Mount Whitney + Kern River Skirafting

       The Kern River is the anomaly of the Sierra Nevada - its upper half follows a range-parallel pathway along an old fault system, so it is greater in length and less insane in gradient than other adjacent river systems, though there is still plenty of class V.

    The Headwaters of the Kern River also happen to sit directly underneath Mount Whitney, so the linkup possibility is obvious to the packrafter, especially with such an advantageous hiking to paddling ratio. This summer route is probably completed by at least one party each year now in good snow years.

    The Skirafter in me had been attracted to this idea for a long time, but it requires an uncommon event for the Sierra Nevada - a Normal snow year. Drought years prevent both snow coverage and sufficient flows, while wet years like 2023 yield insane runoff (the Kern spent most of March to July between 4,000 and 40,000 cfs). This year, 2024, was a perfect setup with 100% snowpack from mostly cold storms (sufficient midelevation snowpack mid-spring).

    My largest uncertainty was whether there was a timeframe when there was enough water at the top (the put in barely has any upstream terrain below 10,000' elevation) but a manageable flow downstream for the Forks run or the roadside gnar (Canyon, Thunder Run). ~2500 cfs ended up being manageable for our team downstream, and the top ended up being on the low side of good. Perfect.

    Our original plan was to ski the west chutes of Whitney as a side trip after hauling our gear over the Whitney-Russell saddle, but the route conditions and time of day considerations caused us to switch to the Mountaineers route at the last minute. Skiing the SW aspect with full packs, plus hauling our full kit over the summit of Whitney, still seemed faster than any other option.

    At this stage we were still worried about the Kern River rising too much, so there was a silver lining to encountering frozen and manky conditions on the upper ski route.

Meltoff was in full swing even with moderate temps as we approached treeline.

    One of our micro-navigation goals was to seamlessly integrate north facing corn with dry trail after crossing Wallace Creek. 

    This worked out perfectly, and 3.5 miles of easy trail led us to the put in at the mostly dry Ponderosa flats in Junction Meadow. Even though we had only travelled about 15 miles since our start at Whitney Portal, skiing with a 45lb pack had highlighted my lack of training so I was ready to float!

    The upper high gradient section, ending above Kern Hot Spring, had a great medium/low flow. We portaged one slide move due to continuous manky/pin potential in the runout.

    The steeps below the Kern Lakes (no pictures) ended up being the real deal. Sharp, complicated, and continuous. It was almost all runnable, but too high consequence for us. Any swim would be a certain disaster. We ran less than half of that 1-2 mile long section.

    The Forks run was plenty filled in and super engaging at 2500 cfs. I ended up with about 3 portages and 2 swims, but the rest of it went well for us. We ran from the Little Kern to Salmon Falls in a day - by far the most whitewater, and the most read and run, I've done in a day. I was ready to call it quits before I was too mistake prone from mental exhaustion.

Needles behind, on the Forks run

    We stopped very little for media at these flows and a team of two, so video gives a better flavor of the overall experience:

Click to play Youtube video

    This adventure to me felt like the pinnacle of technical skirafting in the lower 48. There are still some grand traverses left to do in the northern US rockies, but it felt great on this adventure to combine ski mountaineering with significant technical boating with skis along for the ride. I have no qualms about this crossover sport even at the higher ends of difficulty for me as a whitewater paddler.

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   A great deal of thought was put into riding the knife's edge of weight vs. safety and comfort on this adventure. To simplify things in the realm of gear selection, here is a list of the critical equipment we used. My starting pack weight (6 days of food) on skis was 45 lbs.

    Hyperlite 4400 pack

    Western Mountaineering Versalite sleeping bag

    Thermarest Xtherm pad

    Homemade Dyneema 2-person mid (10 oz)

    Montbell plasma down jacket

    Outdoor Research Deviator Hoody

    Outdoor Research Echo Hoody

    MSR reactor stove

    

    Scarpa F1 LT boots

    Movement Racepro 71 skis

    Black Diamond Helio 200 bindings

    Black Diamond Vapor Carbon ski poles

    CAMP corsa ice axe

    CAMP skimo race crampons

    Arva beacon

    Arva carbon ultra shovel

    Arva carbon race probe

    Salomon pertex rain shell

    

    Alpacka Valkyrie (V3)

    Aquabound Whiskey Paddle

    (Old) Alpacka ultralight drysuit

    Astral V8 type III pfd

    Sweet Protection Rocker helmet

    Sockdolager ultralight uninsulated pogies

    Salomon Speedcross shoes

    NRS 75ft throw rope