Ryan White coming up Vesper
Sperry, east aspect
Sperry, SE aspect
Ryan in the Headlee Pass couloir, with Morning Star behind him
SE aspect of Vesper, so good!
Mt. Pugh
The Monte Cristo peaks
The Monte Cristo peaks
Ryan coming up to Vesper
Ryan skinning up
Mount Baker, south aspect
Three Fingers, SE aspect
Glacier Peak, Sloan, and Sperry
Rainier
Glacier Peak, west aspect
Whitehorse, SE aspect
Ryan on the summit
First turns
Ryan skiing down Vesper
Ryan below the Headlee Pass couloir
This blogger looking uphill and lovin it! (Photo: Ryan White)
(Photo: Ryan White)
(Photo: Ryan White)
(Photo: Ryan White)
This was quite possibly the greatest tour of my life.
Ryan and I met at the REI parking garage at 7am, then drove up to the mountain loop highway with no expectations. We had thought about hiking up Mount Dickerman and getting a few turns on the top of the peak. But one thing lead to another, and we started thinking it could be possible to bag Vesper today. Probably not, but we could see how high we could get.
The mountain loop highway went well. Then the Sunrise Mine road was driveable. Then the hike to the hanging canyon went quickly. Looking up the canyon, I knew we could make it up to Headlee Pass under two hours if we could find the right couloir on our first try.
The snow was firm so the travel was fast. The bootpack up the couloir went quickly too.
Then, we reached Headlee Pass and looked up at Vesper, a giant looming above us. My first impulse was that it was too big to do today. We didn't get an alpine start. But the weather was perfect: sunny but cool, with a full moon tonight. The avy conditions couldn't be better either. And with my new dynafit set-up, my legs felt great. So we thought, might as well head up there.
The skinning was perfect: perfect traction, perfect pitch and slope contours. We cruised up to the top and basked in unbelievable scenery. Huge peaks all over the state were out. From the American Border Peaks to Stuart and Rainier. And the peaks around us were especially stunning. Never before have I been in such an incredible setting like this mountaintop. With no worries on weather, no worries on avalanche hazard, just enjoying the mountains and feeling blessed for this privilege.
We clicked into our bindings and enjoyed the long, long open run down the various pitches of great snow; not quite corn snow, but similar softness. Then we traversed into the couloir below Headlee Pass and jump-turned down the steeps like we were in an 80s Chamonix extreme ski movie. We made it from the mountaintop, back to the car in a little over an hour. Plenty of time left in the day!
