trust your intuition

Took two pitons, a hammer, two dead men, a harness, a 40m rope, and a bunch of tat up the hill today.

Turned out it didn't seem safe to 'approach' my project.

It's often wise to listen to you instinct.  

(I've never once regretted backing off a slope I wasn't comfortable traveling on.

But definitely regret a few I feel I've gotten away wtih.)

So if you find yourself in the mountains around Cooke City (or really anywhere for that matter)

study snow!

Here are two of my favorite books on the subject.

Doug and Karl (the consummate local snow gurus) recently revised and updated Snow Sense.  The go to.

And zen master Bruce's book.

Worth re-reading ever year.  And re-visiting often.

A nice educational complement to lots of time in the field.