Lolo Powder and Hoar

We spent the last two days up at Lolo Pass chasing remnants of the last storm through clearings and trees. We found enjoyable soft snow in sheltered spots, sun effect on Southern slopes and quarter sized surface hoar frost crystals in clearings along the ridges up high.

Winter Conditions at Gash Point

Basking in the wind at the Saddle near Gash Point

It was full-on January this weekend at Gash Point.

Warmer temps at the trailhead and a glimpse of blue sky lulled us into thinking that it was going to be a balmy day.  As we broke out of the forest and onto the ridge leading to the saddle below Gash Point, the wind picked up and hurled snow in our faces.  Well, we've been searching for face shots!


Click on the "View in Hillmap" link above to see our route in hillmap.com, view the USGS topo map of the path, print a map and upload the gpx track to your gps.

There is a well-established skin track from the lower parking area at the hair pin turn just above 4700'.  The track is a bit of a tobogan run at the moment: slick and a bit icy in places.  It follows a good line up to the ridge, but has been mostly erased by the wind once you break out of the taller trees.

Snow conditions are variable.  I had to dig deep and remember how to ski on crusty snow, so far this year we've been spoiled by the gorgeous powder on most slopes.  We did find some patches of great snow, although I'll wait to head up to Gash again until more snow falls.

Definitely glad to be on our fat skis!  My Black Diamond Starlets handled the crust well, especially while turning on crust through the trees.  Ryan was singing the praise of his Black Diamond Justice skis throughout the day.

All in all, it was a great day and I look forward to skiing Gash again - although next time I hope for some summit views.

Lolo Pass Skiing for the Start of 2013

On new years day 2013 we headed back to the Cristal Theater at lolo pass and skied a few different laps. We found light fluff everywhere. The base was excellent on north aspects and south aspects were skiable but had barely covered rocks and logs in places. Making turns on the slopes between summer climbing crags was a lot of fun and made for some good photos.

Click here to view a map of our tour in hillmap. Dropping due East to the highway at the end of the tour is not recommended. Doing so we found untracked but thin snow and we had to make a very brushy traverse as the highway embankments are high and steep. 

This and the top photo are south facing.  

A deeper north slope. 

Looking across the valley at the line through the trees and boulders on the upper left that shook up my flu addled stomach something awful last time we were here. 

The usual shenanigans. 

Birthday Turns

After slowly recovering from a stomach flu that caught us both around xmas we headed out yesterday to celebrate my birthday by skiing the well proportioned hill know as "Mount Fuji" at lolo pass (click for map).

Cold conditions since the last big snows and a bit of fresh made for slow trail breaking and excellent powder turns through open slopes and tight forests from the top back to the busy nordic trail where we heard one boy ask "Mommy why are their skis so fat?" as we shuffled along.

A powder covered summit makes an excellent birthday gift. 

Jen skinning out the nordic trails towards the flanks of Mount Fuji. 

Skiing the Apocalypse in the Crystal Theater

Wanting to get a lap in before the predicted end of the world occurred today, we drove up to the Crystal Theater area at Lolo pass this morning. Powder right from the parking spot. Not knowing our way around, we ended up skiing a line of boulders, pillows and tight trees that was a bit much the day after recovering from the flu, but the snow was fantastic and I look forward to exploring the area more.

It had warmed up a bit when we got back down to the car and the snow will get a bit crusty at lower elevations tonight.

Powder, Powder, Powder and Finding Bouldering at Just the Wrong Time

Saturday we skied 2000 feet of stellar powder from the summit of point 7795 down to 5800 feet on the south facing slopes above Lake Como (map). Below that we had the remarkable good fortune to discover a field of talus, chock full of boulders ranging from stumbleable to climbable size where we had only expected to find a steep hike back to the trail.

The skiing in the upper section was excellent and we will return to the area with more snow cover or crash pads but cannot recommend exploring the talus field with skis on ones back as the light fades.

The hike and skin up was mostly quite nice.

We spotted several steep featured faces on the way out but had the wrong tools for the job.

Little Saint Joe/Point 9033: Maps Only Work if You Use Them

Peaks South of Bass Creek from near our high point.

Jen and I still haven't quite got a handle on the Bitterroots. The valley floor is at the same hight as most Cascades passes and many of the peaks we can see from our house rise 5000' above that rather rapidly.

Saturday we got a slow start. I hadn't slept much...I blame the availability of British television on netflix. The snotel showed 20 inches of fresh at 7k and forecast called for temps in the teens. We drove up to the base of the mountains at 4k and started booting up through a few inches of powder on dirt towards the open bowls and glades that supposedly guard the summit of point 9033 known to the locals as Little Saint Joe.

Map of the area.

Just after the transition from booting to skinning. 

Eventually the snow got deeper. We picked up a fresh skin track and and started following it in the hopes that local knowledge would lead us through the band of forest surrounding the summer overlook at 6000 feet. This was not to be as it dead ended in dense downed trees several times before backtracking and retreating down towards the valley floor. We never saw this other skier though we did see a shy lone black and white dog with red collar we hope was his.

After an hour or so of messing about we broke out the map we had printed and were able to quickly pick up the summer route. A deer had conveniently broken trail, knowing his way through the forest better than we skiers. We followed his tracks upwards past orange blazed trees and sawn logs but our turn around time came and went before we broke out of the trees.

Jen titled this photo "Do the deer and I have the same agenda?"

A few turns were made in deep powder back down the ridge through the tight trees, dodging thinly covered logs. Before long we put our bindings in tour mode and resorted to skinless skating and downhill trail breaking. Once again we found ourselves booting back to the car by star light.

The valley floor as the sun sets. 

Perhaps with more cover or better study of satellite photos a more skiable route could be found through clearings and open forest further North.

A bouquet of mud and snow frozen to ski pole tips. 

Video: The First Tour of the Season

We broke out the skis for the first real tour of the season on Gash Point which is just across the valley from our new home in the Bitterroot. Watch the video in full screen HD with the sound on if you can.

It turned out quite picturesque thanks in no small part to the song "Snow" courtesy of my friend and old neighbor Brittain Ashford and her band, Prairie Empire. As Jen said "That isn't how the day felt but it is how I want to remember it."

Not shown: freezing fingers, ravenous hunger, numerous half buried logs, bushes and rocks, breakable sun crusts, gouged ski bases, and onerous bushwhacking and post-holing.

The snow at the top was fantastic and I can't imagine a better way to make the first few turns of the season.

Approximate route taken:
http://www.hillmap.com/m/ag1zfmhpbGxtYXAtaGRychALEghTYXZlZE1hcBjStzkM

Detailed Conditions: Skinable from just above the upper trail head but thin cover and lots of logs and a variable sun crust down low. Variable and wind effected but very skiable higher up.

In Montana Every Climber gets their own Drainage...

...or so a local told us. It is true that since moving here we can't seem to go for a short hike without discovering a new one of these:

Which are two miles up a valley with a good trail along the stream near the base and an alternate approach to the top via logging roads and trails:

While scouting ski touring spots (ie post holing through snow not deep enough to keep your ski bases off the rocks) we also stumbled upon a nice alpine lake surrounded by boulders that should be a fun summer destination: