Ultimate Sierra Ski Raid (Mt Whitney–Mt Williamson winter linkup)

USSR in a day. I thought that name has a nice ring to it. Mt Whitney–Mt Williamson was the most ambitious ski traverse Andre and I have attempted. We failed mostly because I bonked at Mt Barnard, but we still managed a very cool trip that is wort writing about. I think the W-W winter traverse is an attainable and very worthy goal!

Andre and I had skied both Mt Whitney and Mt Williamson in a day trips and were looking for a grand challenge. This was a very fitting goal for us and the snow conditions in the spring of 2011 were great. 







We rushed into planning, and a search for fast passage from Mt Whitney to Mt Williamson. There were several cruxes: 
1. Skiing the North Face of Whitney.
2. Passing over the granite wall of Mt Russell's ridge
3. Passing over Mt Barnard
4. Ascending Mt Williamson from the west 

Map of the course made by Andre

Luckily Andre had skied the NF of Whitney the previous weekend, while I skied the mountaineers gully. He had found a short scramble around a section of exposed and steep rock. We had also skied Mt Williamson in a day in 2010 via Bairs creek. From the maps it looked like there was a passage between Mt Young and Mt Hale. It was going to be an adventure. In short we failed. It was spectacular, and adventure was had. (to be continued...)
Pictures: https://picasaweb.google.com/badakov/UltimateSierraSkiRaidUSSR#