Best of 2015

I've been out enjoying some great powder skiing the past week or so, but no tours really worth writing about, so I've instead decided to re-visit some highlights of the past year in picture form.

chicago - skating at the ribbon (photo: abby)

no sweat arete in january in mountaineering boots

alpenglow on graywolf's W couloir

N face graywolf on my 4x4 tour

ptarmigan pt. in the swan (photo: brian) 

spring break in colorado

climbed the classic bastille in eldo

shedhorn race (photo taken from big sky's facebook page)

steep powder couloirs on mosquito

skied the classic N face sky pilot 

steve on a mcdonald to sheepshead tour 

arches fiery furnace (photo: bria) 

canyoneering in arches 

castle rocks climbing (photo: bria) 

chasing shade at the City in june

playing with mt. goats on my partial WURL

sawtooth sunset at feather lakes (photo: bria)

warbonnet - "the grand teton of idaho" 

a stellar week in the cirque of the towers (photo: chris)

traverses make for better climbing pics

tetons - petzoldt ridge (photo: chris) 

upper exum 

trail running in glacier park 

on top of idaho

just following clif bar's directions (photo: bria)

post-climb pack explosion (photo: bria)

RUT 50k (photo: crystal images)

first time in the cabinets - rock lake

full tobacco roots traverse

garden wall on the mission traverse

skyline ridge traverse

castle crag on a sheafman canyon loop

pre-christmas powder skiing (photo: brian)

Cheers to a great 2015 and I look forward to new places and adventures in the new year!

First turns, avy safety & uphill policy

Like many missoula area skiers, my first turns came up at carlton ridge and the NE facing glades above carlton lake a few days ago.  Other than 2 folks at the lake on our way out, I was pleasantly surprised to not see anyone once beyond the carlton point overlook.

Keatan dropping in

Although the wind was howling up high, the skiing was surprisingly good and the one hasty pit that I dug at 8800ft on a wind loaded NE aspect did not reveal any glaringly obvious weak layers.  Seems the snowpack is off to a good start.

I cut out 4 or 5 small trees across the trail so a single large log is
the only obstacle on the always sporty ski out to the trailhead

Also, I am currently re-reading Bruce Tremper's excellent book - staying alive in avalanche terrain.  I like to re-read it every november and encourage others to do the same, to refresh the avy knowledge, decision-making and humbleness before another season of skiing commences.

I saw a quote the other day on wildsnow that I really liked - “We’ll do what we are told” (adam fabricant) in reference to the messages the mountains, weather and conditions tell us when we are out skiing, and how our decision making and route selection should react accordingly.  I think this is a great mentality to bring to the mountains, and too many folks fall victim to the "we are going out to ski (fill in the blank) today."  Terrain is the only side of the avy triangle that we can control (via route selection) so snowpack and weather should continuously be evaluated and go/no go terrain decisions made accordingly.  That sounds simple enough but the "human factor" can easily interfere.  In my mind, the growing popularity of social media, mainly instragram, can be a dangerous motivator for folks to ski bigger, more dangerous objectives with a greater emphasis on "how many 'likes' this is going to get me" instead of a clear-headed evaluation of the stability/safety of the terrain.    

Additionally, it is worth mentioning that the west central montana avalanche center will now be issuing 3 advisories per week (just 2 in years past).  Check them out here.  I continue to encourage backcountry users to get some avy education and apply it!  The avy center offers a nice mix of free lectures, $15 beacon clinics, level 1 classes and even a level 2 class in missoula this year.  Although the level 1 and 2 classes are not cheap, they are incredibly valuable for frequent backcountry users and in my opinion, a much better investment than an airbag pack, avalung, etc.

Lastly, another good storm or 2 will bring a skiable amount of snow to snowbowl, allowing myself and a number of other missoulians to begin skinning up there for exercise.  Their uphill policy appears unchanged from last year and can be found here.  Here also is Brian's excellent discussion of the policy (that I highly recommend you read before skinning snowbowl) and below are a few basic reminders/thoughts of my own:

-uphill closure in effect from 8:30am to 4:30/5pm (on days they are open).
-no dogs!  I have ran into people up there with their dog(s) more than once which is not allowed.  please obey the policy and keep uphill access open!
-hassling - I have been hassled by employees in the past despite being in accordance with the policy.  be informed, follow the policy and (politely) do your best to not get pushed around by unfriendly folks up there
-skiing by headlamp (or moonlight) as you look down on the city lights provides a nice view that never gets old
-pray for snow and get out skiing!

Sheafman & Castle Crag Loop

I’ve wanted to do a loop up sheafman canyon of E sheafman peak, W sheafman peak and castle crag for a number of years.  I finally got around to it last weekend and it did not disappoint. 

castle crag from W sheafman

I was surprised to find the road already gated down at the winter trailhead but a fairly painless 35minutes of road running and switchback cutting put me at the summer TH.  I ran the bulk of the 4 miles to the second creek crossing, before backtracking a few hundred feet and leaving the trail, ascending E sheafman peak via the prominent S facing slide path slightly W of the summit. 

ascent route up E sheafman.  next time, descent with skis..

I boulder hopped along the ridge proper all the way to W sheafman, taking the time to investigate skiable passages N down into fred burr creek (2 moderate passages and a few skinny steep couloirs).  Another long stretch of boulder hopping down the W ridge and a short climb put me at aichele lake for a water refill as I admired the striking E face of castle crag.  I’ve heard the obvious dihedral goes at 11-. 

couloir N to fred burr 

S face pt. 8469 up fred burr creek - i'll visit you someday with skis

E face castle crag

I ascended castle crag via the standard SE ridge route (class 2+) before taking a direct line up the final 100ft summit fin at exposed 4th class with a few low 5^th moves.  I lingered on the summit for a few minutes, eating and soaking in the incredible view.  I had heard castle crag to have one of the best summit views in the entire bitterroot and now having seen it, I certainly agree. 

final 100ft of castle crag's SE ridge - bypass on L and wrap around to summit at class 2+
or climb R side of this fin directly to summit at exposed class 4/low 5th

looking down the N couloir

I took a small detour on the way down to check out the N couloir slightly W of the summit for future reference before descending the SE ridge and dropping down to knack lake for water and to find the summer trail.  An enjoyable 6.5mi run out the well-maintained trail put me at the summer TH and soon thereafter at my truck.

Stats:  approx. 20mi/6400vert/class 2+ (except optional final 100’ castle crag) in 8:10 car-car from winter TH at moderate pace

Approx. splits from summer TH:  2 hrs E sheafman, 3 hrs W sheafman, 4hrs aichele lake, 4:50 castle crag, 5:50 knaack lake, 7:10 summer TH

Rose: vast view from atop castle crag

Thorn: locked gate at winter TH (however the route to/from the summer TH was pretty easy)

Bud: returning for a long ski tour of castle crag, a run down to fred burr and the prominent slide path off E sheafman pt (many variations possible)

Rattlesnake traverse

With our indian summer continuing to stretch into mid-october, I was able to get out for yet another gorgeous fall day in the mountains.  With some school exams the following week, I needed something close to town and reasonably short to allow sufficient study time as well.  The rattlesnake traverse fit the bill perfectly – super close to town, short and easy bike shuttle and reasonably short time commitment. 

the route, from stuart peak

I’ve done a mosquito to sanders to murphy to point six loop in the spring on skis but never the full traverse w/ stuart so I was excited about the route.  Not wanting to endure a very chilly bike ride that morning, I stashed a bike at snowbowl and drove down to the ravine TH, figuring the ride would be more enjoyable in the afternoon sun.  I felt slow and groggy the first couple of miles headed up to stuart peak but just plodded along at a casual pace, reaching the top in about 2:15, where I chatted with a few folks before setting out for mosquito (they were surprised to hear I was headed all the way to snowbowl, but I informed them that mileage wise, stuart is actually already half way from the ravine TH to snowbowl).

one of many nice ski lines between stuart and mosquito

I bumped into a solo backpacker along the way but otherwise the stretch to mosquito was uneventful.  I took my time descending the NW ridge, stopping to scope the entrance to each of the couloirs that drop down to glacier lake (I’ve skied 2 of them this past spring but am excited to return someday to ski them all in a day – 5 prominent ones appear to go clean).  I re-joined the trail for a short stretch before reaching the saddle and continuing up the broad S ridge of sanders peak. 

sanders (R) and murphy (L) from mosquito

first of many couloirs on mosquito's N face

Despite the slow travel, I decided to stick to the ridge proper between sanders and murphy, which served up some decent and some not-so-decent scrambling, including a short but stellar exposed section of low 5^th class terrain.  It would certainly be faster and likely more enjoyable to bypass a good portion of this ridgeline on the south (and keep the difficulty at class 3 or below).  It was nice however to get eyes on a few prominent ski lines that drop N off this ridge to upper finley lake for future reference.

looking W to murphy from west sanders pt.

from murphy, a look back to sanders peak

I reached the summit of murphy nearly 2 hours since sanders (slow!), and was nearly out of water.  The next stretch of ridgeline to point six was fun to see without snow for my first time and nice easy terrain in comparison to the sanders-murphy ridgeline.  I descended snowbowl via high roller to the beargrass highway to lower paradise.  Once at the bike, I was disappointed in myself in not having also stashed water, but a quick and thirsty ride had me down the road and back to the truck, amazed at how close to town this worthwhile wilderness loop resides. 

Approx. splits:  2:15 stuart, 3:45 sanders, 5:30 murphy, 7:20 bike

Stats:  approx. 23mi/7k vert in 7:20 car-bike at casual/moderate pace

Rose: beautiful day, not flaring up my knee

Thorn: slow travel and a lot of loose rock on the sanders to murphy ridge line

Bud: linkup of all the N couloirs on mosquito peak

Southern Madison Range

I spent an enjoyable fall weekend chasing Brian and Jeffrey around the Lee Metcalf Wilderness.  Brian had devised the routes and did most of the routefinding so Jeffrey and I were mainly just along for the ride.  I’m accustomed to studying topos and occasionally google earth ahead of time so it felt a little weird to be out with such little knowledge of the day’s routes but I grew to enjoy the surprises that my naivety allowed.     

a look back at the monument ridge line

Saturday was spent doing a big loop of the skyline ridge from sage creek, off highway 191.  The initial runnable miles up and through monument meadows served a nice warmup as we continued S to monument mt, snowslide mt. and beyond.  We dropped down to an unnamed lake for water before heading up the N ridge of redstreak peak.  On top and feeling good, we decided to stash packs and do a quick out-and-back to white peak before trending W out the skyline ridge.

redstreak peak

skyline ridge

you can see where redstreak gets its name

nearing sage peak

There was some enjoyable 3^rd class scrambling on the ridge but it was predominately boulder hopping and technical running.  The ridge went quickly and upon reaching sage peak, we sat and refueled for a few minutes before beginning our descent to sage creek.  My IT band flared up on the sustained downhill and forced me to walk a lot of it but we eventually found ourselves below treeline, and after some minimal bushwhacking, on the trail.  Jeffrey and I were expecting a few miles of trail for the exit so it was a bit to our surprise that we still had 10ish miles back to the car.  We lost the trail a few times at creek crossings but otherwise just slowly pounded out the miles.  We were all tired and happy to see the trailhead at the end of the day.  

Stats: approx. 30mi/7k vert/class 3 in 10.5 hrs car-car

Sunday was spent doing a loop through the hilgard basin.  We ran up sentinel creek trail (actually Brian & Jeffrey ran while I walked a lot due to my IT band) until we found ourselves overlooking the hilgard basin shortly before expedition pass.  The plan was to climb echo peak and traverse S to dutchman and hilgard peaks but cold/windy weather, threatening clouds and snow up high on echo peak prompted us just to do a low traverse through the basins instead. 

dutchman(R) and hilgard peaks

It was beautiful running past the numerous lakes in each basin as we worked our way south, before boulder hopping around the E side of hilgard peak.  We then trended SW up to the head of the basin and climbed what would-be an aesthetic couloir under snow (but was instead a loose pile of rocks) before dropping S down towards avalanche lake.  

headin' up the couloir, all wishing we were skiing instead..

descending to avalanche lake

The 5ish mile egress out the beaver creek trail felt long, with my IT band upset from a 50 mile weekend.  It was well worth it though for the great scenery and company in a new-to-me mountain range. 

Stats: approx. 20mi/5k vert in 9 hrs car-car

Rose: beautiful views from along the skyline ridge

Thorn: continued IT band issues..

Bud: its mid-october so hopefully soon I can stop boulder hopping up & down aesthetic ski routes and start getting out on skis