Northern Gallatin ski traverse

Linked the P. Valley with Hyalite yesterday...

Terrific tour.

Eric Knoff, crushing it.

One of the most challenging parts was acquiring access to public land.  

A huge thanks goes out to Dale at Timber Trails.  And the Story family, for letting us ski through their spread. (we went up Fridley Cr.)

The wildlife was an undoubted highlight.

Things stared out when I saw a bighorn ram swim the ‘Stone. and never let up..  

A slough of wolf tracks at the put in,  a plethora of prints the WHole way up Hyalite Pk...

eventually wrapping up the trip with a good look at a LION!

(no shit, 50 feet from a cougar)

Doctor Jones was especially stoked on that last part.

one bite at a time

went for a nIce walk around Goose Lake yesterday.

deep space up there.

one of three zones we sessioned 

and near another.

One Frame per Second

Sent about 40 feet of cumulative air today...  

(nice to have the intervalometer catch one once in awhile)

And this line in YNP, from yesterday...

Though it's not obvious in this image, there is a barrel in there somewhere!

(on the to-do list)

New Den Site

Skied off Mt. Wolverine today.

Cut some wolverine tracks too!

Also, just moved down to Silver Gate!  (2 ½ miles from Cooke)

So yeah, I’ll probably be skiing in the Park fairly often.  

And you might see me on the Bannock a time or two…

Friendly folk down here.

Much more on this later..

Roundabout mid-day

took a roundabout route today.

sensitive wind slabs give or take the ridgelines

Wolves on the Bannock

Skied down to Silver Gate this afternoon.  Jay lent me his shop copy of Winter Dance, and 15 minutes later I was skiing back up the Bannock, quickly to realize I had been backtracked by a wolf.! (during those 15 minutes)  Needless to say, my senses were fairly sharp on the return.  A nice adrenaline rush even.

One of the many reasons why I choose to winter around these parts; the WILDlife.

Wonder why they are up so high?  (Aside from the Bannock being THE corridor) A break from battling rival packs down in the Lamar?  Perhaps hunting the cow moose I saw over by the Dude’s place?  Would be interesting to hear Rick and his cohorts’ thoughts on the matter…

SNOTEL

Hung out at Bbowl today, helping out with a GNFAC/ Friends/ ASMSU Avalanche Field Session...

  another good turn out.

Got to talking with Lucas, a hydrologist for the NRCS, about the value of our SNOTEL program (and how many might not be aware of it's usefulness).

So, if you think water and climate are cool,  keep tabs.

Kind of Blue

About 4 inches of fresh snow in town, maybe 8 up high.

Nice day to be out.

Fewer natural slab avalanches than I anticipated.  East Henderson shed a couple hard slabs (yesterday?).  And this avalanche on Scotch Bonnet is very similar in aspect and elevation to the recent Crown Butte slide.  Both SE-erly, and both avalanching PRior to yesterday’s snowfall.