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

Mission Traverse

It started with an e-mail Thursday night – Friday class was cancelled.  Knowing that a storm was supposed to arrive Friday night/Saturday, I scrambled to get things together for a big day in the mountains on Friday.  Fast forward to 5:30 Friday morning and I found myself biking north from the st. mary reservoir, excited to tackle the full mission traverse, just 2 days after the annual july 15 – oct 1 grizzly bear closure around mcdonald peak had ended.

I almost hit a skunk at one point but the (mostly downhill & flat) bike shuttle was otherwise cold, dark and uneventful.  Just past the canal (eastern terminus of red horn lane), I stashed the bike and continued on foot, reaching the upper ashley lakes TH in about an hour, with one strategic switchback cut.  The trail up to the NW ridge of sheepshead was choked with downfall but I’ve become accustomed to a certain amount of this whenever venturing into the Missions.  The upper NW ridge was fun class 3&4 scrambling and it was cool to visit this summit for my first time without skis. 

approaching sheepshead

NW face mcdonald from sheepshead

I descended the E ridge to the mcdonald glacier.  Lacking any traction devices, I had to skirt down/around the glacier and maximize my travel on rock.  I was able to refill water from a glacial melt stream, negating the need to descend to iceflow lake later in the day.  The upper NW face was a bit of a loose slog but I pushed on and reached the summit right at noon, ready for a lunch break.  It was a little intimidating seeing how far in the distance east st. mary (ESM) resided.    

looking S from mcdonald at the route

The descent of the S face was not particularly enjoyable, with most of the rock being too large to comfortably scree-ski yet too small to be stable.  I eventually made it down to the saddle above iceflow lake, and began the climb up N glacier peak, bypassing the lower NW ridge on climber’s left, then up the enjoyable class 4 upper NW ridge to the top.  Thanks to Brian (per usual) for the route beta found here.  I continued SE along the ridge to S glacier peak, marveling at all the incredible ski terrain this mountain range holds.  Although I’ve skied a number of the classic lines in the missions, there is still so much more calling my name. 

iceflow lake

NW ridge of N glacier peak 

garden wall, from S glacier

A quick jaunt from S glacier put me on shoemaker, excited to cross the picturesque garden wall.  I ran most of the garden wall, which is much wider and casual than it appears from afar.  Nearing mountaineer peak, I was tempted to investigate the upper N ridge to the summit but threatening clouds prompted me to take the W face ledge bypass instead.

at 8800', traverse onto W face of mountaineer and up this ramp/ledge and continue easily to summit

There was a sizeable stretch of mellow terrain S of mountaineer that was suitable to running.  Some gendarmes had to be passed south of pt. 9066 above lake of the stars (I went climber’s R around the first and L around the second bigger gendarme).  Soon afterwards came a stretch of nasty looking terrain before the E ridge of lowary.  I bypassed the bulk of it on climber’s R, well below the ridge proper.  With my enthusiasm for route-finding dwindling, I settled for descending one loose, sketchy gully and then climbing the next one to the west.  I’m sure there is a better way through here.  

looking back N from random bump on the ridge before lowary, mcdonald is furthest peak just L of center

E ridge of lowary

ESM summit selfie

With these difficulties behind me, I continued up the E ridge of lowary and then down to vacation pass before slowly making the final climb of the day up the E face of ESM.  I finished my water as I watched the beginning of the sunset and reflected upon what an incredible day it had been (note – I saw 0 people, 0 bears and 2 mountain goats all day).  The trail descent to the reservoir was steep and direct as usual (latter half in the dark) but has been cleared of most everything but the biggest logs since I was last on it this spring.  Thanks to whoever cleared it!

Route:  overgrown trail to NW ridge (class 3/4) sheepshead, down E ridge, across mcdonald glacier, up NW face mcdonald, down S face, upper NW ridge (class 4) of N glacier peak, along ridge to S glacier peak, along garden wall, ledge bypass (class 3) on W face mountaineer, continue S along ridge, bypass tricky gendarmes, up E ridge (class 3) lowary, across vacation pass, up E face ESM, down trail to reservoir

Approx. splits from st mary reservoir:  canal 1:10, upper TH 2:10, mcdonald 6:30, mountaineer 10:20, ESM 13:00, reservoir 14:30

Stats:  approx. 19mi/12k vert/class 4 in 13:20 canal-to-reservoir

Rose: I feel lucky to have snuck in this traverse after the oct 1 date but before snowfall up high complicates the route

Thorn: my piss-poor routefinding around the gendarmes below the E ridge of lowary

Bud: overwhelming amount of great looking ski terrain

Thoughts:  although it is long, this is a stellar outing. I think it could be faster and more enjoyable in late june/early july prior to the july 15^th closure with snow glissading opportunities.  with light packs, I think this could be an enjoyable "fast packing" outing with a night spent at/near ice flow lake for those so inclined

Tobacco Roots Traverse

Having never been into the tobacco root mountains before, I jumped at the opportunity to join Brian for a traverse of the whole range.  The day before, he parked up south meadow creek where we planned to finish and biked to Harrison (thanks!) while I went to the griz game in town.  I then picked him up in Harrison and we drove up cataract creek where we planned to start.

After a few hours of sleep, we were up early and moving by headlamp and bright moonlight to mason lake.  We endured some brief bushwhacking and routefinding difficulties gaining hollowtop mt. in the dark but soon enough found ourselves on top, the high point of the range.  A beautiful sunrise ensued as we began our southbound traverse, headed all the way to south baldy mountain.  

sunrise from mt jefferson

We struck a moderate yet steady pace, running when the terrain allowed but mainly hiking.  The hours and peaks flowed by, until we found ourselves atop granite peak.  We then scree-skied down the E face to granite lake for a water refill, before climbing lonesome peak and continuing south.

Brian giving the mountains a big hug

looking N from granite peak (hollowtop is the furthest peak)

descending to granite lake for water

Branham peak served up the greatest concentration of 3^rd and 4^th class scrambling of the day, which made for slow travel but was very fun.  While downclimbing a short cliffband on the ridge between branham and mt bradley, I had a handhold break off and send a bread loaf sized block tumbling down between my legs, which unfortunately clipped by R knee/quad pretty bad.  Luckily I was able to recover and not go tumbling down the cliff myself but the ensuing knee pain would bother me for the rest of the day and keep me from being able to run. 

branham peak

fun scrambling up mt bradley 

This was especially unfortunate since the terrain from mt bradley and beyond was far more runnable than the northern portion.  We continued along with only a few peaks remaining.  

looking S from mt bradley (S baldy is furthest peak just L of center)

final stretch to south baldy mt

From S baldy, we hiked 3000 or so vert down a steep mining road to Brian’s truck, feeling really good (other than my knee) despite it being a 15 hour outing.  The 90min shuttle predominately on rough roads back to my truck was a little rough but so it goes with big traverses I suppose.

Route:  we bypassed a few unnamed bumps on the ridge and dropped down to granite lake for water but otherwise stayed pretty true to the ridge, hitting the summits of hollowtop mt, mt jefferson, horse mt, little granite, granite peak, lonesome peak, long mt, thompson peak, branham peak, mt bradley, lady of the lake peak, belle pt, porphyry mt and S baldy mt.

Stats: approx. 25mi/10500 vert/class 4 in 15 hrs car-car at moderate pace

Here is Brian's recap of the day.

Rose: a spectacular introduction to the tobacco roots

Thorn: hurting my knee!

Bud: all the great looking ski terrain around bell lake and beyond

Canyon Peak

Due to some ongoing IT band issues, I had to opt out of a long mountain run this weekend and settle for a short(ish) low intensity hike/scramble instead.  I set out for the N ridge of canyon peak, a line Steve and I had tried for last fall but were turned around by chilly, windy, wet conditions (merely at canyon lake).  With gorgeous weather in the forecast and knowing the foliage would be starting to change, I was excited to return, with high hopes for a great fall day in the mountains.

The trail to canyon lake went smoothly, as did the straightforward approach to the base of the N ridge (3hrs from TH).  I saw countless shades of yellow, orange and red foliage, which was a beautiful reminder that winter is only a few short months away.

N ridge of wyant pk. looks fun (steeper than canyon's N ridge) 

base of canyon's N ridge

I was pleasantly surprised to pass a spring at approx. 8200ft shortly before the ridge that served as a bonus water refill.  The route served up a nice dose of exposed 4^th/low 5^th scrambling on fairly solid rock.  I encountered a lot of low 5^th class terrain, doing my best to connect fun-looking sections of crack near the ridge proper.  It looked as though the line of least resistance with more 4^th class could be found further climber’s L.  I lingered on the exposed summit for a few minutes, soaking in the view of a portion of the Bitterroots I haven’t yet spent much time in. 

exposed final stretch to summit

huge S face and slide path

I used Brian’s great downclimb/descent beta (found here, thanks!) to descend the upper SW ridge, followed by a downward angling scramble/traverse of the huge S face to gain the SE ridge, which I followed to the obvious notch before wyant peak (pt 8578) that grants easy access N down to wyant lake (which was basically dry). 

anorexic canyon lake

On the descent from wyant lake to the canyon lake trail, I was able to walk across the middle of canyon lake it was so low (and compared to a lot of other places our past winter wasn’t even that dry,  but I think helicopter bucket-work during the canyon creek fire in august is likely the bigger culprit).  The hike out was uneventful, as I pondered the seemingly endless number of outings in the bitterroots that I would still like to do (especially with healthy running legs). 

Stats:  approx. 13mi/4400vert/low 5^th in just over 7 hours car-car at a casual/moderate hiking-only pace

Rose: the beauty and solitude once beyond canyon lake

Thorn: seeing the lakes so dry/low (canyon falls wasn’t even flowing the lake was so low)

Bud: returning to the mighty S face with skis

Thoughts: Brunckhorst’s guidebook lists this route at 5.6 but I think that would require seeking the path of most resistance (within reason), which could make for a fun outing

2015 RUT 50k

I had a blast at my first running of the Rut over labor day weekend.  I had signed up for wave 2 so at 6:04am, I found myself toeing the line in the chilly crisp air, excited for the day ahead.  One minute later, the elk bugle sounded and the second of four waves of runners surged forward into the darkness. 

Determined to start conservatively and avoid blowing up later in the race, I maintained a comfortable pace for the initial runnable 12ish miles to the second aid station, arriving in 2:11 (in retrospect I should have run this portion faster).  A friendly volunteer filled my bottles, and it took me a couple seconds to realize it was seth swanson, a week removed from his 4^th place finish at UTMB.  I took this as a good sign for my race.  I thanked him before departing, excited for the upcoming headwaters climb. 

As expected, the steeper terrain played to my strengths, as I was able to pass a lot of people during this climb.  I ran headwaters ridge as best I could (read: slowly) with a huge smile on my face, thoroughly enjoying the terrain, setting and perfect weather.  I arrived at the top of swiftcurrent in 4:31, having apparently passed almost 30 people since the last aid.  I fueled up for the big climb up lone peak, which I tackled at a steady pace but tried not to push too hard, wanting to save some reserves for the final 11 miles from the summit.

headwaters (photo: crystal images)

Nearing the top, I thought to myself how brutal the 3000ft descent was going to be, in contrast to the powder-filled descent of the big couloir last time I raced up/down lone peak, at the inaugural shedhorn skimo race back in april.  Sure enough, the initial portion of the descent was slow going for me, but once off the technical talus I picked up the pace and to my surprise, even passed a few people (I normally don’t pass folks on the downhills).  The 5ish miles to the base of the Africa climb felt a lot longer & slower than I expected.  I saw my mom and sister (and heard their cowbells) on the road just before the andesite aid station, which was a nice mental boost. 

nearing andesite aid (photo: dale)

I ran the final 5ish miles hard, despite both distal IT bands being ON FIRE with pain.  I experienced some hamstring and calf cramping on the little 400ft stinger climb at mile 30 but did my best to push through it, crossing the line in 7:51, spent yet content.

relaxing at the finish (photo: dale)

Rose: great course, weather, and race atmosphere

Thorn: IT band/knee pain

Bud: knowing next time I race up lone peak I’ll get to ski down (shedhorn skimo next spring)

Thoughts: my race went well and I was able to move upward in the field throughout the race (140^th at aid 2 and 93^rd at finish), a lot of time could have been saved during the initial 15ish miles but its hard for me as a new racer to know how hard I can push early without blowing up later, I need to work on my technical downhill running skills, if I race the 50k next year sub 7:30 is certainly possible, its amazing how popular the Rut has become in just 3 years, a big thanks to Foote and Wolfe (and everyone else) for putting on such a great event

Idaho - Borah & Bedstead

With smoke choking the skies of western montana, I set out to Idaho to escape the smoke and enjoy my last few days of summer break with Bria.  We met at the Borah trailhead and the following morning, hiked the standard “chicken out ridge” route.  

scrambling on chicken out ridge

final stretch to the top

a proud idahoan on the summit of mt borah

We felt lucky to only see one other person all day yet several bighorn sheep.  A look in the extensive summit log makes it appear that is not the norm.  We enjoyed a casual pace, summitting in about 4:20, lounged on the summit for nearly half an hour and returned to the TH at about the 8 hour mark.

We then drove out trail creek to the kane lake trailhead where we spent the night.  The following afternoon we hiked in the easy 3 miles to kane lake, excited for one final backpacking trip of the summer. 

kane lake and a series of waterfalls

for some reason we thought it would be fun to share a one-person tent

The next morning we awoke to cloudy and windy weather yet set off for the Irish Arete (II/III 5.7 6p) on the devil’s bedstead west, an easy 45 minutes from camp.  Armed with some minimal beta from Pat McGrane’s PDF of Wildhorse Classics (available for free online), we started up the route, ready for adventure.  

irish arete from camp (before hiking out)

lackluster pitch 1

Our first pitch was a combination of seeping/dirty/overgrown cracks, loose rock and slab.  We considered bailing once Bria joined me at the anchor but we were more than 30m off the deck already and things looked better ahead so we decided to continue upwards.  Fortunately the climbing improved, with occasional short sections of enjoyable 5.7/8 crack climbing intermixed with long, loose easy sections. 

pitch 3

easy final pitch

This was the most vaguely described, loose route that I have ever climbed but I attributed it to good training, and enjoyed the freedom that our minimal beta afforded, despite the abundance of loose rock and challenges of finding solid anchors.  Six long pitches put us on the route’s summit, well south of the true summit of bedstead west.  The walkoff back to camp went smoothly, with the highlight being the huge arch/tunnel we passed through. 

windy walkoff

bizarre tunnel found mid-descent back to kane lake

The storm clouds that had been threatening all day opened up that night, battering our little one-man shelter with heavy rain and strong wind for most of the night.  We awoke to beautiful blue skies for the hike out, where I reflected upon all the great climbing & running & scrambling adventures I’ve enjoyed during my 6 weeks of summer freedom (since my internship ended). 

It’s now back to school for me, intermixed with some fall running and climbing as I semi-anxiously await the arrival of old man winter.

Rose: successfully onsighting a 1000ft route with minimal beta

Thorn: slimy wet crack at the crux, tons of loose rock

Bud: a traverse from bedstead east to west (or vice versa) looks like a long, engaging outing

Glacier Park

I had plans to climb in the Bugaboos for a week before school started but my partner bailed (and glacier conditions up there were bad, making access to many of the classic routes difficult/impossible) so I headed to Glacier instead for a few days of solo running. 

Day 1 – snagged a site at avalanche creek and hung out for a few hours before catching a shuttle up to logan pass to run the classic 12mi highline trail.  The skies were terribly smoky but I hoped that since the run was mostly downhill, my lungs would do alright.  Thanks to the late hour, there weren’t many people on the trail but I did run into a lot of wildlife right on the trail – about a dozen bighorn sheep in total and a solo standoff with a black bear eating berries 30ft off the trail who refused to vacate his berry patch.  After a lot of shouting and clapping, I eventually gave in and dipped off the other side of the trail by a safe margin and bypassed him.

bighorn sheep (and smoke)

bear and his berry patch

At the chalet, I bumped into a runner/hiker that had been turned around by rangers closing swiftcurrent pass due to bear activity.  We ran the few miles down to the loop together, and it turns out he worked in many glacier and was supposed to work at 8pm that evening.  With swiftcurrent closed, he had a long journey of hitchhiking in from of him to get back to many glacier.  I wished him luck before catching a shuttle down to avalanche for the evening.  (run was approx. 12mi/960’ up & 3200’ down in 2:25 at casual/sightseeing pace). 

Day 2 – smoke was even worse and high chance of heavy rain/storms prompted me to take a rest day.  Was nice to relax at camp and accomplish everything on my to-do list that could be done from my truck without power/internet. 

Day 3 – thanks to rain/cold front that night, I awoke Saturday to beautiful blue skies and thus set out for the classic 20mi gunsight pass trail, that has been on my tick-list for a LONG time (initially as a backpack but now as a run).  I caught a shuttle up to logan pass, where a trace of new snow had fallen overnight.  The combo of blue skies and fresh snow on the high peaks was a spectacular sight, made all the more special by all the dreary smoke in recent days. 

fresh snow on the garden wall

On the following shuttle ride down to the trailhead, we saw a grizzly near siyeh bend, which reminded me of why I had swapped one of the bottles in my running vest for a canister of bear spray.  The initial 6 miles to gunsight lake were largely in the forest but as I neared the lake, the views steadily grew more and more remarkable. 

blackfoot mountain

I was pleasantly surprised by how flat and runnable the switchbacks were going up the pass, where I encountered a few mountain goats and pondered upon how many great wildlife sightings I’ve recently had.  My knee was bothering me on the run down to lake ellen wilson but with the perfect weather and gorgeous setting, it was pure trail bliss. 

up the pass

this baby mt. goat greeted me at the pass

a look down at gunsight lake

a look back at "the gunsight" from lincoln pass

The climb up lincoln pass to the sperry chalet was again completely runnable on a great trail.  I think the approx. 8 miles from gunsight lake to the chalet was the best/most scenic 8 miles that I have ever run.  Whether you hike, run or backpack it, everyone should go do this trail.  The 6ish mile descent from the chalet was pale in comparison.  (run was approx. 20mi/3360’ up & 5420’ down in 4:20 at moderate pace).

Day 4 – I had plans for a long day from siyeh bend to many glacier and beyond but thick smoke and an upset knee prompted me to hit the road home instead.

Rose: the incredible 8 miles from gunsight lake to sperry chalet

Thorn: smoke! 

Bud: future adventures in the big, beautiful mountains of glacier park