Today turned out to be one of those days that started modestly but ended surprisingly good. This weekend being the last weekend of operation for Whitewater, I thought that I'd try and do some backcountry stuff that is easily accessible from the lifts since they won't be around to give me their 1300 feet of vertical boost for much longer. After a quick inbounds lap to taste the freshly fallen powder, and to remind ourselves why we don't like skiing moguls, Steve and I headed up into the alpine and took a lap into West Ymir Bowl. The visibility was poo and it was like skiing blinded for the first half of the run, but the snow was still decent.
There are some fun inbounds chutes that lie above Catch Basin, but they require some skinning to get to. So we went for a lap in one of them, called Pipeline Chute. Here's me in it.
During lunch at the lodge we talked to some guys who had skied Hummer A and B that morning. They are two steep, but amazing couloirs, or chutes, that sit between Prospector's Bowl and West Ymir. I've looked at them many times and always wanted to ski them, but never thought much about hitting them up until today. We went up to take a look and they were big, steep, and impressive-just how they look from below. They were made all the more imposing by the fact that we couldn't see all the way down them because we were socked in by the clouds. After checking them out we decided to ski Hummer B. The entrance was spicy and super steep, but it then opened up into 40 to 40+ degree terrain where you could make nice jump turns down the long couloir. Here Steve descends into the beast.
After 500 feet or so of steep couloir goodness, it opens up into a steep open bowl where we just ripped big turns down the boot to knee deep powder. Amazing! Hummer B has to be one of the best lines I've skied around here. Here's me opening 'er up in the bowl.
And a video of Steve skiing the upper part of the bowl once we exited the chute. A-freaking-mazing run!
1 comment:
Those are some badass coolers!
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