White Rock Mountain Trip Report 03/21/2009

Peak(s):	White Rock Mountain - 13,523 feet White Benchmark - 13,411 feet
Date Posted:	03/21/2009
Date Climbed:	03/19/2009
Author:	gb

17 miles and 7,000‘ of skiing
Since there isn‘t very much info on these peaks (not even a summitpost page) I thought I would add this for anyone looking to climb these two high-quality thirteeners in the Maroon Bells/Snowmass wilderness just north of Crested Butte. Summer climbers looking to summit Whiterock are better off climbing the W face from Copper creek (i.e. our descent route) for what it is worth. The ridge connecting these two peaks may very well be awaiting a first, as it has several 5th class pinnacles comprised of very loose, rotten rock, even by Elk mountain standards. The TR: Some photos: Whiterock: White:

17 miles and 7,000‘ of skiing

Since there isn‘t very much info on these peaks (not even a summitpost page) I thought I would add this for anyone looking to climb these two high-quality thirteeners in the Maroon Bells/Snowmass wilderness just north of Crested Butte. Summer climbers looking to summit Whiterock are better off climbing the W face from Copper creek (i.e. our descent route) for what it is worth. The ridge connecting these two peaks may very well be awaiting a first, as it has several 5th class pinnacles comprised of very loose, rotten rock, even by Elk mountain standards.

The TR:

Some photos:
Whiterock:

White:

Comments or Questions

BillMiddlebrook	Sweet! 3/21/2009 10:07pm Nice work, Frank! When I was skiing at CB a few weeks back, I spent a bunch of time taking zoom photos of all of those great peaks in the southern Elks. Hey, I have a question for you: Is it possible to snowmobile up towards Yule Pass to access Treasury? I don‘t know much about the local sled trails there.
gb	Treasury 3/22/2009 5:04pm Yeah, Bill- lots of good skiing still to be had around here. Treasury is tough to get to at this time of year, even with a snowmobile. Slate river road is open, but it gets too steep and sidehilled to get to Paradise divide. Depending on conditions, you can follow the riverbed and and get to Yule pass, but it‘s steep and committing and I haven‘t done it personally. I‘ve always skied Treasury either early or late when access is a little easier. Early (Oct): Late (4th of July): (Crazy rockfall in this one)
gb	Lots of lines 3/22/2009 5:09pm ...that I took note of. I still haven‘t climbed or skied Avery, so I should probably do that one as it is one of the few I haven‘t been on top of in the area. I climbed White many years ago in the fall and was surprised how rough the connecting ridge was. We considered dropping down like you did to get to Whiterock, but it looked so tedious we just called it a day.
doumall	Beautiful Frank 3/23/2009 3:14am Thanks for putting your stuff up over here.
Chicago Transplant	Amazing! 3/23/2009 4:44pm Crested Butte has such an amazing array of BC lines, your trip reports and photos never cease to inspire! Keep it up!
crestedbutteskier	Treasury 3/24/2009 12:50pm You can snowmobile up the creek to yule pass. There is only one steep section that looks nice and filled in now. It‘s actually a very scenic snowmobile ride.
sgladbach	I skipped it....... 2/5/2011 12:22am "The ridge connecting these two peaks may very well be awaiting a first, as it has several 5th class pinnacles comprised of very loose, rotten rock, even by Elk mountain standards." On my summer climb of these peaks (climbed as gb hypothesized), We descended White to the saddle, contemplated the ridge for 15 seconds, then descended a good ways down to the east before finding a traverse and re-ascending to White Rock. Your ski trip looked beautiful, how many new lines did you take note of for the future?
Mccw97	Linking the two/Descent routes 3/9/2021 5:30pm Thanks for the post! What were your preferred descent routes? Do you see a good way to link the two in a day for a twofer ski mountaineering descent?
gb	Twofer 3/9/2021 5:44pm Mccw97, Actually, my favorite twofer would come from Copper Creek to ski what has been dubbed the White Widow couloir (S facing) on an unnamed subpeak, then hitting the SW slopes of Whiterock proper. It links up well with two great lines and the aspects line up as well. Both of those routes are actually in my guidebook. White BM was fun on the E face as a separate mission.

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