A few snowstorms ago, one of my friends mentioned that he’d seen lots of ski tracks on Whaleback Mountain, despite the fact that they closed nearly a month ago. We agreed that people were “Skinning” to the summit (climbing up on my cross country skis) and skiing down (no lifts required). After spending the morning taking care of chores at my condo, I decided today to try some skinning myself. When I arrived (1530), I found that I had the whole place to myself. It seemed like the Upper/Lower Ivory Trail would be the route for me to skin since I’ve watched the Uphill Pass folks going that way. Temps were in the low 40s but it was overcast and there was some wind. Someone had worn a nice track on the trail but my narrow X-C skis still dug in deeper. The good thing about this was that I had traction all the way to the top, even in steep areas. On the other hand, it became clear that coming back down on my EVOs was going to be REALLY difficult. Still, I kept climbing, navigating around water hazards and fallen trees - I wanted to get to the top! About 30 minutes after I’d left the parking lot, I reached my summit goal (1800 feet, after 700 feet of vertical climb) and got some tremendous views. Didn’t feel tired or cold - actually felt pretty pleased with the first half of the adventure. Of course, it was now going to get more difficult and I carefully considered my options, safety-wise, for getting down. In the end, I retraced my route and took things very slow. It actually took me almost 45 minutes to get down - mostly, I skied (probably 80%) but there was a particularly treacherous looking area (steep, water, trees, rocks) where I walked through the snow. Wished I’d worn my gaiters at that point because the drifts were probably nearly 12 inches up there. During the second half of the downhill run, though, I got some manageable speed and was able to make it the rest of the way to the bottom without falling (done by 1645). Awesome! Afterwards, I headed back to my condo (arrived at 1700). On the way, I saw lots of traffic on their way north for the Eclipse. Wonder if I should join them... Final assessment: skinning with X-C skis was definitely harder than using Downhill skis but I still am glad I performed this “experiment” at the Whale!
