Big St Joe to Lolo Peak ski traverse

With good stability and perfect high pressure conditions, I was fortunate to join forces with Brian for a go at the bass creek to lolo peak ski traverse.  Brian had done it two years previously but bypassed the major peaks so our hope was to hit the major highpoints and ski some new runs along the way. 

N face of big st joe

We dropped a vehicle at the mill creek TH and continued down to the bass creek TH, finding it full of cars when we pulled in at about 3:50am.  As we were gearing up and about to depart, 10+ folks with headlamps came down the trail, carrying a litter.  Fortunately it was just training for the local Search and Rescue but we were sure surprised by the early (or late night?) hour of their training.  After exchanging a few words with them, we started up the trail in shoes, running the flats and hiking the steeper sections of trail.  We opted to keep our feet dry by taking the summer trail on the N side of the creek and made good time up to pinball meadow and the bottom of big st. joe’s SE bowl as the sun was rising.  After a quick break and water top-off, we started up the climber’s R side of the drainage, reaching snowline in about a thousand vert.  With a strong overnight freeze, we opted to keep hiking a ways before transitioning to boots/skis and continuing up to big st. joe’s summit. 

exiting big st. joe's SE bowl

big st. joe (photo: brian)

Next up was skiing the moderate and often wind-hammered N face, a run neither of us had skied.  We picked our way through some rocks and skied some windboard before reaching decent powder conditions midway down, followed later by horrendous breakable crust (I crashed twice on my 74mm underfoot skis) as we skied 3000ft down to sweeney creek (S fork).  We transitioned at the creek before starting the big climb up the aesthetic S gully of the E pyramid butte, skinning the apron and lower portion, booting through the debris and bed surface where it had naturally slid and skinning the upper stretch.  I had done a pyramid butte to sweeney loop a few years ago in summer so I was excited to visit for my first time on skis.  From the top, we skied the E face and were pleasantly surprised to find great powder skiing down to the N fork of sweeney creek.  

a look back at big st. joe 

looking N to sweeney lake with lolo peak in the distance 

E pyramid butte powder

cold N facing powder above sweeney creek

We continued N to saddle 8776 and fortunately the climb wasn’t nearly as hot as I feared, given the strong sun and warming temps.  From there we skied more mellow powder N to one horse lake where we found a nice shady nook to eat and transition. We then made the typical climb to the N past reed lake to the N summit of lolo peak, still moving at a good clip despite already having 10k under our legs. 

next stop one horse lake.  lolo peak in the distance (photo: brian)

E face of E pyramid butte

more powder on N lolo peak

although we were the only folks out there, I still like to stack our tracks
and leave an aesthetic mark on the mountain (photo: brian)

The theme of the tour seemed to be warm but not too warm S aspect climbs and good powder skiing down N aspects and the N gully of lolo peak delivered the goods, perhaps the best skiing of the day.  From lantern lake, we skied another 500 or so feet to the N before making a short final climb up onto lantern ridge, ripping skins and cruising NW in hunt of the summer trail.  We stumbled across it surprisingly quick and skied down til we ran out of snow.  We then transitioned back to running shoes and ran the bulk of the 4miles and 3000ft down to the car, periodically interrupted by downfall across the trail.  All in all an excellent day out in the mountains.

a few miles of this at the end of the day (photo: brian)

the route

Stats:  approx. 23mi/12k vert in just over 12 hours car-car

Splits: approx. big st. joe 4 hrs, E pyramid butte 6 hrs, N lolo peak 9:30, mill creek TH 12 hrs

Rose: moving through the mountains fluidly and easily with a strong partner, gorgeous weather and (mostly) great skiing

Thorn: dehydrated and tired on the run down the trail at the end of the day

Bud: despite the current heat wave, hopefully getting in a few more great ski tours before the snow is gone 

Thoughts: although it is fairly long, this is an outstanding tour that is highly recommended to strong backcountry skiers, the car shuttle is surprisingly quick (just under an hour from town to deposit a rig at mill creek TH and get to bass creek TH), a similar outing in the summer could be fun – start with the 3 joe traverse, then from stormy joe trend N on the ridge all the way to lolo peak, dropping off once or twice as needed for water, and again ending at the mill creek TH)

Shedhorn Skimo Race Recap

Imagine the RUT 25k course but with the added fun of skiing and you more or less get the Shedhorn Skimo race, now in its 2^nd year at Big Sky Resort.  I had a poor race last year so was excited to return for this beast of a course (18mi and 9k vert).

second climb to the summit (photo: myke hermsmeyer)

An extended spell of high pressure leading up to the race had created “slide for life” ice conditions in the big couloir (heard over the patroller’s radio shortly before the start) so racers were required to carry either a whippet or an ice axe for the race.  The hope was that subsequent descents would soften under the strong sun before racers arrived. 

unknown racer in the big couloir (photo: myke hermsmeyer)

After the initial mix-up off the line, I found myself in 12^th place on the initial cat-track climb.  I edged past Meredith and Michela and two guys as the course deposited us on a steeper groomer.  I reached the bottom of the bonecrusher bootpack shortly after Case, quickly transitioned and gave chase.  Fortunately the winds were mild (in contrast to last year’s 40+ mph) and I maintained position, reaching the summit still in 8^th place.  After a mandatory 2min break at the summit aid station (to space out skier’s in the big couloir), I cruised down the ridge and dropped in.  It was certainly icy but within my comfort level to ski without use of the fixed line they had in place, so I made chatterly jump turns down the whole thing (read: not pretty but skiing nonetheless), passing Case as he sideslipped along. 

elliott and teague on bonecrusher (photo: myke hermsmeyer)

racers on the parachute boot pack (photo: myke hermsmeyer)

I caught up to Jeffrey at the next climb below parachute, had a quick transition and started up just ahead of him.  This short climb was a welcome sight in comparison to the 3600ft beast of a first climb and I dropped into three forks just as Jeffrey and Case were arriving.  Variable conditions, including some powder were found before reaching the transition and slapping on skins for the climb to an aid station atop six-shooter lift before continuing up the headwaters.  I elected to skin the entire way to the top of parachute but I’m not sure if it was any faster than transitioning to boot the portion that is normally bootpacked by resort skiers.  Case arrived as I was ripping my 2^nd skin and Jeffrey was close behind so I kept pushing hard, skiing sloppy corn down parachute before bombing across the bowl and making the long but flat climb along the middle road to shedhorn grill aid station.  I elected just to carry my skis and walk/run this mini-climb and could tell of those in front of me, all disciplines had been tried – skating, skinning and booting. 

case and jeffrey on headwaters, I am slightly out of frame ahead (photo: myke hermsmeyer)

patrollers at the top of parachute, big couloir is the prominent
run down lone peak (photo: myke hermsmeyer)

I cruised the short ski down to the dakota lift, before slapping skins on and beginning the long (2600ft) climb back to the summit.  With blue skies and warm temps, the snow was getting soft and heavy and the skin to the base of the fixed lines through the kircher cliffs seemed to drag on for a long time (with Case and Jeffrey still close behind).  The jugging and scrambling up the cliffs was a fun change of pace from the prior slogging however the third and final portion of fixed lines and just beyond featured waist deep wallowing in isothermic snow which was a major mental lowpoint of the day.  I finally arrived at the top of the mandatory booting section and was incredibly excited to transition back to skinning.  A glance at my watch showed another 1500ft to the summit and I knew it was going to be a serious grind, made all the more difficult by the glaring sun and my black race suit.  This was the climb that crushed me last year so I just put my head down and kept moving and fueling. 

I eventually arrived on the summit, hurting but in good spirits, indulged in some coke at the aid station and dropped in to liberty bowl.  The slushy conditions and small moguls were absolutely brutal on my quivering quads and I had to briefly stop midway down to let the burn momentarily subside.  I continued down to the bottom of shedhorn before slapping on skins for the final time and grinding up the short final climb and skating down the slow and slushy ever so slightly downhill cat track to the finish. 

results

I thought I was in 6^th but a broken boot and resulting DNF by crazy fast Tom Goth put me in 5^th place at the 4:45 mark.  My goal time was sub 5 hours so I was very happy with my race.  Relaxing in the sun with a beer in hand cheering on other finishers ensued. 

A big thanks to the Big Sky ski patrol for all their hard work on putting together this great race and to Myke Hermsmeyer for taking lots of great pictures.

Rose: putting together a strong (for me) performance

Thorn: hurting big time on the 2^nd climb to the summit

Bud: investing in race skis and some skimo specific training next fall and seeing where that can take me next season

Thoughts:  this is a challenging and awesome course worthy of a much larger turnout than 24 racers, skiing off lone peak (shedhorn) is much more fun than running talus down (rut)

Rattlesnake Traverse on skis

Despite having a race (shedhorn) in 2 days, I couldn’t resist the lure of great weather and stability for a long day in the mountains.  With temps forecasted to reach 80 in the valley, I opted for the predominately N-facing rattlesnake traverse, so as to avoid dealing with rapidly warming solar aspects under the strong sun.

looking N from stuart peak

After stashing a bike at snowbowl, I left the ravine trailhead on foot slightly after 6, excited for the day ahead.  Six miles of hiking finally brought me to snowline (6100ft) where I transitioned and continued up to stuart peak.  I was pleasantly surprised to see multiple old skintracks converging on the summit.  Its definitely a good push to access stuart from any direction and was great to see evidence of folks getting after it.  The N face looked icy, so I locked my toes and dropped in directly from the summit.  It was firm but manageable and I skied down to upper twin lake, before making the short climb N to eagle point.  I next skied the eagle chute N down to roosevelt lake, which was even icier but as a remote, aesthetic line I hadn’t skied before, I was stoked regardless. 

nearing the top of stuart via the S ridge 

looking NW to murphy, burgundy and point six

N face of stuart from twin lakes

eagle chute

a look back at eagle point, the eagle chute is on looker's R

Next up was the long climb trending NW back to the ridgeline S of mosquito and on to the summit. I skied the R-hand portion of the N face, which was again, super icy.  I had hoped the warm temps during the day would soften the N faces a bit but I had no such luck.  I took a long break in the sun at glacier lake to eat, relax and dry out my saturated skins. 

from mosquito, looking S back to eagle point (center) and stuart (far R)

N face of mosquito to glacier lake

N face of mosquito, 5 prominent lines marked, anyone know names of these?

N face sanders

looking back up sander's N face/couloir

From there I continued N to sanders, where I dropped in to the N face.  The upper face was soft (gets sun) but the lower couloir (shaded) was the iciest of the day.  I made the short climb to the saddle W of sanders and due to wet slide concerns on the S gully of murphy, elected to bypass murphy and head straight to point six.  The usual ski/slog across the grant creek basin (and a much needed water re-fill) put me atop point six under the intense afternoon sun.  I opted out of jenny bowl due to mega-slushy conditions and wet-slide concerns so cruised down the S ridge and made the mini climb to snowbowl before bombing down a slushy paradise.  The easy bike shuttle went quick, and I got some great looks as I rode by folks dressed in my race suit with skis/boots/poles on my back on a 70 degree bluebird afternoon.   I wish I had a picture.  

On a gear related note, I carried ski crampons and a whippet but neither were necessary.  Also, this was my first real tour (other than racing and snowbowl/point six training) on my race boots and skinny skis (DyNA EVO and 167 broad peaks) as well as race pack and 2-piece race suit and it all worked wonderfully.  I’m excited for some big tours this spring in a fast and light style made possible by such equipment.      

Stats: about 9600 vert in 9 hours car-to-bike

Splits: approx. 3:15 stuart, 5:15 mosquito, 6:15 sanders, 8:15 point six

Rose: beautiful day in the mountains on this classic missoula area tour

Thorn: skiing ice all day, having to bypass murphy

Bud: bigger and bolder ski traverses in a fast & light style

Thoughts: with conditions allowing safe passage down S aspects in the afternoon, it would be great to ski NW off W sanders peak down to upper finley lake, climb the NW ridge of murphy, and then ski the S faces of murphy, burgundy and jenny bowl at the end of the tour (would make for a more logical and complete traverse and 12k day)

Sheafman Points via Nipple Knob

With another marginal forecast and high snow level, Jeffrey joined me for an exploratory day up sheafman creek, hoping to ski a few runs I scoped out back in October on foot during my excellent sheafman triple loop.

sheafman points, as seen from mill point

We were prepared with shoes so the initial 1500 or so vert from the winter TH went smoothly and we soon found ourselves at snowline.  We motored up the E face of nipple knob, reaching the summit in a surprisingly quick 2 hours from the car.

We found mediocre to poor skiing conditions off the N side as we dropped down into sheafman creek.  After slapping on skins, we quickly found the summer trail and headed up drainage for a mile or so before reaching the slidepath of the aesthetic S gully of E sheafman point, which we climbed directly.  Once on top, I had hoped to drop N into fred burr canyon, but my desired route looked all too similar to how it looked back in October (a dusting of snow on talus).   

no dice

We continued trending W along the ridgeline, scoping one steep/scrappy/unattractive couloir after another.  We eventually came to a halt at the prominent rocky fin just shy of the summit of W sheafman point and decided just to ski the S facing gully below us down to sheafman creek.  Surprisingly good corn skiing and a little routefinding put us down near the creek where we paused to refuel and discuss our options.

jeffrey skiing S to sheafman creek

a look back up

We debated heading up to castle crag and skiing the S face to mill and exiting via the mill creek trail (we had carried our shoes).  However I had a feeling since the sheafman creek trail sits about a thousand feet higher and its lower portion is N-facing, it would provide a much nicer egress.  So we climbed back up via a series of snow ramps just E of the prior run to the small hanging meadow between the two sheafman points.  A quick traverse put us atop the S gully from the morning.  The upper quarter skied poorly but the remainder was good corn and we were soon exchanging high fives in the runout zone, excited to have skied a new great peak-to-creek run.  

upper portion

highlight of the day

My estimate for the egress was 2 hours and we skied as far down canyon as we could before slapping on skins and starting the skin out.  It took us an hour to get from the bridge to the summer TH (quite a bit of winter downfall) but we were able to skin about 90% of it.  Another forty minutes of switchback cutting and road running put us at the car.  (total egress time of 2.5 hours).

Stats:  approx. 7600 vert in 9 hrs car-car

Rose: skiing an aesthetic new peak-to-creek run in mostly good conditions

Thorn: getting shut down on skiing N to fred burr

Bud: returning for the N couloir and S face of castle crag at the head of the drainage

Thoughts:  I believe the slide path on W sheafman point just W of the prominent rock spine is a cleaner run than the E one we skied.  The S gully of E sheafman point is a beauty and should get skied more often         

Mill 1 and 2 Tour

Spring certainly seems to have arrived early this year.  Despite a forecasted rain/snow line of around 6500ft, Brian, Jeffrey and I set out from the bone dry mill creek TH with plans to start with mill point and see where the day took us.

late February and we're already doing this - yikes!

After a disheartening 1500 vert of dirt walking, we finally transitioned to skis and continued up to mill point.  Once on top, Brian led the way skiing down the N ridge and through some talus to some N facing meadows.  We transitioned when the snow quality deteriorated (about 6500ft) and a little talus scrambling granted access to the basin to the west, which we crossed and continued up the N ridge of mill 2. 

E face mill 2

closing in on the gendarmes near the top of mill 2

We wrapped around the W side of the gendarmes near the summit and into the W gully.  After a little stability assessment, we continued to the top of the line, before dropping in and enjoying surprisingly good powder conditions.  

jeffrey dropping in 

brian in the W gully

choke at the bottom of W gully (steeper than it looks)

mill 2 from E sheafman point 2 weeks later, W gully is obvious run in center of frame

We then climbed up the W face of mill 2 to gain the upper N ridge and transitioned near the gendarmes near the top.  Concerned about skiing the semi-steep E face, we opted to ski down the N ridge a ways before dropping E to the basin from the morning. 

headed up mill point

We made a big push up the W side of mill point, and I unfortunately faded a bit near the top.  Once I joined Brian and Jeffrey on the summit, we discussed our next move.  I voted to head down via the E face but Brian inquired whether or not I’d yet done a 10k day this season (answer was no) so he insisted I rally for a run down to tag alder lake before the final egress run.  Jeffrey was on board so I said yes, and we dropped in for 1200ft of decent wind-effected powder down to the lake.   

Brian gave me a much-needed shot of GU (thanks!) for the last climb up to mill point before we pointed skis down the E ridge/face, skiing about 1500ft of decent snow and another 1500ft of mank (in the rain) til we ran out of snow.  We ended up further S than expected so the walk down/out to the trailhead took a bit longer than expected.  All in all a surprisingly good day of skiing given the forecast and disturbingly high snow level for this time of year. 

Stats:  about 10,500vert in 10:15 car-car

Rose: good powder in the aesthetic W gully of mill 2

Thorn: fading on the second-to-last climb up mill point

Bud: returning for the E face of mill 2

Whitewater - ROAM race & BC powder

Exited to race a new (to me) course and ski some new terrain, I joined Jeffrey and his family for an excellent weekend in Nelson BC.  Going in, I knew very little of the course layout and unfortunately paid the price.  Read on for details.

race start (phil best photography)

After a crowded start up a cat track, I settled in to 8^th place at a hard but bearable pace.  The first bootpack was deep (8inches overnight and snow most of the preceding week) and surprisingly long but I pushed hard and managed to reel in and pass one person at the transition for the first descent.

I proceeded to get off course on the downhill (skating up a cat track following the flagging) but fortunately a friendly resort skier helped point me in the right direction.  I bombed down to the transition, having lost a precious minute or 2 and 4 spots.  I pushed hard on the next climb, passing 3 

of the 4 spots I lost on my “detour.”  

second climb, in the pain cave (phil best photography)

Near the top of the climb, I ripped skins with Stano when the flagging changed colors (uphill to downhill), but another racer came along (apparently more familiar with the course) stating the transition was further along the ridge, so I desperately skated/sidestepped another 100 yards to where the 2^nd descent actually began.  Despite the fresh powder, the course sent us tucking down a groomer with a short uphill skate in the middle.  

uphill skate during the 2nd descent (phil best photography)

I reached the transition as Stano was starting the final climb and I quickly slapped on skins and gave chase.  I managed to catch and pass him during a portion of steep technical skinning and create a gap, leaving the final transition as he arrived.  

Again being unfamiliar with the course, I had to stop mid-descent when the base area came into view but I couldn’t see the finish.  I continued down at a conservative pace, searching for course markings.  In my hypoxic and tired state, it took me longer than it should have to recognize that the pine boughs on the ground marked the turn to the out-of-sight finish area.  As I rounded the corner, there was a slight uphill skate to the finish, and lots of cheering as Stano was apparently right behind me, who out-skated me to the line by one second!

results

I was disappointed to have gotten lost on the first descent and wasted time on the final descent but so it goes with racing, especially on an unfamiliar course.  Live and learn.  Sunday morning was spent skiing excellent powder in 5 mile basin (behind whitewater) with Jeffrey prior to hitting the road.

i learned in canada it's not a skin track but an "up track" (photo: jeffrey)

blue skies and powder

sampling the great skiing just a stone's throw away from whitewater

looking back at our final run

Rose: great powder skiing in a new area

Thorn: getting off-course! lame groomer descents on a powder day

Bud: returning next year for redemption on the race course, mt. ymir afterwards, and kootenai pass on the drive home?