Classic round up - Glen Lake Loop, Sky Pilot North face variation

I made a repeat go at a couple of classic tours in an effort to iron some wrinkles out and explore new terrain.  Perhaps my observations might pique some interest.  

Hidden Glen Loop 3/29/25

I think this loop deserves a bit more attention than the zero attention it gets because it strings together excellent skiing on striking features, and avoids canyon slogging.  

Up Hidden lake peak.

Basic Tour: Approach Glen lake , then Glen Lake peak (8,600).  Ski the South gully to Sweathouse creek (safer variation is to ski South on less exposed terrain west of the summit), then climb Hidden lake peak via the South face, wrapping around the west side and stopping on the North ridge a hundred feet or so from the summit where it gets craggy.  Ski something on the Northeast face to Hidden Lake.  The Northeast face is complicated, so plan a route ahead of time.  The most conservative line skis the North ridge, then traverses way skier's left until all the lower slope cliffs are bypassed skier's left.  Climb back to Glen Lake peak.  Exit via your favorite Glen lake egress.  My favorite is to ski the long East ridge of Glen lake peak to the terminus around 6,400 feet, then climb back the approach track and follow it out.  The historic avalanche path North to Big creek and out on the Big Creek trail is another option, but I am coming around to the opinion that the historic path is so rarely in condition due to needing a ton of low elevation snow, and the massive avalanche potential, that it is more of a variation/extension and should only be considered in rare circumstances.

Trip report: The day itself was fun.  The South run on Sweathouse was great, although it involved some creative debris management to avoid the aftermath of the huge "first warm up of the year" avalanche cycle the range had received the previous week.  I spun a nice corn lap on the south side of Hidden lake peak to get to 10k, then re-climbed my track to Hidden lake peak.  

Lower in the South Sweathouse run.

I skied a fun new-to me run directly down the upper Northeast face to a gully on the skier's right edge of the face, which was a secondary highlight.  I rolled the dice (snow coverage dice, not avalanche dice) and exited by the historic path.  The skiing was really good until the snow ran out about a thousand feet above the trail.  From there out it was really quite bad.  Downhill bushwack, scary deep water creek crossing, miles and miles of intermittent snow.  Good character building.  Great day, even if I felt a bit foolish miscalculating the skiability of the historic path so severely.

Powder skiing down to Hidden Lake.

The first 40 feet of a 4,000' adventure run into Big Creek.

Sky Pilot, North face 4/21/25

I skied Sky Pilot on a somber spring day.  I used the normal approach.  The North face skied great.  It was cool to see a few old tracks.  I stopped at the tarn below the North face and climbed the Southeast facing chutes that one passes under on the way to Sky Pilot, and skied one of the chutes all the way to Bear lake.  

Near the top of the Sweathouse chutes, looking down to Bear lake.

Then on the return, I threw in a quality hairy curve ball by climbing to the saddle between Sweathouse Peak 8,839 and Gash proper and skiing an excellent North facing run into the headwaters of Sweathouse before climbing the Northwest face of Gash proper and exiting via the normal route.  

At the bottom of the excellent Sweathouse North run.

Up the Northwest face back to Gash.

Thoughts: Aside from having to nail the exact line (most of the Sweathouse/Gash ridgline is guarded by cliffs or massive cornices that would be death defying to scout from the top), the extra run is a great addition to the tour.  I think that one of the major downsides of Sky Pilot is that a lot of the day is wasted with a throw away traverse run off of Gash, and an annoying, long return slog.  This variation makes it so that the return climbs are more direct, and the additional run is excellent.  

More Blodgett Dayz

I was able to get out and ski some new terrain in Blodgett with excellent conditions during the brief window where we had excellent low elevation snow coverage and good snow quality this winter.  I still think good skiing in Blodgett is a bit of an anomaly, but with enough snow, sometimes it's fun to go all in on the Bitterroot experience.

Sears couloir to Sears Point 

Enjoying the sun with Caesar's Palace in the background.

Cold hardy Ned was not deterred by the cold snap, and suggested a big ski day with an early start.  Reluctantly, I obliged, and we were walking in sub zero temperatures before first light.  Soon enough, we were up into the sun, and despite poor route selection on my part, we topped out on the Sears lake couloir slightly surprised by how much new snow was present, but excited to ski.  We hemmed and hawed about dropping into the couloir, but couldn't find any indicators of instability other than the higher volume of new snow, so we went for it.  

Savoring the powder near the terminus of the Sears Lake couloir.

The Sears lake couloir was most excellent.  It's rare I feel confident skiing couloirs with deeper powder snow.  We took it all the way to the lake.  Another good long climb put is at the top of skiable snow just shy of Sears point 8587, and we had another excellent 3,000 foot run.  Some roller ball debris and a bit of a schwack back to the trail kept it real.  Best day of the year to date. 

The upper pitch of Sears Point south to Blodgett.

Blue Ice bowl East and West

I was back a week later for more.  This time, I climbed the Blue Ice bowl, with intentions on skiing Southwest off the top and heading farther up drainage.  On the way up, the bowl itself looked great, so I decided to ski it.  The ensuing run was fantastic, aside from getting a little bit stuck on thin snow over rock slabs pinched against thin snow over ice at the top of the bowl.  

Blue Ice bowl.

From the bottom, I re-climbed my track and skied Southwest.  Once again, I got stuck on thin slabs on a short little step at the top of the gully and bailed up and out, tenuously, on thin snow over slabs and ice.  Once above the slab section, I found an alternate entrance (a hidden gully skier's left of the primary entrance).  The rest of the run was great.  I stopped in the forest a couple hundred vertical feet above the trail where ski quality had deteriorated to something more resembling bushwacking.  I rounded out the day by skiing the skier's right fork of the gully, which was also excellent.  Another long exit was a small price to pay for the privilege of skiing three new to me long runs with great snow.

3,000 feet top to bottom.  Peak to creek dreams alive and well.

Learning note:  This was a really good day, but I did a poor job assessing risk around rock slabs.  After a few months of reflection, my primary lesson learned is just re-learning the same lesson again:  lots of terrain in the Bitterroot has steep smooth rock slabs.  They can often be skied safely, but between glide avalanches and often weird snowpack, there are usually safer and better options.  

Below the innocuous looking slab at the top of the Blue Ice South West run.

Anaconda Pintler traverse

8/2-3/2024 I had a lingering desire to return to the Pintlers for a complete traverse of the alpine portion of the range after doing most of it in 2014.  I was able to capitalize on a brief respite from another smokey summer for an attempt.  

I rolled out of the Falls/Middle Fork Rock creek trailhead mid-afternoon and biked the 46 miles to my stashed pack at the edge of Anaconda.  It was in the mid 90s when I started walking.  Starting the whole thing overheated was intimidating, but it would set the tone for most of the outing - stay way on top of fluids and keep moving.  Fortunately the road tucked out of direct sun after a few miles, the evening walk up to Hearst lake was pleasant.  I found a mosquito free spot to sleep near the lake, watched the last of the sunset, settled in for short but good night of sleep. 

I was walking before 4 am, and on Haggin shortly after sunrise.  I followed a large heard of goats West toward peak 10,282 and dropped off the ridge before the peak to top off water.  10,378, Evans, Howe, and Little Rainbow all went pretty smoothly, and I found water on the edge of Goat flat. I bumbled through the technical section near Kurt on the East (wrong) side of the ridge, but worked through it without too much lost time and continued through the afternoon to Kurt and Queener.  

Rolling on the first morning.

I was several hours behind schedule, but I felt good and didn't worry too much about the time.  The entire section around Fish was looser and slower than I remembered.  I arrived at Cutaway pass around sunset and walked for a bit on the trail before embarking on the ridgeline toward Beaverhead peak at last light.  I had hoped to make it further along this somewhat technical ridge in the daylight but opted for a conservative decision to drop off the ridge at Beaverhead Mountain and descend to a camp in La Marsche Creek, effectively bypassing several unnamed peaks.  The going in the dark was very slow, but it was safe, and I was tucked into my sleeping bag by 11 pm.

Classic Little Rainbow view from Goat Flat.

Queener from Fish.

Short trail bit around Cutaway Pass. 
I dropped off the crest shortly beyond the peak in the background at last light.

I was walking by 4:30 am and spent a few hours bumping along off trail below treeline the base of 10,259.  My body was intact, and I felt good.  Sunrise along with climbing into the alpine again helped top stoke levels off again, and I summited 10,259 with crisp morning views out to the end of the traverse.  Warren was quick.   The scrappy-at-times section of unnamed peaks South of Warren was quick because I had reconned a route a few weeks prior.  I also encountered two CDT hikers near Rainbow pass, and it was cool to see them on their journey.  As planned, I dropped off the ridge at point 9,805 and descended to the Pintler Pass trail for water.  While I couldn't quite smell the barn, I could now bail to the car easily if needed and was psyched to be in the home stretch.  I ran the tank a little dry on the surprisingly vexing ridge to West Pintler and loose scree slog to East Pintler.  Overcast afternoon skies took the sting out of what could have been an unbearably hot exit.  When I hit the trail, I took a few tepid running steps, and my body really didn't want to run.  Everything was a little too shot.  So I walked it in.  

On East Pintler, looking back at terrain covered in the second day. 

At the trailhead lots of water was consumed and shoes were gratefully exchanged for flip flops. Sitting down and relaxing felt splendid.

Thoughts

47.75 hours from the Haggin trailhead in Anaconda to the Falls/Middle Rock creek trailhead trailhead.  Very very approximately 20,000 vertical feet and not as many miles as the time would indicate.  

I got what I wanted to out of this outing.  It was good and hard but not too dangerous or physically smashing, and recovery was quick enough.    I definitely went a bit slower than anticipated, I think that the extreme heat played a big role, and I probably over compensated by carrying a lot of water and stopping at every available snow patch to refill. A mountain athlete with the right mind set and the skill set to move quickly through talus could absolutely smash this time.   I don't think that it's out of the question to do it in a push, especially with support, and the commitment level is lowered by the fact that it's possible to bail to the car from the back quarter of the route.  On the other end of the speed spectrum, a similar traverse would also be quite a rewarding outing over the course four days to a week.

Torrey to Tweedy - East Pioneers

Climbing out from Torrey.

5/31/2024 I have become smitten by the East Pioneers in the last few years, and a few late spring ski outings have revealed some surprisingly good skiing for a dry continental range.  When Southwest Montana got walloped by an uncharacteristically wet late season storm, I was inspired to try to link the two iconic high points of the range with skis.  After a late night drive and shuttle-set. I rolled out of a car bivy and strolled out of the Dinner Station campground trailhead at a proper 4 am and climbed Torrey by the standard Southeast ridge.  It was a long, 4-hour climb with lots of slightly annoying log hopping, but all in all it went smoothly.  

Torrey North face: I wanted to also ski the intimidating (at least to me), North face, and spent some of the morning mentally deciding if I was up for it.  I had scouted the face a week prior and knew that the line had coverage, but needed to at least get a glance at conditions before committing.  From the summit, I walked a few hundred feet down the West ridge to a drop in point for the North face.  Conditions looked reasonable, and I decided to commit.  The North face run was quite intense.  Steep, with just a skiff of new soft snow on top of very firm ice.  I was able to link turns down about 2/3 of the exposed upper face, resorting to sideslipping where ice was exposed.  Soon enough, I dropped into the beautiful exit couloir and gratefully sunk edges into sun softened snow.  The rest of the run was relaxed and delightful.  I don't play the steep skiing game much anymore, but it was nice to be reminded of the euphoria that comes from doing something hard and dangerous that demands judgement and precision.

My North face line is the one which drops diagonally down and left from near the summit
and cleaves the cliffs at the bottom. 

Focused.

Glad to be done.

The traverse: After donning crampons at Torrey lake, I climbed back up to the summit of Torrey via the North ridge.  It was now time to get the traverse done.  A most splendid run down the Northeast face set the tone for the rest of the day - aesthetic, good snow, and fun.  The next run was in an excellent, straightforward couloir which drops off the ridge between the peaks.  With some cagey traversing, the walk to Tweedy was done in good time.  The NNW face of Tweedy was shockingly still in excellent condition in the afternoon.  The egress and bike shuttle were a tad long but all in all it was a fine way to spend a spring afternoon.  I was even treated to a black bear sighting near the Gorge lake trailhead.  

On to Tweedy.  The middle run was the gully that drops
from the low point in the background.

Somehow still corn o'clock on Tweedy. 
The run is continuously skiable from the summit using a ramp that hooks up and left out of view in the photo.

This was my favorite day of the season.  No hyperbole.  One of those days where I can't believe how rich this sport is, allowing us to test ourselves while painting ephemeral lines through the mountains.  And the joy of descending by skiing is not to be overlooked.  

By my estimation, a "basic" Torrey -> Tweedy traverse felt like a classic line only marred by what I suspect is a narrow window of reliable conditions where stability is OK, and spring snow sticks to normally windswept aspects.  

Buck Mountain (Swan Range) - Northeast ridge and face

Buck Mountain. 
The line starts on the left skyline ridge and extends beyond the edge of the photo.

4/21/24  The original concept for the day was to link up Pyramid and Holland peaks, but Plan A met an early demise in the throes of a morning freezing mist squall about 800 feet below the summit of Pyramid peak.  Not feeling any compelling reason to continue pushing upward with no visibility, I retreated out of the storm.  It was kind of tempting to bail early, but since the weather was clearing as forecast, I slapped skins back on and headed back up without a plan.  

Fortunately, the weather continued to clear, so I simultaneously skinned to the crest of the range and pondered afternoon ski objectives.  By the time I hit the crest, the weather was perfectly clear and cold, and I had settled on an attempt on the Northeast ridge and face on Buck mountain.  I have been wanting to ski this elegant line for a long time, and it appeared today might work to take it 3,300 vertical feet all the way to Dart Creek with good conditions top to bottom.  I skirted below the steep Northeast face before climbing Buck by the South face, which allowed a cursory conditions check before dropping in from the top. 

Nearing the summit and ready to roll.

The ski run itself was great - an aesthetic jaunt down the East ridge, followed by on-ya steep edging into ice capped by thin powder on the short Northeast face, followed by fun, relaxed turns all the way to the end of the avalanche path.  

Looking back up at the steep part of the face. 
I took the run for another 1,000 or so vertical feet to Dart creek.

The return to the Swan crest got a bit long.  Nothing that copious gummy bears and potato chips couldn't fuel.  It was cool to follow bear tracks much of the way.  The egress was a very small price to pay for the experience.  I'm happy about getting this done with good conditions and in good style.