead.  It took us around 9.5 hours, with breaks and picture taking.

As usual, I coincidentally saw Joel Homan and company at the trailhead.  They had a similar day to ours, except two in a row.

To Echo, patience is not a virtue.

Thanks to recent temperature swings, the trees were loaded with hoar frost.  It burned off then fell out of the trees like dandruff later in the day, however.

This is one of the better pictures I got all day except for the camera strap in the photo and the dust on either the lens, the sensor, or both.  I'll learn how to use photoshop one day, I promise.  And I've cleaned the lens and sensor.

Lefty really just runs in between Erik's skis like that.  He actually stays out of the way, which is impressive.

Starting up the wall in the evening light, looking back across Wickersham Creek.

Colorado Creek Trailhead to McKay Creek Trailhead

The next weekend was on for another Whites trip.  Laura booked the Wolf Run, Windy Gap, and Cache Mountain cabins and invited me along.  We started at the Colorado Creek Trailhead on the Elliot Highway and finished on the Steese at the McKay Creek Trailhead.  We were supposed to meet friends with snowmachines at Windy Gap, but we heard that they were having trouble getting the machines running prior to the trip....

The first 12 miles are a bit of a slog - just a gradual uphill up a valley.

She looks dejected, doesn't she? She seemed cheerful enough, this photo just caught her in a moment.  But the pack chafed her armpit, and at lunch on the first day she yelped when I tried to put it back on her.  It came off of her and went into my backpack for the remaining 60 miles of the trip.  I was a little bummed about that.

The Dorse, always adorable.

It is actually hard to get a picture of Echo moving down the trail because as soon as she hears me stop skiing (to take a picture) she turns around to check and make sure everything is okay.

Wolf Run Cabin.  End of the first day.

The second day as we make our way back into the mountains.

A large ungulate preceded us.

Windy Arch.  See it?  This bump is on a height of land where we crossed from one valley into another  The terrain had become quite a bit more dramatic at this point.

Windy Gap Cabin.  This day was only about 9 miles and we got to the cabin early in the afternoon.

I went for an afternoon ski a short distance down the Fossil Creek Trail, which I had never been on before.  However, it is part of the WM100 course, so I've skied it now - albeit entirely in the dark.

Windy Gap cabin. Our motorized friends did not show.

We were headed to Cache Mountain, but I think it's actually a little shorter than that.

Skiing up the Fossil Creek Trail (the opposite direction as the previous afternoon's jaunt) towards the Cache Mountain Divide.  These rocks are the Limestone Jags.  Fairbanks climbers often talk about potential in the Limestone Jags, but I'd rather just ski past them, then fly to Yosemite to rock climb.

Limestone Jags.

The beginning of the Ice Lakes.  For non-Fairbanksans, this is called overflow, and it happens when a body of water freezes and then water flows on top of that ice.  It can be water, ice, or anything in between, and happens all winter long. The Ice Lakes are a section of trail where a pretty small stream consistently forms overflow and ends up creating a sheet of ice the width of the valley.  Overflow can range from  a convenience (making for fast travel on a hard surface), a nuisance, an impassable obstacle, to something that is sneaky and dangerous.  This section of trail is notorious, but it was no problem for us on this trip (conditions change fast with overflow, since for one person it can be wet and awful and then a few hours later it can be frozen and no-big-deal). 

This is part of the ice lakes with snow on them. 

Echo considers her options.

The Cache Mountain Divide.

As I had expected, we ran into friends that were also training for the WM100.

Cody and Amy.  We saw them exactly on top of the divide, so even though we were going opposite directions, we were both starting long downhills.  They had just finished pushing their bikes for 7 miles - bikes are fast, but when the biking sucks, bikes really suck. 

Leaving the mountains even quicker than we entered them.

Cache Mountain Cabin.  I think we skied the 22ish miles in about 5 hours (but I could be wrong).

A little more overflow just before the cabin.

A well situated cabin.   

And then B-Buk made it! The dogs were glad to see him. Me too,

B-Buk and Joe took our backpacks out for us, so we got to ski the last day with no loads.  This is leaving Cache Mountain Cabin just before the turnoff onto McKay Creek Trail.

Crossing Beaver Creek.  While taking this photo I heard cracking, then found myself standing in six inches of water as I broke through the thin layer of ice that had formed on the overflow.  I knew I should have kept moving, but I thought I saw a good photo opportunity!

Some hoar frost on the willows, then a short distance further and it was a rip-shit 5 mile descent to the car we left on the Steese Highway.  Another great trip to the Whites!