Since I can’t be in the mountains right now (I’m still recovering from surgery), I figured I might as well write about some good times in the mountains this past winter. Enjoy this Part 1 in a 2 or 3 part series (TBD).

Part 1: Bomber Traverse – In a Day

In mid-March, ski conditions weren’t super stellar in Hatcher Pass, but the sun was shining, so Kate and I opted to ski the Bomber Traverse in a day. This classic Hatcher traverse has been an objective of mine for quite some time, so I was happy to finally make it happen.

Gold Mint Trail

We skied from the Gold Mint lot out to Mint Hut and came out Snowbird and back to Gold Mint. Kate and I don’t really have pace goals with our ski objectives. Our goals include: being outside, exploring new terrain, and enjoy good company. So after many cloudy days, we were stoked to be out on a bluebird day.

Conditions were pretty nice heading up the valley to the Mint hut. Once we started climbing up to the hut, the snow conditions became not so stellar with a slippery sun crust. We picked some decent angles and found our way up above the hut.

Backdoor Gap

Once backdoor gap was in view, we plotted out our plan for climbing up. We started out on skis, but transitioned to crampons and boot packing pretty early on when the snow conditions were no longer appropriate for skins. We likely would have done fine with ski crampons, but I brought my larger skis and I don’t have ski crampons for them.

I put the boot pack in for the first pitch and found a protected area to wait for Kate to make her way up. Once she met me, we switched spots and she put in the boot pack to the top of Backdoor Gap. It was nice to take a break and take in the views. We also knew that Backdoor Gap was one of steepest areas on the traverse, so we were happy to be off the slope.

Penny Royal Glacier

There was a sizeable cornice on the Penny Royal Glacier side of the ridge, but we were able to find a way to side-step down from the ridge and then get out from under the cornice pretty quickly. The glacier skiing probably had the best ski turns of trip since almost everything was hard and crusty.

Bartholf Creek Valley

We made our way down and then traversed our out of Bartholf Creek Valley past the Bomber Hut. We stayed pretty high above the valley in order to avoid putting skins on at the valley floor. Once out of the valley, we transitioned back to skins and started the climb up to Snowbird.

The Backdoor Gap climb had taken a lot of energy, so I know I was pretty tired when it came time to start climbing again. I also psyched myself out thinking we were up on Snowbird glacier when we were only at the lake below the glacier. I always seem to do that both in the summer and winter. Wishful thinking I guess. The climb up to Snowbird really wasn’t too bad though because of the packed snow from snow machine traffic.

Snowbird Glacier, Reed Lakes Trail, Archangel Road

I seem to recall from that point on that my storytelling slowly dwindled and my sugar consumption increased. Snowbird Glacier was beautiful as always and we enjoyed the sunshine up high. The last climb up off the glacier had my quads burning (probably from dehydration), but we made it up and the end was in sight. Of course, we still had the terrible ski out from Snowbird ahead of us. The snow was horribly crusty and bumpy and my tired little legs felt like they didn’t know how to ski anymore. After rattling our brains through old avalanche slide paths and crappy snow, we were ready for the final push out to Archangel Road.

Kate is much better at skating than I am, so she took off down the road and I followed behind, taking full advantage of the downhill to the Gold Mint trailhead. Overall, we had a wonderful day and soaked up every last bit of sunshine that Hatcher had to offer.

I know a lot of you might want to know how long it took. Maybe 11 hours?? I don’t track my outings, but Kate might know if you ask nicely.