A comment from 'the family and their dog' at Whitewater.
Just wanted to give a quick reply to Admin's post about the touring at Whitewater this Easter weekend. The 'social network' of tourers were out in full force Good Friday and Saturday.
We worked Thursday night in heavy anticipation of the snow we saw falling at elevation and drove up Friday to no one breaking up Summit yet...one of my favourite sites. Saw a lonely tourer behind us and with the pace of his touring, it was likely he was going to catch up with us and help out in the trailbreaking. Then, the next time I saw him, he had his skis on his back and bootpacking right up Bonanza. I have to admit, my usual thought when I see a bootpacker in the backcountry nowadays is: 'Ah man, he is going to ruin the uptrack for the next laps'. Got to the top with the bootpacker never far behind which I thought confirmed he was on our uptrack. Then we looked at his track and noticed he put his bootpack in just next to the skin track. 'What a guy', I said to my wife.
By the second lap, the crowd started to file in. People super-excited and loving the uptrack right up Bonanza with few switchbacks. We were really impressed with the bootpacker that he was willing to put in another lap but agreeing fully with the concept of ALWAYS using a track at least twice. Followed him down Diamond Drill. Could have hit it first if we hurried at the top but this guy just DESERVED IT, knowing that being second, third and fourth (dog) down is no consolation prize. We had working skins and planned on more laps.
On third lap, we met a whole variety of tourers. One father and son team with the son urging the father for one more lap as subtlely as possible. A liftie/ski patrol touring with his two dogs cleaning up some odds and ends left on the hill while enjoying the refresh of new snow. Two telemarkers with boots from the 1980s and big smiles on their faces. At the end of the third lap, we heard a shout from an 'older' couple as we were re-skinning: 'Are you guys going for a fourth lap'.
I turned around and said: 'How did you guys know that?'
'Just doing the math', the man said. They had followed our second run down Diamond Drill (which did have some leftover moguls) and we were blown away when the woman said: 'Wasn't that run heavenly. This is our church'. What a perfect statement amongst a throng of tourers of all ages, all enjoying this recent gift from Mother Nature.
For the rest of the day, I told anyone who would listen about how we were impressed with the bootpacker, not for the fact that he did two laps because who wouldn't with the snow quality, but for the fact that he did not lay a single step on the skin uptrack leaving it for the rest of the community. When I told it to the liftie/ski patrol, he replied: 'Only at Whitewater', which isn't really true but I got his point. Gotta love touring at a closed ski hill with a community that just LOVES being out there.
Next day, wanted to get up early and hit two Prospector Couloirs before the crowds and warmth. The snow was excellent and the stability was perfect with little to no sloughing upon entry in the couloirs. Saw a foursome heading to the First Choice couloir. They were going to get rewarded.
Woke up Sunday morning after some of the best turns of the year on Fri and Sat (really, no kidding) and saw Saturday morning's post and laughed out loud for almost a minute, especially with the unknown pic of us three getting fresh tracks from top of Summit all skiing together.
Cheers to the bootpacker.
