speaking of bicycles and ski touring

Props to Ned Gall for recently pedaling his mountain bike 150 miles from Bozeman to Cooke City (with his ski touring kit, through Yellowstone Park.!)

We met up for a day of powder skiing on Mt. Republic. :)

Even though this video hardly begins to give his project justice, I figured to share a few clips none the less. Thanks for the inspiration Ned.!

multisport adventuring in the Tetons

Phenomenal conditions down here around Jackson.!  more on this later.  :)

Corn Fest re-cap

Quintessential Corn Fest this weekend.  It snowed a foot (2 feet up high :), and the weather went partially blue.  Glorious to say the least.  (To the point where I won't even try and do it justice with recent landscape photos.)   The usual cast of characters convened, partied hard, and skied most everything in sight.  And as per usual, The Good Doctor out-skied us all.  Some would call him a machine,  but now I am leaning more toward the analogy of an astronaut.

the man, the myth, the legend.  The Good Doctor.
good luck keeping up with him!

Found some verglas (fun sticks!), carried 70m of rope over the mountain. :/  

tried a few new marg recipes,  Eldrick is scheduled to play this weekend, 

And Raz has broken down the odds.. 

Such a treat to have Wiley and the Big Picture crew in town again last week.  The level of freestyle skiing these guys ride at is Exceptional.

Here's a couple of video shorts of theirs, from around Cooke City earlier in the winter.

Lot's of big air inspiration- An awesome contrast to the world of ultra conservative ski guiding and mountaineering.

Helicopter landing at the Dump today (hope everyone is OK!)

Jim Beam is apparently now an official sponsor of the Corn Festival,

the local fire crew burned a few structures over at Canyon yesterday, Silver Falls recently fell down, and there is a Kiwi fellow who has been snowboarding many of the finer, steep local lines.  Good on ya mate.

Still a couple spots open in our upcoming Ski Mountaineering Course.  (April 24-27th)

Couldn't ask for better conditions out there; with a snowpack around 130% of average, good stability, and fresh powder.  :)

Stop by the BPG website for more information.  Hope you can join us!

Druid Peak exploratory ski

Evening tour with The Good Doctor (John Colter reincarnated.?!).  The man has Yellowstone in his blood.!  On our exploratory ski we cut fresh wolf, elk, coyote, marten, bear and bison tracks.  Yes, indeed!  

current conditions

Been a flood of emails recently inquiring about the current snow conditions..  

(photos from today)

I'd call the current conditions:  great.  The snow is 'set up'.  Over-ripe for most mind you, but it's just what we ski mountaineers have ben waiting patiently for all season.  Melt- freeze and supportable on all aspects up to 9,000'.  With sheltered north facing, above 9,500 skiing as cold powder.  The valley bottoms are awesome for long tours at the moment (get out early), with velvet corn reportedly skied on Town Hill today.  

Also, if you are in the market for a new scaled, exploratory set of skis, check out the new Surface Ruess.

(looks to be super light and nimble!)

And in other news, the highway is in tip-top shape for bike riding.   With quiet, shoulder-season auto traffic, now is a great time for a bike tour, and/or a multi-sport ski mission.  :)

If it were easy, everyone would be doing it.

(a crew of locals recently skied off the top of Granite Pk.  :)

more on this later.

Omnibar

Psyched to start working with the good folks at Omnibar.  :)

They are a local company making an excellent nutritional option (made from local beef, dried berries, dried sweet potatoes, nuts, and other choice ingredients).

Definitely worth checking out and supporting.!   

Nedanderthal rode his bike from Bozeman to Cooke!

(with his skis equipment!, more on this later  :)

Just back to Cooke, following a 2-day trip to Bozeman.  Beartooth Powder Guides went down for a Professional Development Seminar for Avalanche Professionals, hosted by the GNFAC.  Lot's of interesting topics, including Eric's study of the KPST (cross-slope propagation saw test), and Karl's research into the how fractures propagate through slabs.  ie: sometimes through very thin ice crusts, or how disturbing a bit of 4F powder above a slab can result in a fracture arresting..   (Always great to listen to and learn from Karl.  He is a remarkably visionary snow scientist, and as down to earth as they come.)

And of course, there was the obligatory bit of exploring and couloir skiing.  :)

Great to get out with the Vandenbos brothers.  They crush, in good (and unique) style.

 

(backcountry suture)