Eklutna Ski Traverse

3 days 

After a few years of the "picked weekend" conditions not working, we hit good conditions 😊 Last year the visibility and avy conditions weren't great on the weekend we wanted to go. The year before, Katie and I had started in Eklutna, gotten to Hans Hunt and questioned the avalanche conditions for the rest of the traverse. We turned around (the harder but safer decision) and it was a long day going from Hans back, carrying our skis after the Eklutna Glacier out the trail way since it was the first week of May. Pros of starting at Eklutna might include a faster ski on the lake in the morning depending on conditions. Pros of starting at Crow Pass might include getting any potential avalanche terrain out of the way fast in case conditions change and ability to see the whole glacier lay out when navigating up Whiteout. Many go down the Raven Headwall and out the valley. Since we were starting on this side, we opted to go up Goat Ridge to avoid the terrain trap valley. 

There are a couple ways you can tour up towards the first ridge, and then there is wide easy walking for a bit. We used ski crampons and then put our skis on our backs at some point before the first little top out. There are some cornices, but very easily avoided. The last part up to the high point (which is along the ridge of Goat Mountain but lower down and to the right) was exposed. We switched to crampons before this part. I hate exposure so I putted along and eventually we made it up. Beautiful views! 

  

We then continued down towards Rosie's Hut. We kept questioning whether we should rip skins and un-rope, but continued to think we were close to flats. In hindsight, I think ripping skins would make much more sense, but it's always great practice skinning downhill with an overnight pack. Rosie's was lovely and we used the coleman stove to melt water, which sped up our process. From the hut we could see our next move (picture bottom right). 

 

We went down from the hut a little towards skier's right, but in hindsight you might be able to go straight down to the glacier from the hut. We put on skins and roped up, figuring might as well if we're flat walking. We hopped onto the moraine and then at the top roped up to enter onto the glacier, snaking left towards the middle. Once you get to the top, the rest of Whiteout is pretty straight forward. We stayed roped up again since we were just walking. Clouds had moved in once we reached the top (fitting for whiteout glacier). I got to put play with some flat navigation skills I learned working in Antarctica while skiing to the south pole. Mostly just seeing how straight of a line I could make towards Whiteout Pass. I started with using my shadow in front of me, because there was still some sun behind us. Then I used a mix of pointing my Gaia arrow towards Whiteout pass and picking a land mark, and trying to spot Whiteout pass with my eyes. All unnecessary to make such a straight line but fun. Hans passed by on our left. Two years ago when Katie and I came from the other side, it took us awhile to spot the way down. The moat looked intimating so we swung out further, but ultimately the best way is to scoot around the left side the moat coming from our direction. Easy to spot from this side. We ripped skins and skied down in the whiteout, away from Whiteout. We shuffled and skate skied for awhile and then eventually put skins back on, and again roped up because just walking so why not and the low vis. Still couldn't see much all the way up to Pichler's Perch. If you go too far down Eklutna Glacier there's some cracks, so we crossed over to the rocks where we knew the glacier was more filled in. Given the engaging weather, this was my favorite day of the trip. 

We were able to use the stove again at Pichler's to melt water so again more efficient for a group of five. In both huts we slept really comfortable upstairs as a group of five. The next morning was beautiful again, I was happy that we would have shade from walls for awhile. We left the hut before the sun hit us. To the side is a picture of Eklutna Glacier from Pichler's. We were going to shoot for the most filled in line, but I'm not sure what line we ended up taking. We skied straight down from the hut and then shot out towards the middle, since there are predictable cracks coming around the bend right below the hut. Overall, the crevasses were pretty small. Coming off the Eklutna, we stayed right above the toe and then went up and over the right rock formation (bottom left picture). Depending on the year, I have heard this is a crux, but the past three years it has seemed okay. I was surprised how little snow there was on Eklutna compared to May 2022. The rest of the way out had much more snow this time though, so we were able to skin all the way to the lake. We tested out the lake ice and were able to do a fast skate ski across, perfect conditions! We ran into 2 groups the last day doing the reverse way, one we knew and one from Utah, but otherwise didn't see anyone. 

Soft skill take-aways include that our group had really great communication and efficiency for a group of five. Everyone played an important role and had various strengths. Catherine killed the boot pack and exposure bits, Shannon's crevasse rescue and glacier knowledge were great, Liz shared many a gear and was her solid self testing the ice for us, and Erin can weather whatever happens and still do a bunch of camp chores at the end of the day. 

Sometimes my life seems like a tour of a bunch of disappearing glaciers and landscapes. Seeing the huts so far up, and seeing how much Eklutna continues to shrink reminds me these huts may not be accessible by foot at some point. Real time and makes me reassess my actions.