4/30/13

flip flops and socks



Cut fresh wolf tracks on the top of Town Hill this morning.  (minutes fresh :)  amid brilliant light and fresh pow.  Yesterday's storm brought:  thunder, lightning, hail, graupel, snow, rain and wind approaching gale...  The Good Doctor has two 'mids' pitched up Republic Creek.  HMG just sent me a full-spectra ruck (!), which we promptly packed with 70+  lbs. of beer and gear for Backpacker mag's testing soirĂ©e up at the Woody Creek Cabin (very nice folks, stoked to be working with them).  We pulled four pulks too.  Other than that, it seems pretty quiet around here.  But it's really quite an exciting time of year.




4/21/13


This weekend marks the annual Sweet Corn backcountry ski festival.  In heightened glory.
It's the time of year when a hundred some odd ski bums:  come to town, share stories, party down, and celebrate the ski scene/ culture around here.  It's typically stormy/ powder skiing, which held true this year as well.  Benji and the band raised the bar with a remarkably good performance Friday night at the Saloon (the new trombone player turned the place inside out), Red Bull brought some type of Unimog sound system, and there was a full-on, heli rescue yesterday out in Goose Creek (props to Jan, TGR, the Cooke City SAR, and everyone else that helped those in need).

4/18/13


Set a monster avalanche loose on the Fin today. (humbling to say the least)  
It broke about 20' below me.

Still piecing together the puzzle..  
No other avalanche activity observed (since April 9th).

Be careful out there.

4/17/13

Yankee Jim, Turk and the Consulate



WEnt to town to renew my passport.  Fifth post office did the trick.  Also, set a track up Slushmans this morning.  Only a skiff for the Gallatin Valley, but Bridger Bowl was a snorkel concept, cold smoke type of scenario. (maybe 3 feet.  no joke).  If you live in Bozeman and were not up there today, do yourself a dawn patrol/ big favor tomorrow.



4/16/13

One from the archives

Lonesome Mtn. with thunderstorms brewing.

Was recently on the Beartooth Mountain Guides website and noticed that they are offering a a 4 day ski trip over Sundance Pass next week. (a classic route between the West Fork and Lake Fork, I'd highly recommend).  It reminded me of a fun ski trip I did in the Lake Fork awhile back with Brian and Leah. FIgured to share a couple photos and a bit of beta from that tour.


Our route began at the Beartooth Pass.  It was Memorial Day weekend of 2009.


We traversed out the high plateau (the horizon shown), around Glacier Lake, Spirit Mtn., Beartooth Mtn.,  and the Black Canyon, for a camp in the upper, main Lake Fork.  This approach involves 10 miles or so of glorious travel above 11,000'.  


Our primary objective was the SW couloir of Whitetail Peak.
photo by Leah


The NE couloir gets all the acclaim, and understandably so, but Whitetial Peak has a handful of very nice ski lines.



One advantage of skiing the SW couloir is that you can drop fall line off the summit.





The next day we skied Sky Pilot Peak before exiting out the Lake Fork. 
(some moderates off/ around Beartooth Mtn. were thrown in there too)




Of note is the idea of linking up Spirit, Beartooth, and Whitetail, in a day...  
(and exiting via Quinnebaugh.)


4/15/13


A sneak peak at what's in the works.  ( a backcountry ski designed specifically for Cooke City ? )



A slough of new Rite in the Rain notebooks..  


And an afternoon lap on Town Hill.  (1800' of fall line, right into your front yard).  






4/14/13

Powder skiing today in Yellowstone Park.



 (photo by Ned)




4/9/13


Had ideas of farming the Fin.. but last night's the n, ne winds did a number on the topsoil.  (lot's of recent avalanche activity)


Some slopes were good to go though.





4/8/13


Storm totals are in the 1.5-2 foot range..  thus far.  at 9,500'.
With good stability.





Rolled into town late last night, on the heels of a monsoon (snowstorm).  The Lamar was CAKEd.   The bison otherworldly.    Driving right down the middle, it was hard to follow the road.  25mph fishtails above the Ice Box Canyon.
And the power was out in Cooke City...  (nice to have some candles).  Ghost-town/ twighlight zone sort of scene.  And we got skunked in Jackson.  But it was incredibly fun.
Heaps of good stories..

4/3/13

hook jaw browns


Down in the lowlands for a stint. (spring break :) En route to the Tetons.!
Floated down the Madison this morning.  Hooked up with Eric, Matt, and two LArge rainbows right of the bat.  
Both managed to spit my fly, but the fishing stayed steady.  

Here's Matt with fish of the day:  a 20" ish hook jaw brown.