Deep in the Whatevers

Written by Ginny White

In a place where there is more ‘tyvek’ than actual siding on houses, where you can sled from your backyard into a perfect pow stash, where you have the best bike trails nobody has ever heard about, Ginny “Ginnard” White and Jordan “Alpine Forestry” Boratynec have tucked themselves neatly into what many consider a dream life. 

For their real jobs as a heavy duty mechanic and an aspiring ski guide who both work at different backcountry cat skiing lodges Jordan and Ginny spend a lot of their time trying to manage busy work schedules and maximize the time off they do have together. As a side-gig photographer and “semi-professional” skier they make a pretty ideal couple. 

It’s 8PM on a Friday – after over a week of tail-guiding, 10 days of lodge based ‘wrenching’, and a season’s worth of managing schedules to line up with days off together, Ginny comes home to a house of organized chaos. Days worth of food, sleeping bags, tents, a wood-stove and a couple of cases of beer lay scattered around the house ready to be packed into duffels and shoved in the truck. The yard is in an equal, yet some how more organized state; snowmobiles on the sled-deck, giant pelican toboggan tucked between them, chainsaw ready for action  and a variety of skis and boards lie ready to go against the workshop. Jordan arrived home 24 hours before and was the master-mind behind organizing a 5 day camping trip in the mountains across the valley. 

Every trip needs its crew – and this one consists of another tail-guide from the industry who is a common fixture in the spare room of the house. The owner of a 1991 Ski-Doo Tundra which will be towed behind the truck and sled-deck to maximize efficiency, as well as a new to the “Fast and Heavy” crew member and recent owner of his own pick-up truck and Ski-Doo – Paul. 

After a surprisingly efficient turn around and just enough time for laundry and sleep the crew departs on Saturday morning for a quick drive to a logging road, that will take them to the snow-line. 40 minutes of rutted, muddy road and a few successful load checks the sleds are unloaded a reloaded with the chaos of the day before – now somehow tucked neatly into bags and strapped down on sled tunnels and tetris’d into the toboggan. Arriving to a new zone, in which the only idea of what to come was from a couple of hours on google earth, sometimes the sled ride in is the crux of the entire operation. Not this time, a nice slushy logging road and simple travel gets us to our camp spot in time to set up tents and tipi, access water in the daylight with enough daylight for an afternoon explore and lap behind camp.  

The following 4 days take on a methodic rhythm. Wake up, chop wood, make a fire in the stove, coffee, a leisurely breakfast, maybe even another coffee and on the skin-track by 10 am. With a short approach to an endless valley of mini-couloirs, heli-runs and north facing cold snow, and consistent weather and avalanche conditions the days consist of alternating between skinning and boot-packing up whichever line their minds and feet desire. Each day reusing the original skin-track and boot packs to access deeper and deeper into the bowl, finding line after line and bowl after bowl of fun. The highlight being a pinner couloir only noticed from the bottom of another line at 3pm on the final day and accessed by a quick skin, 40 minute boot pack and quickly descended with a couple of jump turns and a cruisy ramp exit. 

The evenings consisting of a similar flow with a shred down to camp, an après beer and some snacks followed by retreating into the tipi to dry out gear by the stove, have a hot meal and if you’re Ginny, fall asleep as the boys share stories of camping trips, slopes shredded and sled epics of the past. Wednesday comes in no time, just as the flow of the days begins to feel like you could do this forever. With a satisfying feeling of uncovering a new zone and laying tracks down almost all of the desired lines the crew can have a quiet morning, pack up and head home down the valley in time for dinner and a much needed shower.

While all good trips come to an end, this one feels like just the beginning of an epic spring of exploring, camping and ski-touring. 

All images by Jordan Boratynec.