Here is the loop we skied in relation to Whittier and Blackstone Bay.

We started at the Portage Visitors Center, went across Portage Lake, up the Burns Glacier to an overlook of Blackstone Bay, back down the Burns Glacier a bit, then up and over the Whittier Glacier into Whittier, along the road to the tunnel, and up and ov

Tim and Tim take off across the lake. The pointed peak above Tim Miller (left) is Bard. We planned on going up the Burns glacier to the right of it, then wrapping around behind it.

Portage Glacier? Screw the glacier, we've got crust skiing to do!

I was really surprised at how nice the crust was on Portage Lake, the best I've ever seen. Photo: Tim Kelley

Heading up off the lake towards the toe of Burns Glacier.

Looking back towards Turnagain Arm from Burns Glacier.

There were a few inches of powder on the glacier. Powder! At the end of April!

We roped up for the ascent up the glacier. It looked pretty safe, but you just never know. Besides, with the new snow on top of the crust, we were trudging along anyway, so the rope wasn't impeding our progress.

The view into Blackstone Bay from the top of Burns Glacier was just as impressive as I had hoped...

... What was just as impressive was the wind whipping through the pass. We didn't stay long.

Getting ready for the descent.

Tim K. drops back down the Burns. We didn't see any signs of crevasses on the way up, so we unroped to make a few turns on the way down. Always staying pretty close to our up track though.

Another canvas, signed.

Then we roped back up for our ascent of Whittier Glacier

Tim M. checks out the downhill sliding tracks of a critter, possibly a wolverine.

Descending towards Whittier. Always a little tricky when roped up.

As we came off of Whittier glacier, we unroped for the last part of the descent. Right here I'm thinking "Woohoo, I'm gonna rip this slope up!" About 30 seconds later I was thinking, "Whoah, this sun-baked, wind-blown breakable crud is im

Ah, yes, Whittier.

Looking back up at our descent off the Whittier Glacier. Tracks on the left, looking up.

In Whittier the weather was warm and the crust was soft. It was a bit of a slog to get back up to Portage Pass.

But once we were over the pass, the crust was super-fine again. It was a pleasant cruise down to the lake and back to the car. The skiing wasn't always great, but the whole trip was incredible!