Skiing across the Boulder-White Clouds
A blog from a recent human-powered traverse across these fabulous mountains reminds me of my own trip and of the challenge we still have to protect this mountain range.
I'll admit I sometimes forget that conservation politics and policy used to hold no candle compared to where I was going to get my next powder-filled telemark turns. Sure, I cared about protecting the Boulder-White Clouds, but mostly I wanted to ski them.
On a sunny March morning in the mid 1980s, two buddies and I left Galena Summit and headed into the Boulders and then into the White Clouds. For a week we crossed the White Clouds peaks skiing the powder shots, crossing the passes, and finally popping out at a hot spring. The trip was capped by watching a bald eagle drop its talons into the Salmon river and yank out a steelhead in glittering morning light.
Another group of three just did a similar trip. Much is the same though much is different. Better skis and boots would be one big difference. Another is that Zach blogged about his trip here.
Knowing this place in winter myself--and seeing their terrific photos--could lead to a fun wha-hoo recount of the powder turns and some of the 'aren't we gnarly' sort of stuff you can find online.
Instead is a thoughtful personal consideration of the policy challenges of preservation. As always, a quickly realized reality of stepping out of wilderness is being reminded how precious it is.
A founder of the Wilderness Act, Howard Zahniser, wrote of how wilderness advocates "are not fighting progress. We are making it." We are, he said, "generating another force, never to be wholly spent, that, renewed generation after generation, will always be effective in preserving wilderness."
My favorite part about this blog is seeing a glimpse of that right here.
